The survey found that one in six of those surveyed believed that when women say no they mean yes, and 20 per cent believed a woman was partly to blame for rape if she was drunk.

More than half of those surveyed — 51 per cent — believed a woman could leave a violent relationship if she really wanted to do so.

The survey by VicHealth of 17,500 people clearly was not broad enough to be a genuine measure of the population of more than 23 million.

But it is not a small sample, either, and the nature of the findings mean it cannot be dismissed out of hand.

It seems obvious that there is wide support for the notion that when a man raises his hand to a woman, or otherwise abuses her, she is somehow to blame because she has “chosen” not to leave him.

At some point — if we are serious about making inroads into stopping violence against women — we are going to have to stop blaming the victim, no matter the circumstance.

While we continue to support those who would make excuses for violence against women, we hold back the prospect of any real change in attitudes.