There was a time when mass shootings in America made front-page news throughout the world, but they are now so ubiquitous that most warrant a short report at most.
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In stark contrast, there was also a time when women being killed by their current or former partners barely registered as news here in Australia.
Such killings, you see, happened behind closed doors - they were in the private realm, and thus didn't warrant any reports or news stories, much less any kind of national soul searching or official reckoning when it came to the way we police, prevent or prosecute such crimes.
Things have been different in Australia for several years now, with high-profile cases prompting front-page news stories, detailed legal reports and changes in government policy.
No matter our reasons for reading the details of such horrific crimes, the fact that they are now front and centre of our public discourse around the treatment of women in our society is a good thing.
And every time a new story surfaces, we are right to be horrified, and sorry.
The latest case involves the death of Canberra woman Bonnie Lee Anderson 16 months after being brutally attacked and tortured by her former partner.
Ms Anderdon succumbed to the "callous and vicious" injuries inflicted by a man who cared so little that he carried them out in front of horrified neighbours, and showed no remorse when police arrived.
The details are difficult to read; Ms Anderson joins a seemingly ever-growing number of women who have fallen victim to domestic violence.
But the litany of such cases will continue until men stop killing women in this way.
And every time a new story surfaces, we are right to be horrified, and sorry.
And we will continue to be confronted with the details: someone must bear witness, along with the police, ambulance officers and first responders, family, friends, case workers and all those left to pick up the pieces after yet another woman couldn't be saved.
Meanwhile, it is up to us as a society to care better for those who are currently suffering domestic violence - the insidious control, abuse and physical and psychological trauma that so often happens behind closed doors.
Yet Canberra, it seems, is one of the least sympathetic jurisdictions, at least when it comes to financial assistance for domestic violence victims.
Only a few weeks ago, we reported that less than a third of people who try to access a federal support program for domestic violence receive financial help in the ACT, the lowest rate of any jurisdiction in the country, according to data released by the government.
The Escaping Violence Payment program, launched in 2021 by the former Coalition government, is designed to reduce financial barriers for people trying to flee violent relationships.
But apparently not so much in Canberra; only 207 out of 707 applicants in the ACT received the financial aid from October 2021 to September 2023. This is partly due to a lack of funding for case management attached to case management and family violence. The financial assistance is accessible to those who can prove eligibility, a process that is often prohibitively difficult.
Family and domestic violence does not discriminate, and getting help should not be made unnecessarily difficult for people - mainly women and children - who are already traumatised or suffering.
We must do better at helping women escape such situations. If we don't, stories like those of Bonnie Lee Anderson will continue to confront us with the possible fate of so many women.
