Protesters marched through Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Wollongong, Tamworth, the Gold Coast and Toowoomba on Saturday as part of What Were You Wearing Australia's events to oppose gender-based violence.
Many held posters with statistics illustrating the scale of the issue in Australia, while others wore shirts commemorating loved ones lost to domestic or family violence.
Some took aim at "manosphere" culture and men's behaviour as the internet has increasingly become a platform to showcase and encourage misogynistic content.
"Domestic violence is often swept under the rug by politicians and media," participant Rachel Garrett told AAP at the Sydney event.
"So many women are silently suffering as they live in fear of the men in their lives.
"In the current cultural climate, when young men are being radicalised by public figures like Andrew Tate, it's really important to call on our government to do better and stand in solidarity with women worldwide."
Victim-survivor and advocate Brittany Higgins appeared with her husband at the Melbourne rally as event organiser Sarah Williams spoke.
"Sexual violence thrives in silence and stigma," Ms Williams told AAP.
"When survivors are asked what they were wearing, where they were or what they were doing, the focus is placed on the survivor instead of the perpetrator responsible."
The rallies were first hosted in the wake of the 2024 Bondi Junction shopping centre attack, during which a man armed with a knife killed six people and injured a dozen others, the majority of them women.
This year, the organisation has called for the federal and state governments to better fund frontline services, including men's behaviour change, legislate an AI duty of care to stop abuse facilitated by the controversial technology, and offer free counselling and support for all victim-survivors.
"Our sector is running every day as Australia's fourth emergency service," Women's Community Shelters chief executive Annabelle Daniel told the Sydney rally.
"Every phone rings off the hook and every day, services have to say no to people who should never be turned away.
"We cannot continue to run on goodwill alone, we cannot ask women and communities to absorb what our systems simply refuse to carry and we cannot ask women and children to carry the burden of being resilient when the front lines are running on empty."
About one in seven Australians has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, with more than one in five women and one in 16 men reporting abuse.
Rallies will be held on Sunday in Ballarat, Perth, the NSW Central Coast, Dubbo, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Canberra and Hobart.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
10°C