Melb Venue, Accused Of Promoting Rape Culture, To Raise Money For Sexual Assault Victims

A Melbourne venue accused of promoting rape culture with its marketing for an upcoming event has responded to complaints by announcing a new event with all proceeds going towards a charity for victims and survivors of sexual assault.

The Railway Hotel in Brunswick was slammed earlier this week for promoting an event, originally scheduled to take place tonight, entitled, "Eat Sleep Rave Pussy Repeat".

Following the complaints, the event was removed from both the venue's website and social media handles. 

A statement from management posted to The Railway Hotel Facebook on Friday reads, "The event was booked by an outside promoter not linked to the venue, and despite the clearly ill-thought out marketing strategy, had no malicious intent.

"When the event was brought to our attention on Monday, we asked that the name of the event be changed. When this request was not taken seriously, we cancelled the event."

Management confirmed that a new event will go ahead tonight with all proceeds going towards the Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA House).

"We as a venue do not condone these messages, have an exemplary record of investigating and handing over any incidents of sexual harrassment to police, and as we hope will be clear from the event we are running ourselves tonight, are committed to sending a far more positive message and raising awareness of these issues by donating ALL PROCEEDS OF THE DOOR to the Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA House)."

"It's easy to make unfounded accusations towards a business with total disregard to the damage those may cause. But we hope to turn a negative into a positive and redirect the attention this has generated to actually helping victims of sexual assault."

Read the full statement below.