Warnings urging women to take responsibility for their safety have sparked a deluge of criticism on social media following the killing of young Melbourne woman Eurydice Dixon.
A passer-by discovered the 22-year-old's body on a soccer field at the Princes Park sports precinct in the early hours of Wednesday.
After a police hunt, 19-year-old Broadmeadows man Jaymes Todd faced court charged with her rape and murder.
Police increased their patrols in the area in the days after the killing and urged people to be "aware of their surroundings".
But those comments sparked a backlash on social media amid the outpouring of grief over Ms Dixon's death, with many saying women should not have to live in fear.
"Women are instructed to own their personal safety, while society ignores the actual problem: that women are constantly attacked by people they know or strangers," the Queen Victoria Women's Centre posted on Facebook.
Others called the advice from police "victim blaming".
Ariel Reyes, who went to the same school as Ms Dixon and saw her regularly at a cafe on Sydney Road in the neighbouring suburb of Brunswick, said she was very upset about the young comedian's death.
"I feel very upset about it, because she was just so lovely and really did not deserve this," she said.
"We shouldn't have to have someone with us all the time when we walk home, but we do. We have no choice because it's not safe."
Pia Cerveri, an activist who has organised a vigil on Monday to remember Ms Dixon, said women should be entitled to walk any time of the day or night and feel safe.
"It's appalling and not good enough that any woman could feel unsafe or even come to harm for choosing to walk home a certain way," she said.
Caili Christian from the Comedy Women's Association said there needed to be more discussion around women's safety.
"I think it is opening people's eye. Tragedy is always is what changes communities, unfortunately," she said.
"There's certain women for a very, very long time who've been saying 'We're not safe, we need you to help, we need you to come together'.
"Hopefully this is going to show that we're not screaming into the void, people are going to listen."
In a series of tweets, Premier Daniel Andrews said violence against women would not change until men changed.
"Our message to Victorian women is this: Stay home. Or don't. Go out with friends at night. Or don't. Go about your day exactly as you intend, on your terms. Because women don't need to change their behaviour. Men do," he said.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she believed police had meant well with their warning.
She said the council had also been working to improve lighting in Melbourne as part of a long-term safer city project.
"I think the police are coming from a caring place in terms of a desire to make people as safe as possible, and there's no doubt that you can choose some options in terms of how you move around the city that are safer than others," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"But the bigger issue here is actually understanding and addressing the behaviour of the perpetrators and that's where we should be focussed."
Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack said attitudes towards women were changing, but more needed to be done.
"No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation, we really need to challenge the concept of that male sense of entitlement about using violence," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"When we think about crime in our community, any type of violent crime particularly, we have an issue around gender.
"That's obviously not saying all men are violent and that's not saying there's something inherently evil in men, it's something about our culture."
