A TD says how women are viewed in society, including messages about bodies and relationships, has to change.
People Before Profit's Bríd Smith was speaking following the disappearance of Sarah Everard in England.
The 33-year-old went missing in south London just over a week ago, and on Friday it was confirmed that human remains discovered in woodland in Kent were those of Ms Everard.
A serving London police officer has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.
Sarah Everard. Image via @LambethMPS on TwitterMs Smith told Newstalk Breakfast the entire system is skewed away from the victim.
"I think the fish rots from the head, and I think the way that society deals with sexual violence against women is completely skewed.
"It's skewed away from the victim and away from the needs of the victim - and it can often make women more scared about reporting sexual violence."
Deputy Smith said the problem is deep-rooted and systemic.
"A lot of it has to do with the sort of skewed and twisted way of viewing sex and sexuality and power. A lot of it is to do with power, and a powerlessness as well.
"I think that we've got to think about how we educate young men and young women about the sort of society they grow up in.
"But the messages are so mixed - everywhere you look the kind of messages about bodies and body imaging, how relationships work are very, very distorted.
"That's distorted by the kind of society we live in - often it's around what works, what makes money, what people want to buy, what people are forced to buy to see themselves as.
"A lot of this is very much the fish rots from the head: that society gives all the wrong messages out about our relationships to each other and how we work together".
An undated photo of Sarah Everard. Picture by Metropolitan Police'The image of women'
She said she believes that until women are de-sexualised, not much will change.
"I think that once that sort of sexualisation of the body, of the image of women, makes money and is used to make money then we're not going to change.
"It's one of the biggest businesses in the world - porn and image abuse - it's a huge business, and as long as it's making money and it's turning over a profit that's the damage that's being done".
#NotAllMen
On women in Ireland sharing their experiences on Twitter after the hashtag #NotAllMen began tending - a reference to the phrase 'not all men are like that' - Deputy Smith said the problem is much wider.
"That's the problem: the problem is that it ends up being about individual men when it's actually a systemic issue.
"It's an issue about how society and advertising and the message goes out about where women are positioned in society and how they're treated.
"And that all has to change".
She also said the underfunding of supports such as Women's Aid and how women are treated in the courts "don't give women the confidence and the freedom to be able to do that stuff that they need to be able to do.
"It's very, very sad and it's very, very dangerous the message that's being sent out".
