The Rights Of Man

MESSAGE IS GETTING THROUGH TO COUNCILS ON HELPING MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

Thank you to readers for sending through the stories in the Telegraph (link) and Observer (link) about UK council's using the Gender Equality Duty (link) to try to achieve refuge provision for male victims in their communities.

The complaints by Women's Aid on funding problems because they have to include men for the first time may seem rich to some but they make an important point.

Firstly, female victims do need support so the issue is that is it right to ask an organisation and its refuges to take in men or set up male services?

I would think not, it is better to have organisations in local communities specifically geared to helping men. This could include support and advice from current refuge providers such as Women's Aid but there is more to it than just putting a roof over a man's head, especially if children are involved. There has to be special care aimed at male victims who suffer additionally from the social unacceptance and lack of recognition.

In addition, council's need to make sure they provide specific informational campaigns for men and have specialist training in helping male victims.

As council's have neglected male victims in their communities for decades, it is a bit of sledgehammer to crack a nut to force a women's charity down this path. It would be better if the council's took a step back and assessed what they need to do to specifically meet the needs of male victims, either setting up their own organisations, asking housing association's to set up specific refuges for men (some already do) or asking other charities/organisations that already help male victims.

There is also a risk of igniting a  'gender war' (yes I know there is one already) by trying to take away services for female victims and giving them to male victims. No reasonable man wants to see services cut for women, what we need is extra funding and attention on helping male victims, who after all, account for 40% of the victims in the UK.

Setting this aside though, at least things are changing even if it still seems glacial.        

MEN'S HEALTH WEEK : 15TH TO 21ST JUNE

The Men's Health Forum's annual Health Week is being held this year from 15th to 21st June.

They are holding local and national events and a link is available here (link).

SHAMEFUL 'UNIVERSITY' REPORT UNDERMINES BOYS AND BRITISH MEDIA LAP IT UP

A story produced by the University of Ulster came out yesterday (link) that said that sisters spread happiness while brothers breed distress. These so-called academics quizzed a mere 571 people aged 17 to 25 about their lives and found those who grew up with sisters were more likely to be happy and balanced.

This was covered throughout the UK media (BBC, GMTV, Times, Independent, Telegraph, Mail)

There are a number of specific issues:-

Firstly, the sample size is small (only 579) and because of the myriad of ways that families are constructed (for example, two sisters with one brother or one sister and two brothers etc) these conclusions cannot be drawn. In addition, the research is not quantitative or objective, it is based on   the subjective opinions of those surveyed.

Each family is unique - will have different incomes, make up, parental attitudes, geography etc so you cannot draw these types of general conclusions without understanding each family's background.

Plus of course, with the discrimination that boys face especially poor schooling because the education system is geared towards girls plus the problems many boys face if they have no male role models (especially if there is no father in the home because of the family court system), this would also need to be taken into account.

What is concerning is that because this has been produced by 'experts' at a 'university', it is given plenty of coverage by the media even though it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There is no quote from anyone anywhere in the coverage that challenges this so all the UK media have done is taken the spin from the university (who make it as sensationalist as possible to get the coverage) and rehashed it unthinkingly. Not one journalist has stepped back for a minute and thought about challenging it.

It also means that it is now too easy for every brother in the land to be labelled and stigmatised as a problem - someone who causes distress. And of course, the generalist nature of it all means that the report is basically stating all sisters are good, when as outlined in this debate on the BBC (link), it is not true.

What this 'university' and the so-called 'experts' are doing is saying girls=good, boys=bad, and the media, because it is socially acceptable to attack boys/men, play along with it. Shocking but alas, not surprising. 

Could you imagine the coverage if their research said it was sisters who caused distressed? It would be very little, if any.

EQUALITIES COMMISSION MAKES CASE FOR INCREASING SUPPORT FOR INCREASING PATERNITY LEAVE

The UK's Equalities and Human Rights Commission made the case this week for increasing paternity leave for men, though it has catches (link). It is part of their campaign to de-genderise parental care.

It has not been reviewed fully so welcome any thoughts or comments.

It does seem somewhat patronising describing for instance 'By supporting men to be good fathers' as if they are not good fathers already, just because some continue to work through a child's first year.

At least there is some recognition of the value of fathers, now that is a radical change!