The Rights Of Man

AIRDRIE REBELLION AGAINST ALL-WOMEN SHORTLISTS

One of the themes of the site has been to highlight the use of all-women shortlists by the Labour Government to ban men in the Labour Party from being able to stand for Parliament (link and link).

One of the arguments beyond the fact that all-women shortlists are by their very nature sexist, is the fact that men are being prevented from representing their community because of the gender. This is particularly pernicious and has for the coming General Election meant that in seats 29 Labour have banned local men from being their candidate,

In the 2005 General Election, Peter Law became a hero (link) by resigning from the Labour Party and winning when standing as an independent becuase they banned him from standing for his local community.

Now in Airdrie (Scotland),the same could happen. The Scotsman and Herald report (link and link) that Labour supporters in the seat are up in arms because they will have an all-women shortlist imposed on them meaning that they will not be able to choose North Lanarkshire councillor, Jim Logue, as their candidate.

What is also chilling is that the Labour Party clearly state in their argument that if a man retires (John Reid,in this case),the seat must go to a women. Notice how the Labour spindoctor does not mention ' the best person for the job' etc, all that counts is that it cannot be a man.

FALSELY ACCUSED OF RAPE IN WANDSWORTH - NO APOLOGY FROM POLICE

One of the most pernicious crimes that a woman can commit against a man is to accuse him of raping her. Obviously rape is an awful crime and those who are guilty must be punished severely but when false accusations are made (often with the man being named) the man they are stigmatised for life.

There seems to be an increase in cases coming to the fore which is of great concern (link, link, link) to those men accused but also the genuine cases which probably make it harder for female who have been raped to come forward.

This particular case (link) is one of the most pernicious as it mean two teenagers spent months behind bars. As the article suggests the police do not seem to be remotely interested in the damage done to the boys, they have received no apology and are stigmatised.

Glenn Sacks in his commentary (link) says these boys are just 'collateral damage'. Very true.

TOGETHER WE CAN END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS: HOME OFFICE SHOWS DETERMINATION TO IGNORE MEN

As the embarrassing spectacle subsides after the Chief Executive of Refuge challenged the Home Secretary live on camera after she accused her of PR and spin about the Together we can end violence against women and girls campaign, it has to be remembered how determined the Home Office are in ignoring the plight of male victims of domestic violence.

Despite all of the BBC coverage (link) and the British Crime Survey figures showing two in five victims are male (link), the Government just simply refuses to accept it.

If they really did believe in equality then the campaign would also be about ending violence against boys and men. All of the wording is just aimed at men and boys as perpetrators.

Whilst much of the coverage just swallowed the 'only the women are victims line' some of the messages are getting through. Some may have been missed (grateful for any further examples of challenge) but some challenges include:-

Andrew Castle on GMTV repeatedly asked the Home Secretary (about 7.15am) 'what about men' and she just flustered and refused to give an answer.

Channel 4 ran a landmark report which is available for viewing (link) which compared the figures in reported crime (85% women/15% men to the anonymous British Crime Survey 64% women/36% men). The Government incredulously said they had no plans for a similar campaign for men which Channel 4 audibly scoffed at.

There may be others but a year ago there would have been none.

If there is any bias, complain, especially if it is on the BBC because they have produced so much coverage they cannot deny it.

People can also reply to the Government consultation.

The battle for full recognition continues but at some stage the breakthrough has to be made.

Coverage round-up (BBC, Press Association, Telegraph, The Times, Telegraph, Mail)  

HARMAN AND OTHER ANTI-MALE FEMINISTS EXPOSED FOR RECESSION UNTRUTHS

In February a post (link) outlined how Labour's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, the anti-male movement and others were using the recession as an indirect way to attack men and an opportunity to call for more special treatment for women. It was almost as as if the recession did not affect men as well (and of course, their wives/girlfriends/daughters!). They said that women would suffer more than men and Harman said she would not let women become victims of the recession (link).

A number of key issues occurred last week.

The increasingly hysterical anti-male organisation The Fawcett Society launched a document 'Are women bearing the burden of the recession' (link) which called for gender quotas and described 'The collapse of financial institutions has vividly demonstrated how power in our major corporate rests almost exclusively in the hands of white men.' It deliberately says the recession is 'man-made' (link) which clearly shows the organisation is not being rational or objective but is actually at the forefront of attacks on men. It no longer tries to hide it.

A special summit from all over the country in key positions to 11 Downing Street for a session on 'Women and the Recession' (link).

There were debates, to celebrate International Women's Day and the effects of the recession on women, in both the UK Parliament (link) and Scottish Parliament (link).

Vitally, the official public statistics provider Office of National Statistics (link) produced a report which exposed the untruths of Harman, The Fawcett Society, The TUC and all those other anti-male groups.

 The ONS' published figures (link) that showed that:-

Redundancy rate (Oct to Dec 08) - 13.6/1,000 (men) and 6.6/1,000 (women)

Employment rate (Oct to Dec 08) - 1.0% fall (men) and 0.3% (women).

The ONS explain this could be due to more women being employed in the public sector which has not suffered in the recession.

The statistics completely and utterly demolish the untruths and the myths that the biggest victims of the recession are women. This gender war myth has been exposed because it was built on sand, there was no evidence.

The recession can no longer be 'captured' by Harman et al as a ruse to talk up women (at the cost of men) and demand special treatment for women. Both men and women are suffering in this recession.

This recession argument shows that the tactics of the anti-male feminists is that if you keep telling the same lie it will eventually become the truth.

We must work hard to expose it time and time again

Coverage of the ONS figures that exposed Harman are here:- (Daily Mail, People Management, Yahoo, Telegraph, This is London and FT). 

INTERNATIONAL MEN'S DAY 2009 - WILL THERE BE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES?

This week, both the UK Parliament (link) and Scottish Parliament (link) had full scale debates on International Women's Day (which is today).

As it is International Men's Day on 19th November, I am looking forward to a similar debate...

DEMANDS FOR A MAP OF GAPS FOR MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

Earlier on this year, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission launched a Map of Gaps campaign based on the lack of services for female victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence (link).

The charity, The ManKind Initiative, has asked the Commission to launch a similar campaign for male victims. The letter to Trevor Phillips is here.

Now let us see if the Equalities Commission truly believes in equality.

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND ALSO HAS A FEATURE ON MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

Just like buses, BBC Radio Scotland also has a feature on male victims here

THE BBC'S ONE SHOW HIGHLIGHTS MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

The BBC yesterday (5th March 2009) produced another superb documentary on male victims of domestic violence and domestic abuse.

The BBC handled the subject sensitively and also importantly interviewed both Dr Malcolm George and Erin Pizzey who were able to talk about some of the 'political' and 'social' barriers that male victims face.

Particularly wonderful was the comment from the actor Julian Fellowes about "The strong feminist agenda of the last ten years which has insisted that violence is essentially from men to women."Worth the licence fee alone and you can bet that some people watching that who would have choked on their linguine!

The programme is available at:- Realplayer.

If other readers know a better way of playing it please help (John Kimble perhaps)

A blog is also here