NO MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE EXIST IN WEST YORKSHIRE - ACCORDING TO LOCAL POLICE

A few posts ago, it was highlighted how the Coalition Government did not believe that any men suffer from domestic abuse over Christmas and whether there were any other sexist campaigns being organised (at taxpayers expense) by any other statutory body.

Normally, the campaigns will only highlight female victims but not male victimss. Sexual discrimination by omission especially when according to the government one in three victims of domestic abuse are men.

Well up popped this corker from West Yorkshire police. You get a poster all over the region and in GP surgeries etc asking for female victims to come forward plus posters for male perpertrators to come forward and stop and even a video for you to enjoy.

Even the list of organisations at the bottom of the web page do not even mention the Men's Advice Line or the ManKind Initiative (often at least one will be included so an organisation can say "we do care about men as well").

If you are a man (and your children) and are suffering from domestic abuse at Christmas in West Yorkshire - they police do not recognise you exist.

Such a blatant example of institutional sexism by West Yorkshire Police who fail to understand that equality means equality for all victims of domestic abuse.

Posted by Skimmington 

Comments

[Sam Brown]

Your story is flawed. WYP have frequently targeted male victims too, Inc recently this same sex campaign : http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/?Page=4078%7CSame+Sex+Domestic+Violence

[Groan]

I think this story and the one about the government campaign reflects the success of the Violence against Women and Girls strategy. It has effectively countered the slow but steady progress in recent years in getting male victims. After all who could not be against end harm to women and girls? Of course most men are very protective and will support
this not realising the hidden agenda. Too Few take a close enough look at equality and just accept the myths . This is not about gender as many of those in the forefront of support for male victims are women,

[J.MacKie]

Sam Brown | Friday, 17 December 2010 at 07:53...Cannot see the flaw myself. As the author stated, the posters show the females as victims and the males as perpetrators.
Of course, in same sex campaign, the male gets to be a victim with advice line contacts in the LGBT community listed.
Samantha,where are the posters where the male is the victim and the female is the perpetrator with male victim contact lines?
Doesn't happen according to our wonderful coalition government.

[John Kimble]

I'm assuming that West Yorkshire police are based in Leeds.

It's worth remembering that Leeds was a hub for some quite horrific gender feminists starting from the 1970s (ones who were so extreme they thought it was wrong to even have a relationship with a man)

They were quite well organised and if they were like any other gender feminists one of the first things they would have done is to hijack the local domestic violence policies for political purposes.

[Jenny]

Sorry Sam(antha), like J MacKie I can't see the flaw either. It's quite clear WYP do not recognise male victims of female assailants. As far as they're concerned, the only time a man can be a victim of DV is when the assailant is also a man.

The police are institutionally sexist so it's not surprising that they apply the same (lack of) principles when dealing with the public.

[West Yorkshire Police]

Can we point out that although the recent campaign is targeted at women victims, who make up the majority of victims, the iniative is also there to help male and same-sex victims, and our press release makes a reference to this:

"Domestic abuse covers psychological, emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse between adults who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members. Men and women are affected including those in same sex relationships".

"We really want to encourage ALL victims to report incidents so positive action can be taken which could reduce the risk of them becoming a repeat victim as well as highlighting the help and support available to them. Our campaign also aims to demonstrate that firm action will be taken against ALL perpetrators - male and female".

Read more here :
http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/?Page=130|Domestic+Violence

Thank you.

[J.MacKie]

"Men and women are affected including those in same sex relationships".
The first three letters of the above sentence seem to be the only reference by West Yorkshire Police of men being victims outside of same sex relationships.
Why don't WYP get a new lot of posters to put round the community. They could have a picture of a woman crossing off time on a cell wall and of a male victim having x number of assaults against them.
Does WYP's comment indicate how feminised and anti-male they are when to even portray a male victim and a female perpetrator seems an impossibility?
So much for males benefitting from the government's Gender Equality Duty.
P.S. Is Sam Brown (Friday, 17 December 2010 at 07:53) employed by WYP to sift blogs for the words "West Yorkshire Police"? If so can we hope that forthcoming public sector cuts will make her post redundant?

[Groan]

I do have to defend the Police to an extent. I find that it is often that the police who ,dealing with the messy reality, do at least try to resond to men as victims. Indeed may years ago it was a police woman that alerted me to the fact that a particular instance of a male victim was part of a wider and unrecognised problem.
The real culprits are the political masters and the CPS. Often the police deal with situations knowing that the CPS courts and home office doesn't want to know.
Of couse this isn't to deny that many men don't get a proper hearing from the police , and we know they are reluctant to contact the police. However the real targets should be those who have cleverly redefined domestic violence as Violence against Women. I'm sure the funding for WYP will have come with explicit strings to the Violence Against Women strategy which the Coalition has adopted so fulsomely.

[Skimmington]

J Mackie at 24/12/10

You are completely right to point out about the fact that there is no campaign encouraging male heterosexual victims to come foreard and my point would always be that all generic coampiagns should be aimed at all victims (why does gender matter)- there is no reason why this cmapaign should not have been aimed at victims of both genders.

However, it unfair to have a go at WYP or Sam Brown, when his site is glad it is being read by the authorities and that they are responding. This is the point of making male equality issues more of a mainstream issue.

PR officers at WYP also I presume would be monitoring blogs as well as newspapers so it would be normal practice for them to respond. It is welcome that they have, we wish they all would.

We may not agree with them but it is a good thing they are responding.