NEWS UPDATE

Work again everyone - sorry - here are a few:

Men's Hour (15 07 12): Male circumcision debate, prostate cancer and eating disorders

Men's Hour (08 07 12): Lack of lottery bids for men's groups (05.30 in)

The text of the interview is at the end of this piece  - and - while the Big Lottery CEO was a bit condescending towards men and why they don't get involved - he does clearly raise the issue about groups who proclaim to be for everyone - are only playing lip service to supporting men. The report from The Big Lottery Fund is here.

IEA Debate with Mike Buchanan on the gender diversity delusion: why companies shouldn't 'improve' gender diversity.

BBC Wales - BBC ex-servicemen banned from job because of beard

The Guardian -  German mayor defends 'men only' parking spaces

Posted by Skimmington

Men's Hour

 Projects helping men are five times less likely to
apply for Lottery funding than those projects helping women. The Big Lottery
Fund has looked into the figures and believes the fear of being stigmatised or
the pressure to man up and deal with stuff alone could be behind this trend.

 Peter Wanless, CEO of the Big Lottery Funds, said
"We looked at a range of projects and discovered in a three year period
there were five times as many projects aimed directly at women than men, perhaps
more surprisingly, a significant minority of all the projects we funded who
were aimed at everybody were struggling to attract men to what they were trying
to achieve - despite the issues they were interested in being of relevance to
men.

 Tim Samuels - "Let's try and unpick this - is
it a question of men not seeking help - is it men not putting the applications
in, in the first place.”

 Peter - "I think there are some deep and
fundamental issues that underpin these findings, that are around the ability of
men to ask for help, to organise themselves, to seek assistance. We know there
are scary facts and figures around mental health problems and challenges facing
men especially young to middle-aged men and Five Live has done some brilliant
stuff about depression in sports stars.

 Peter – “Any there aren't that many well-being
projects particularly aimed at addressing those male issues and even where they
are they are more naturally attracting the participation of women more than men
- perhaps because women are more comfortable talking about these issues
through, more able and willing to take time off work, to participate in this
sort of activity, so there are some deep and societal issues underpinning this

 Tim – “So it’s not about men being a bit disorganised
about getting their applications in - it’s a much wider societal question about
men not coming together to ask for help”

 Peter – “Yes I think that is right but what is fascinating
- it is possible that Big Lottery has been supporting brilliant organisations
to identify ways in which men can be helped to cope with situation. some men
will enjoy and be part of targeted programmes for men but many others just want
to access a service but it is not easy. Some of us who have young children for example may
well go to a parenting projecting but it is for mums. Don't leave it to chance,
don’t assume if projects is available to men, they will come along. You have to
think carefully about how to engage and attract men to these important services.”

 

Comments

[Paul]

Re the Men's Hour item

This raises a fundamental issue about men's rights and, very importantly, why men do not and often cannot claim those rights. In how many areas of life do we hear the same refrain: "the services and opportunities etc are available for men, but they just don't come forward and claim them, or show any willing to fight for them..."

I believe it points up something in male nature that the way these services are delivered, fails to take into account: men are just not as demanding as women when it comes to reaching out and taking what is on offer. So putting a service out there and waiting for people to present themselves, works well for women but badly for men. We will always let women and children go first, then maybe take what crumbs are left...or maybe not at all. Responding only to demands will play into the hands of women, who are the more demanding sex. It is always the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.

Those services, particularly in the health field, need to provide more outreach if they are going to give men a fair crack of the whip. But sadly wherever there is any outreach, it is nearly always for women only. Look at the national screening programmes for cancer, where the NHS gets off its backside for once and actually invites people to attend for screening. But who gets 100% of the invitations? There are only screening programmes for women, none for men. Instead we are expected to detect our own symptoms, put ourselves ahead of everyone and everything else (i.e. become a bit selfish) and seek out help in an environment that is so often either hostile or indifferent to our needs. It goes completely against the grain for most men. No wonder so many men die of cancer, even the more treatable ones.

I see only two possible solutions: either these services have to change and adapt more to men's ways of doing things - which certainly means far more outreaching, and becoming much more male-friendly - or, men have to learn to do things for themselves. One such project is to offer health advice to men online. This is a big improvement, allowing men to access information in their own way and their own time, not needing to take time off work, and not needing to attend a surgery where they may be made to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. We need much more of this kind of approach.

Other areas can be of more benefit to men in similar ways. We can access knowledge online or through our own research, instead of having to make do with information filtered by others before it reaches us - such as through the anti-male state education sector ot through the anti-male mainstream media.

I guess what I am really advocating here is for men to go their own way - MGTOW actually works well for men, and can be applied in so many areas. Be your own boss and be your own champion, because nobody else will fill that role for you.