A PR trick invented in the 90's in terms of political discourse and much loved by Clinton and Blair was triangulation.
This is where you take two different issues (or groups of voters) and find a way of enabling both issues to conjoin. Blair did it by convincing Labour's traditional voters and disillusioned Tory voters that he was on both of their sides at the same time. He won three elections on the back of it!
The relevance here is the use of triangulation by anti-male campaigners. A classic example is in this piece of utterly biased and sexist research from Houston that appeared in the Daily Mail. The issue raised by the 'researchers' is that:
Women who work are more likely to be abused by male partners than women who don't, a study has found.
Here we see the triangulation of domestic abuse and working women. The whole aim of the research is to demonise men so that working women fear having successful careers and a husband/partner. The issue is compounded when the research does not seem to look at whether a man is more likley to be a victim if he and his wife/partner have successful careers, just the women.
On other domestic abuse news, we see an article in the Daily Telegraph about the effect of the recession of domestic abuse (19% rise over three years) where while the NCDV's comments are gender neutral the picture and comments from Refuge are obviously not. The journalist takes the easy option to portray men as the perpetrators when I suspect any increase is actually committed by men and women (and of course - more men are committing suicide because of the recession).
Yvette Cooper a few weeks ago 'forgot' that male victims exist and Rahila Gupta in the Guardian does not believe there is such a thing as a male victim. The article is written as if it is straight from a set text on a typical men-hating gender studies course.
Fortunately, more grassroots organisations are ignoring this and providing services based on reality - as can be seen in Redcar.
Posted by Skimmington
Skimmington, the Daily Telegrapg is at fault by
1 - yet again choosing a biased picture
2 - printing only comments from the Refuge side of the story.
What stops them from changing the picture and referencing comments from other "gender neutral" groups?
It's the media again!!
Posted by: Dave | Friday, 07 December 2012 at 18:56
It is interesting that Horley from Refuge wants actually to challenge a link with the recession. This is because if DV is linked with social stress then it's behaviour that is situational rather than " gendered". In other words it's not about male power but social distress. Of course the latter is true, as with most crime. This links with Gupta who complains about gender neutral local authorities. Again local authorities have to deal with reality rather than the "radical" ideas of Guardianistas and their pals in government. Hence she opposes such pro feminists as White Ribbon as even they question the misandry of Gupta by being feminist friendly.
Posted by: Groan | Friday, 07 December 2012 at 23:46
Dave + Groan
I've all but given up on the supposedly 'right of centre' papers. The Teleraph is HOPELESS on gender matters, while the Times printed a Jack Straw piece the other day which was toe-curlingly embarrassing (about 'white males).
Mike Buchanan
ANTI-FEMINISM LEAGUE
http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com
Posted by: Mike Buchanan | Saturday, 08 December 2012 at 01:15
Mike,
I only just viewed the Parliment TV video. You did a great job, by the way, and I found it extremely encouraging that you are in a position to get heard. You emphasised your points very well indeed, as did Steve. Have you been on Woman's hour yet, or at least applied? There was a guy speaking on Woman's hour on Thursday about objectificaion of men these days and asking why it's an acceptable double standard in much of our media these days (one of my pet hates because I think it has deeper, negative influence than people would care to realise). He did a grand job with his argument and Jenny appeared to agree at one stage. It's worth a listen.
What I'd really like to see is a much more generalised interview with someone like you talking about discrimination against men in general and spouting a plethora of statistically proven evidence in the direction of the interviewer (and the listener) which is hard to refute.
What are the chances?
Posted by: Dave | Saturday, 08 December 2012 at 09:58
Mike read your piece on AVfM. Very clear and sensible. After many years contact with feminists it is clear that what is most effective is repeating and making public facts. Gender feminism is a faith and flees from data in favour of emotional appeals. Hence the concentration on scary but rare crimes such as FGM rape dv and so on. Linked other favourites such as page three Internet porn etc. A sense of anxiety is created and fed upon. So they still have audiences at a time when women live long in historical prosperity with more choices than any beings in human history. Keep on with the FOIs too.
Posted by: Groan | Saturday, 08 December 2012 at 23:13
Dave, thanks for the kind words. There was a 'Woman's Hour' programme recently about the 'Women in the Workplace' inquiry, a female (Tory) MP was being quizzed in the studio, and there was a a phone-in. I had a long discussion with a (male) researcher beforehand and he said they might ask me to contribute (with me on my mobile).
20 minutes before the end of the programe they called and said I'd be on. But the minutes ticked by and one minute from the end they said I wouldn't be called. On reflection I think they just wanted to give me the illusion of being open to challenging voices without actually planning to do so.
I've written to 'Woman's Hour' a number of times over recent years and never even received an acknowledgement. It should be retitled 'Feminists' Hour'. Not long ago I sent the show's producer an open letter (again, no response):
http://c4mb.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/an-open-letter-to-womans-hour/
The BBC very occasionally gives anti-feminist voices airtime, and some months ago I was in a studio discussion with Martha Kearney:
http://c4mb.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/interview-with-martha-kearney-transcript/
The fight goes on!
Mike Buchanan
ANTI-FEMINISM LEAGUE
http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com
CAMPAIGN FOR MERIT IN BUSINESS
http://c4mb.wordpress.com
Posted by: Mike Buchanan | Saturday, 08 December 2012 at 23:17
Groan, many thanks. Swayne O'Pie in 'Why Britain Hates Men: Exposing Feminism' - just reduced to £9.95 inc p&p from http://exposingfemimnism.co.uk - has a lot to say on the feminist strategy of exaggerating DV, rape stats etc to make women fear men and therefore hate them, in order to create employment for legions of professional feminists.
Posted by: Mike Buchanan | Saturday, 08 December 2012 at 23:24
The Guardian piece is exquisite in how it exposes the thought processes of these womyn. We need more of it!
Posted by: wobs | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 14:37
Hi Mike, Just read your interview with Martha. All I can say is good on you for sticking your neck out on behalf of us guys and speaking the truth. Do me a favour, Mike, I’m begging you, next time you get some public air time, right bang in the middle of the interview where they can’t cut it very easily, can you ask them ever so nicely why we don’t see women (or some men for that matter) pushing for quotas in other public and private areas in order to improve gender bias and improve our economy? Perhaps you could suggest a push towards straightening out the bias related to construction work, infrastructure development, residential and industrial building work, or other danger related, unsociable, dirty (yet all critical to the growth of our economy) jobs.
You could also mention the causal link between these types of jobs (which it appears women don’t want to be associated with) and the Health and Safety risks associated with them. Swiftly followed by a question asking whether they believe only men and boys should be trained and encouraged to fulfil these slots in the fabric of our society, whilst women are only encouraged to aim for the safe, privileged slots?
Posted by: Dave | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 22:04
Thanks Groan. You make a good point. Over 98% of work-related deaths are of men. Men dominate the dangerous / unpleasant / unsocial hours / time away from home jobs - those in the 'glass cellar'. In 'Why Britain Hates Men' Swayne O'Pie points out that in an American survey 24 of the most extreme 25 such jobs were almost 100% male-dominated. I pointed this out to a feminist recently and she said this was because men excluded women from such work. Priceless.M
Posted by: Mike Buchanan | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 23:22
Sorry. I meant, of course, 'Thanks Dave', Doh!
Posted by: Mike Buchanan | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 23:25
"she said this was because men excluded women from such work...."
But we don't see them fighting for quotas in those areas. Whereas plenty of energy goes into fighting for quotas in high-paid, clean and safe areas of our economy. Funny, that.
Posted by: Dave | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 23:32
Absolutely Dave. It is only in recent years that the HSE has started to publish some data on the sex of people killed and seriously injured. Related to this is the little known fact that the majority of disabled adults below retirement age are men. Generally figures include older people and because women are in the majority in older age then they are a majority of those with age related disability. One way or another the disposability of males and their roles in the glass cellar mean many are literally broken if not disposed of. Fortunately deaths at work have become rarer over the decades perhaps more concerning are the number of serious injuries, often with permanent consequences. As you say all the gender feminist energy goes into nice office jobs. Working to build, maintain,repair and run our environment and all it's comforts it appears is ignored completely. For all the "Rosy the riveter" rhetoric of the past it seems a woman's place is in an office.
Posted by: Groan | Monday, 10 December 2012 at 23:59
Informants with a disability were also asked if any of their conditions resulted from an accidental injury. Overall, disabled men (19%) were more likely than disabled women (13%) to report that their condition was a result of an accident, and this gender difference was consistent for all ages except those aged 85 and over. Among those aged 35-44, a third of men with disability cited an accident as the cause of their disability compared with just under a fifth (19%) of women.
Sex differentiated data on disability is very difficult to find for younger age cohorts as most reports appear the regard disability as trumping any other identity.
Posted by: Groan | Tuesday, 11 December 2012 at 00:24