The Rights Of Man

SUNDERLAND OPENS COURT FOR WIFE-BEATERS BUT NO MENTION OF HUSBAND BEATERS

The Sunderland Echo let the cat out of the bag when it announced that Sunderland's new domestic violence court was for wife-beaters (link).

As the article states "Det Insp Foggin believes the introduction of a specialist court in Sunderland would help to boost the number of convictions secured against wife beaters, as well as act as a deterrent."

Obviously any male victims in Sunderland will not be treated symphatically if that is the attitude of their local police force.

Maybe Inspector Foggin should look at the Home Office Research that shows 1 in 4 DV incidents are against men and that men make up 1 in every 3 victims.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BOOK : A MAN IN A WOMAN'S WORLD BY JACKIE HAYDEN

A new book - A Man In A Woman's World - has been published. Written by Jackie Hayden it outlines his disillusionment at the anti-male culture and anti-male sexism in the domestic violence sector in Ireland. A sector that he worked in including four years as Chairman of the Wexford Rape Crisis Centre. His testiimony is therefore unquestionable.

The book is available at (link) or (link).

Two reviews from Ireland show that this is a must read for anyone wanting to read more about the anti-male culture we live in where it is acceptable for those who believe in 'equal opportunities' to berate men.

Eilis O'Hanlon writes in The Independent 'that they can lose the active support of Jackie Hayden is a dreadful indictment of feminists:

'He has seen, too, the way in which problems which afflict men have been sidelined and ignored, and no one seems to find it at all strange that they should be, while those affecting women are automatically assumed to be more important. He even details one shocking incident when, in a piece he had written for Hot Press, he mentioned the need to help victims of domestic abuse "to return to a life of non-violence that is the human right of every woman, man and child", and was urged by the female director of the Wexford Centre to drop the word "man" from the sentence because it was "inappropriate in the context".

'He has seen how women are allowed to joke about men in a belittling and derogatory way and no offence is allowed to be taken, whereas men are "permanently under scrutiny and threat" for the slightest remark. He knows that relations between the sexes are constantly shifting and under negotiation -- "Human behaviour," he writes, "is not robotically controlled." But still feminists speak as if all social and sexual interaction can be subject to cast-iron rules, with the severest punishments for transgression.'

The full article is here (link)

John Waters from the Irish Times stated: 'Hayden tells of his disquiet at the level of anti-male sexism and hostility he encountered within the rape crisis and women's aid networks. Somewhat typical of his and my generation, he describes growing up in the rock 'n' roll counter-culture and being easily persuaded that sexism against women was wrong and violence against women utterly unacceptable. But, in the trenches with feminist activists, he found the dream gradually unravelling.

'Conditioned by feminism to avoid any form of sexism, he found himself "confronted with sexism almost at every turn". Many women he worked with "revealed themselves as harbouring a cynicism about men in general that was profound and far-reaching"'.

THE SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON MEN

In a fantastic commentary piece in the Independent on 20th November, Philip Hensher, articulates the social acceptability of domestic violence on men by women.

He uses the example of the infamous MFI advertisement showing a women hit her husband because he left the toilet seat up.

Please read, it is one of the best articles of its kind to appear in the national newspapers for many a year (link).

THE DISGRACE OF THE ALL MEN ARE BASTARDS KNIFEBLOCK

Following on from the Superdrug punchbag and MFI stories (link), the site has been alerted to this sick product from the 'I Want One of Those' web-site (link). Entitled 'All Men Are Bastards Knifeblock', it is meant to be a joke product. It is no joke if you are man that has been stabbed by your female partner.

The site tries to justify its sale by passing off views from customers saying how it great it is. 

It just shows how socially acceptable female violence on men is, whilst rightly male violence against female is not acceptable. Could you imagine the outcry if the roles were reversed on the knifeblock from the Fawcett Society, the Minister for Women etc? The double standards of the politcially correct.

 

   

SUPERDRUG WITHDRAW PUNCHBAG ENCOURAGING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN

Following a complaint from The ManKind Initiative (link), Superdrug have withdrawn from their stores an inflatable punch-bag that encouraged women to hit men. They have also pledged to donate any profits to the charity that helps male domestic violence victims.

The box and the punch bag encouraged the owner to insert a photograph of a man where the face is. In addition, the box and punch bag has an arrow pointing to the head stating ‘hit him here’ and an arrow pointing to the groin stating ‘kick him here’.

Mark Brooks, Chairman of The ManKind Initiative, said: “As a charity that receives hundreds of calls a year from distressed men suffering from domestic violence, it is disgraceful that a national retailer like Superdrug should be openly selling products encouraging such acts. We are demanding that they remove these offensive ‘Christmas gifts’ immediately.

“The fact that Superdrug rightly does not sell a similar product encouraging domestic violence against women or violence against animals suggests violence against a man is more acceptable. This is characteristic of the brick wall that male victims face in terms of lack of support, understanding and acceptance.”

Thankfully Superdrug acted responsibly in removing the offedning items from their stores.

The story was covered in The Guardian (link), The Times (link) and elsewhere (link), (link) and (link).

 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS WEEK 2007 PROVES INSTITUTIONALISED SEXISM : NO SUPPORT FOR MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Over the past two weeks, this site has been collecting on-line stories coming from the 2007 domestic violence awareness week. I would also thank those from Mensaid (link) for sending over information.

What has been instructive is that with all of the pledges, promises and comments from politicians and the state, there has been nothing for men. Not a comment, not a grant, not anything.

The reason that this is proof of institutionalised sexism is the fact the Home Office itself recognises that 1 in 6 men will be a domestic violence victim in their lifetime (1 in 4 women) and that at least 1 in every 3 acts of domestic violence is against a man. Yet, they, other politicians and the state in general choose intentionally to turn a blind eye to helping these victims. They know it happens but choose do nothing about it.

Below are a selection of comments and pledges with the links to the relevant pages to prove the point.

Home Office Press Release

The Home Secretary has called on men everywhere to make a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women. (link)

Nothing about violence against men.

GMTV : Crisis centre shortage

Victims of domestic violence are being subjected to a postcode lottery. Victims of rape and domestic violence have no crisis centres or refuges to go to in some parts of Britain, according to a report published today. The Commission's chair, Trevor Phillips, said the organisation may take legal action in a year's time under gender equality legislation to ensure women have access to services. (link)

No mention from Mr Phillips about any legal action to ensure men have access to services, especially as practically none exist anywhere in the UK.

Peterborough Today - White Ribbon Day

The White Ribbon campaign aims to get men to stand up for women, and help to stop abuse in the home. Jemma Walton reports.

Men attacking the women they live with isn't the woman's problem. It's our problem. (link).

So the 1 in 6 men who will be domestic violence victims in their lifetime is not a problem?

£40 million in Scotland to tackle domestic violence.

Scotland's Children's minister Adam Ingram has outlined £40 million of proposals to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women.(link)

Nothing for male victims in Scotland

Other stories ignoring male victims include campaigns fronted by footballers can be found here: (link) and (link).

MALE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS INCREASE IN SUFFOLK

A report on the East Anglian Daily Times shows that there has been a 20% increase in male victims in the area. The full article is here (link) and the following points are from the article:-

"MORE than 1,000 men reported incidents of domestic violence in Suffolk last year, new figures reveal.

Campaigners say efforts to encourage male victims of abuse to come forward are working and have recorded a 20% increase in reports in the past 12 months.

During 2006/07, 5,500 reports of domestic violence were made in the county, of which 1,100 were made by men."

What is encouraging is that the authorities in Suffolk are taking this issue seriously especially as they held a one-day conference on the issue. More and more recognition is now becoming apparent that male victims need help and can no longer be ignored. It is about time other authorities followed Suffolk's lead.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS WEEK : NOVEMBER 2007

Each November, there is a national domestic violence week and this month will be no different (dates not yet found but sources have informed me).This site will be monitoring the activities of the authorities and the media.

If any readers spot any posters, campaigns and media stories that do not mention male victims as well as female victims, then please report them to [email protected]

Many thanks

The Editor

CIVITAS E-BOOK : WHO ARE THE VICTIMS : WOMEN OR MEN?

Civitas, the instute for the study of civil society, have been leading champion against the all pervaisve world of political correctness. This has included questioning the anti9-male world we live in and the discrimination that men face.

A new e-book has been added to their list (link) called "Who are the Victims - Women or Men?" (link)

The book examines the experiences in domestic violence matters by Erin Prizzey.

In addition, it also has an expert piece on the myth of the gender pay gap by JR Shackleton and P Urwin.

All Civitas pamphlets are worth looking at and a number on the subject of male discrimination are listed in the bottom right column of this site.

EQUAL RIGHTS CHARITY, PARITY, REVAMP WEB-SITE

Britain's only genuinely equal rights campaigning group, Parity, have revamped their web-site (link). It is first rate.

PARITY have been a trailblazing organisation fighting for equality. PARITY was first formed in 1986 as the Campaign for Equal State Pension Ages, a wholly voluntary organisation concerned with the equal rights of men and women. 

It has led where other supposedly equal rights groups like the now defunct Equal Opportunities Commission and other feminist organisations have hid away because they did not want to support genuine equality. They only support women's causes and nothing will change under the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

Through litigation in the courts applying European Union or European Convention law binding (by statute or treaty) in the UK, PARITY has instigated cases resulting in:

• equal qualifying ages for men and women - for exemption from NHS prescription charges (1995), for winter fuel payments (2000), and for local bus travel concessions (2003), and
• equal treatment for widowers and widows in survivors social security benefits and bereavement tax allowances (2000).

Their new web-site also includes sections on men's health, boy's education, sex discrimination, equal parenting and also male victims of domestic abuse.