The Rights Of Man

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 

GOVERNMENT SAYS MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE DON'T COUNT AT CHRISTMAS

A few weeks ago, this site highlighted the issue about the government's "stop order"trials and how they had been couched in terms of just female victims even they also apply to male victims. This had to be literally dragged out of Lynne Featherstone, the Minister for "Equalities" by Nicky Campbell on Radio 5.

After receiving a tip off from a keen eyed reader, it is now completely clear that the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government is no more interested in male victims of domestic abuse than the previous Labour government.

The government's campaign against domestic abuse at Christmas looks laudable on paper but then you read the press release and watch the video (at the bottom of the release) and there is not one mention of male victims, just female victims.

So men (and their children) suffering at Christmas are not even worthy of a mention. They don't exist according to the government, swept under the carpet

If there are other Christmas campaigns like this or like this one in Lancashire where men don't get a mention but only women do, please list any more in the comments section.

Posted by Skimmington

WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF CHRISTINE JAMES WAS A CHRISTOPHER?

Last week, a Lib Dem Councillor Christine James, who sits on Weymouth and Portland Borough was convicted for assaulting her husband, also a councillor, albeit a Conservative one.

She has said to the Dorset Echo she would not be resigning even though the report also in the paper says she was screaming like a Banshee as she rained bows down on her husband.

As set out clearly by Andy Blackwood from Weymouth, how can this councillor possibly remain elected.

What one of the many issues is that what would have been the reaction of her party (Lib Dems) if Christine was a Christopher. What would the council have said and what would the local refuges/women's groups etc have said.

They would have demanded his on a plate, but because it is a her, then there is a defining silence. That is the hypocrisy that men live under in the UK.

Move along...nothing happening here in Weymouth and Portland...

Posted by Skimmington

Other media coverage - Daily Mail

SPAT IN BRISTOL ON WHETHER ALL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS WRONG

An interesting story broke out last week when Lib Dem Councillor Barbara Janke walked out of an event about ending violence against women. This was part of the UN event (see recent post) which many organisations such as councils and police force forces combine with White Ribbon Day (men to stand up against violence against women) and also domestic abuse awareness week.

We could argue to the cows come home about the UN event and the White Ribbon Day but it is often ends up being sexist when domestic abuse awareness week is wrapped up with it (on purpose of course) because it means domestic violence against men gets lost.

Anyway, the article in Bristol (inldunclduing the reasons by the feminists) and also the response on a feminist website is worth reading. What is amazing is the reaction to anything that feminists disagree with, that is the most telling. They cannot take an alternative view.

Posted by Skimmington

HYPOCRISY IN WEYMOUTH

This week, Councillor Christine James (a campaigner for female victims of domestic abuse) from Weymouth and Portland Council was convicted of physically attacking her husband (also a councillor though he is Conservative and she is a Lib Dem). The report in the Dorset Echo says she she rained punches down on him. 

She received a sentence of an 18 month conditional discharge (basically the judge convicts someone but passes no sentence unless a similar incident occurs) and had to pay £200 in costs. She also refuses to resign from the council.

Now if this was a male councillor there is no way such a weak and pathetic sentence would have been passed. There would have been a campaign of vilification by local women's groups (the local Women's Aid group especially), he would have been disowned by his political group on the council and the council itself would have condemned him. Yet, because the councillor is female nothing of the sort happens and the council itself says it is a 'domestic' and therefore none of its business!  

As an elected member of the community and someone who is meant to lead by example and having broken the law, the councillor has to resign. A male councillor would have come under such pressure he would have no choice, but not a word from the Lib Dems on this council. Eeveryone available would be lining up to condemn him.

As ever, double standards are shown to be norm when it comes to male and female victims or perpertrators of doemstic abuse. Silence and sweep under the carpet, keep moving, there is nothing to see here...

Posted by Skimmington 

Other Media Coverage - Dorset Echo#2, Daily Mail

 

 

 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROTECTION ORDERS AND THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE ON MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL ABUSE

One of the most distressing things when you are a group that continues to fail to get a fair deal is when the media and politics continue and purposely marginalise you. Often and this site has raised it, it is a form of discrimination by omission.

Today, has been a classic example of how discrimination against men continues to be endemic in the uK. It is no surprise on the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls

This morning we were all greeted with the news that the Home Office has made £28 million available to end sexual and domestic violence against women and girls. Not a penny for male victims of sexual and domestic violence.No one is saying women and grils should not be supported who suffer in this way but many men do as well.

There is even a full blown strategy where conveniently the figures are highlighted showing that there are over 1 million women in England and Wales who are victims of domestic abuse and that 1 in 4 will be victim in their lifetime. Conveninetly the facts (as produced from the Home Office and collated by the ManKind Initiative) show that the male equivalent figures are 629,000 and 1 in 6.

The governement also announced (see bottom of press release) that they would pilot domestic violence protection orders in four areas. The quote greeeting everyone in the newspapers and in the media this morning from Home Secretary Theresa May was "Domestic violence is an appalling crime that sees two women per week die at the hands of her attackers." Wait a minute though, one man per fortnight also dies in this way but May does not mention that.

The whole issue of institutional discrimination against male victims of domestic abuse is of course exacerbated, albeit encouraged by a biased quote from the Home Secretary, by the media reporting. Once again, we have a gender neutral policy turned into one that is headlined and prefaced with the words 'wife-beater' or 'powers for police to ban men who abuse women' etc (see end for some examples).

But why instituntional discrimination in the way the orders are portayed by the government and the media?

It is because the orders apply to both male or female perpetrators of domestic abuse. Not only do they have to legally apply to all genders (though we know in a practical sense the police are only very likely to use them against male perpetrators and not female ones) but also because on BBC Radio 5 this morning, the presenter asked the Minister for Equalities, Lynne Featherstone, whether they applied to those who committed domestic violence against men. She said 'yes', but then used the usual caveat that most victims of domestic violence are women, thereby relegating male victims again to second class status.

But would you have known any of that by reading the govenment's annoucements or by reading any of the coverage? Of course not.

Today's announcement on the new money to tackle violence against women and girls (and nothing for men) as well as the deliberately inaccurate portrayal of the domestic violence control orders is another  classic example of the institutional discrimination by omission against men and male victims of domestic abuse.

This form of covert discrimination by omission is worse than overt discrimination because it is deliberately aimed at hiding the truth away. No wonder a government with a Minster for Women (and no Minster for Men) and numerous equalities ministers laugh in the face of men and the true meaning of equality.

Posted by Skimmington 

Examples of some of the worst of the media coverage - Daily Mail  , The Independent, The Guardian, ITN

BRITISH JUSTICE SYSTEM DOES NOT SUPPORT MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE WHILST THE GRASSROOTS DO

The last few months month has seen further progress in ensuring there are more services for male victims of domestic abuse, however, the justice establishment (and part of the media) still do not take their plight seriously or treat them as equals.

A new charity has been set in Scotland called Abused Men in Scotland who run a helpline (great coverage in BBC, The Sun, Scotsman amongst others) plus new services in Boston (Lincolnshire) and  Leicestershire mean that men are able to get more support. There are national charities like the ManKind Initiative out there who provide central support.

On top of this, there is some very good research from the excellent Men's Advisory Project in Northern Ireland who looked at the experiences of male victims they had supported. They like others (Abused Men in Scotland and the ManKind Initiative) do not subscribe to the nonsense anti-male view that domestic abuse is a crime against a gender. Those that believe it is a gendered crime purposely do not want male victims to be supported. 

However, while progress is made on that front the judiciary remain in a contemptible state of denial. Not helped by the stereotyping by the media.

We have already commented on the Equal Treatment Bench Book, a book that is clearly unequal.

Then a week or so ago, we had Judge Millford calling Dennis Long, a man who snapped after 30 years of domestic abuse and killed his wife, 'weak'. This was then picked up by the media who ran with the story that he was hen-pecked - when he had been hot repeatedly with an ornamental poker! There is an article on the ManKind Initiative website outlining the issue and is very well worth a read.

Judge Sir Nicholas Wall President of the Family Division gave a speech to Resolution, the family law legal service. The first part of the speech (from 8 onwards) looks at domestic abuse and he unbelievably says:

 "In my experience, physical domestic abuse is largely a male problem. There are, of course, women who physically abuse their partners and their children, but they are, in my experience, the minority. This is not a politically correct opinion. The politically correct view is that domestic violence affects both sexes and is perpetrated by both. So, of course, it is, but male violence is, in my experience, more common. Moreover, in my experience, men are notoriously unwilling to admit to being the perpetrators of domestic abuse. Furthermore, it seems to me that if men embrace the comfortable doctrine that domestic abuse affects people of both genders, that is but a short step away from doing nothing about it."

This is unbelievable and chimes with the establishment view. Justice Wall has not got a clue how offensive his comments are to those male victims who suffer in silence. To say that it is politically correct view is Orwellian double speak, when the Government's own figures show one in three victims are male and that new services are springing up all the time because there is a need.

How will men feel comfortable in coming forward if these are the views of judges and of course if you are a male victim who comes before Justice Wall, he has already placed it on record that he thinks you are a liar.

While grassroots services are springing up all the time, the judiciary are holding progress back. They do  not believe in equal justice when they think some victims (female) are more equal than other victims (male).

Posted by Skimmington

 

EQUAL TREATMENT BOOK - THE MOST ANTI-MALE ANTI-EQUALITY BOOK IN BRITISH JUDICIAL HISTORY?

The one thing those of us cling on to when fighting the battle against the war on men is that we are equal before the law.

Now we know that is not the case where all sorts of positive discrimination clauses kick in, the bias of CAFCASS and magistrates and judges of fathers in the family courts and how male victims of domestic abuse are still treated poorly. However, it is still something to cling on to.

Sometimes, the game is up and there is no escape from the unbridled anti-male society we live and this now goes right to the heart of the British Justice system.

As revealed by the Daily Mail (also read comments), the English and Welsh judiciary have produced guidance that discirmates against men. The guidance laughably called the Equal Treatment Bench Book sets out how judges should deal with those that come before them. It says:

 "Its aim is to inform, assist and guide, to generate thought and discussion and, ultimately, to enable all judges to deal confidently, sensitively and fairly with all those who appear before them."

It was published in April 2010 before the new Coalition Government took over. It has the fingerprints of Harman, Baird and Flint stamped all over it.

The section on gender equality is unbelievably biased, it is almost as though men do not exist and where they do, they are so superior to women that only women need support and men do not. In all my years beavering away in this area, there has never been a more nasty, one-sided, anti-male document produced by any part of the state than this.

There is no mention of the problems that boys have with education, suicide, unemployment, teh denial of equal/shared parenting etc. It is the most classic example of anti-male bias by omission.

It does not explicitly say that men should not be treated as second class citizens, but by hardly including men anywhere in the document and calling for special treatment for women, then by definition it is anti-male. Anti-male by omission.  

On the issue of sentencing (6-11 to 6-13)  it makes clear that women should be given special treatment and that judges should bear in mind the problems that female prisoners have. That's fine, but no mention of male prisoners. Women can be shown leniency because of the factors that affect them, but men cannot.

ON the issue of domestic abuse (6.1.7), men are relegated to a footnote - second class victims as the ManKind Initiative said in the Daily Mail. They laughable anti-male authors of this report even use one-sided statistics from End Violence Against Women when they do not even use the British Crime Survey figures produced from the Home Office (see ManKind document), another part of Government. They know no shame.

If men cannot now rely on equal justice, equal treatment and equal recognition from the judiciary then there is no hope for equality for men at all. This is the most anti-male biased document probably ever. 

Posted by Skimmington

MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE HIT THE HEADLINES - BUT IS IT GROUNDHOG DAY AGAIN?

Still left reeling from the fact yesterday the Observer (The Guardian's Sunday newspaper - see the comments section as well on the piece) had written a piece about why male victims of domestic abuse were not being given equal treatment, the BBC then ran an interview on their Breakfast show. I nearly choked on my corn flakes, has the world turned turtle? (one reader thought he was hallucinating when he read the story in the Observer of all places!)

There was also coverage in the Daily Mail (see comments on the article as well) on a damning report at the MInistry of Justice (more to be written this week) and Amen, the Irish male support service published their Annual Report which received coveragein that country about the 80% increase in calls they were receiving.

The key issues coming form the coverage are that there still seems to be some surprise at the level of domestic violence against men yet the figure quoted by Parity and then expounded upon by the ManKind Initiative have been the same for years. That 33-40% of domestic abuse victims are male and these are Home Office British Crime Survey figures. Why the sudden surprise?

The second point is that a lot of the coverage was based on the lack of refuges/safe houses and the overall lack of support for male victims. But this is almost like the Groundhog Day film, where the same story is played out time and again. This is because we hear this story in the news every six months or so, but what changes?

There continues to be a view that domestic abuse is a gendered issue, when it isn't. The radical anti-male feminist view still holds sway and do the policy makers in Government, on councils, in the CPS and in police forces change their minds or do they close their ears?

It seems the ears option is still holding sway but at least with this coverage, the issue is still having the spotlight shone on it and eventually equality for male victims may win it. It just may take too damned long when it should be taken as read while in the meantime thousand of men going on suffering.

Posted by Skimmington

Other articles - Daily Mail and Northern Echo

AUGUST ARTICLE SUMMARY

Been away so sorry for the lack of posts, anyhow, here are a few issues that have come up lately which should be shared:

General

Men's Hour - BBC Radio 5

Men's Matters - Express FM (scroll down)

Daily Telegraph - Feminism, forget it, sisters (by Neil Lydon)

The Spectator - The death of the male working class (by Fraser Nelson)

Domestic Abuse

Northern Echo - Women jailed for stab attack on ex-boyfriend

Dorset Echo - Weymouth councillor on assault charge (oh the irony)

Irish Times - Hypocrisy over ability to be hypocrites (by Padriag O'Moran)

Medical News Today - Counsellors struggle to treat male victims

The Herald - Male abuse victims face extra barriers

Scotsman - Male victim tells of decade of abuse

Scotsman - Council accused of ignoring male victims

False accusations

Daily Telegraph - Britons trapped in false rape sting

Daily Record - Boxer's son released

BBC Dorset - Warning after Bournemouth woman jailed

Scotsman - Father wrongly accused in flawed abuse inquiry

BBC Norfolk - False rape mother is jailed

If Caroline Flint & Co say there isn't a problem, why is it that every week a woman is jailed for making false accusations!

Employment

Daily Mail - Work experience at Foreign Office: Not if you're a white middle class male

Daily Telegraph - Debt 'Men are new underclass'

Mixed-sex wards and health

Daily Telegraph - Government announced the end of mixed sex wards

An issue raised some timeago as the last Government promised it way back in 1997!

Pfizer - Man MOT

This is a brilliant initiative by Pfizer

Education

European Union - Study into gender inequality in education

Why is the EU having to do this when the UK Government should have done it years ago, but even Gove, the new Education Minister is not bothering. 

Politics

BBC - Harman wants half of Shadow Cabinet to be women