The Rights Of Man

ARTICLES UPDATE

A few articles for the end of the month.

Daily Mail - Woman chopped off man's penis as he 'attempted to rape her' before taking it to the police as evidence (Rob Cooper) - Read the awful awful misandry in the comments section.

Jersey News - Male domestic abuse stigma is shattered 

BBC Wales - Pale male courts need more women judges - More calls for discrimination against men

The Guardian - How the government is letting down women (Polly Curtis)

Posted by Skimmington

ARTICLES UPDATE

Please find below some recent articles that may be of interest and have not been covered on the site in the past month.

Bestbear.co.uk - Sexual discrimination against male nannies

Daily Mail - Paramedic was unfairly dismissed after false rape claim

Daily Mail - More girls join the Scouts than boys (Steve Doughty)

Daily Mail - Fire service relaxes tests to make it easier for women

Legal Week - Eversheds sex discrimination rejected by tribunal  -A disgraceful attempt by Eversheds to applea against their discrimination against a man. It shows the lengths some go to deny discrimination exists against men.

BBC News - Girls behaviour deteriorating in the classroom

Guardian - MPs warn against false allegations in family courts

Daily Mail - Sexism is dead say British women (Steve Doughty)

Guardian - Quotas and women-only shortlists aren't popular but they work (Suzanne Moore)

Guardian - Glencore Chairman says women prefer bringing up children than being in the boardroom

Posted by Skimmington

ARTICLES UPDATE

Sorry everyone...very hard to keep up at the moment. Here are a few must read articles for one or reason or other...

Daily Mirror - Saving the men who live in fear  (Louise Baty)

Evening Standard - I hate to say it but we need a quota to put girls on top (Chris Blackhurst)

Daily Mail - Judge launches stinging attack on Wren as fellow soldier she accused of rape is cleared (Tamara Cohen). Note everyone how the woman remains nameless but the two innocent men are named, forever having their names publicly available but she remains anonymous. That's equality in Britain today!

Daily Mail - Sexism is dead, say Most British Women (Steve Doughty). More analysis to come at a later date.

Daily Mail - Teacher who had sex with schoolboy is spared jail (no byline)

Straight Statistics - Standard recycles out of date figures on domestic homicides (Nigel Hawkes)

Daily Mail - How Facebook is turning women into stalkers (no byline)

Men's Network - Mens Mental Health Week

Dads on the Air (Oz) - Erin Pizzey interview

The Guardian - Where are the women directors? (Kerry Fox) - Spot John Kimble's comment

The Guardian - When Women are victims of growth (Jane Martinson)

The Telegraph - Another 'horrible' case for you Mr Loughton (Christopher Brooker) - child abduction by the state.

Posted by Skimmington

 

 

ARTICLES UPDATE

Just a quick update on some recent and varied articles of interest on male equality issues. Health warning - some may make your blood boil!

Channel 5 News - Shocking rise in male victims of domestic violence

The Sun - Dads in despair (Antonella Lazzeri)

Daily Telegraph - It's babies not discrimination that hold women back (Jemima Lewis)

Daily Telegraph - Mother's horror as court takes children after 15 minutes hearing (Nick Britten)

Office for National Statistics - Suicide statistics show three times as many men still commit suicide than women

Daily Mail - Jailed the solidiers cheating wife who made false rape claim

The Guardian - What is the nicest thing a man can do for a woman - shout at a bigot (Suzanne Moore)

The Independent - Men blew it (Janet Street-Porter)

Daily Mail - Escape from your husband and duck your duties as a mother (Daniel Bates)

 

DOUBLE DEFEAT FOR MEN ON RAPE ALLEGATIONS

One the areas that where the police and the Crown Prosecution Service have both been unequivocal has been prosecuting women who falsely accuse men of raping them.

For those falsely accused men it destroys them and families and also damages the cases of women who have been raped. These recent cases (Nicola Osborne and Jemima Knights) show how this remains the case and remember the government's own report (where it infamously u-turned on anonymity for rape defendants) said 8-10% of allegations were false and 61 women were convicted in 2010 for false allegations and 7 prosecutions failed.

Earlier this month the Crown Prosecution Service launched a consultation on false allegations of rape and domestic violence to ensure that women are not prosecuted when they retracted the allegation based on fear (the cause celebre is where a woman had her sentence for a false allegation rightly quashed).

While the press release and consultation make it clear that there is no intention to water down prosecutions for false accusations, you cannot help but feel this is a fig-leaf for more discrimination against men and boys (just like believers in the positive discrimination clauses of the Equality Act always state that it can mean more male primary school teachers).

It has been clear and clearly identified by the brilliant False Rape Society website who have identified the growing trend from the Guardian and organisations like Women Against Rape complaining about false rape prosecutions because they believe there is no such thing as a false allegation and that no women should ever be prosecuted for false rape allegations. Normally based on the doe-eyed naive view that all women-are-good-all-men-are-bad-no-smoke-without-fire world view attitude.

When do you ever hear organisations supporting raped women attack those women for making false accusations which damages the women these organisations rightly support?

The anti-male feminist tactics are clear on the rape issue. In their first victory when the government u-turned on the anonymity issue, they cited the evil rapist Warboys where because he had been named and pictured when accused, more women came forward. This time, they are using this case in the same way where a woman was being wrongly being prosecuted for a false allegation when there were clear reasons which the CPS should have taken into account. Because of their mistake, they let the whole anti-male feminists brigade to use it as an issue to continually beat them up on it.

The victims of this again will be those men and boys falsely accused of rape.

Firstly, there are strong enough rules and also the application of 'common-sense'  and the 'reasonable' test mean that if an allegation is retracted but there are extenuating circumstances like being bullied, then the CPS should be sensible enough not to prosecute. You do not need new rules, just people with brains.

Secondly, by putting pressure on the police and Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute and making it harder to do so, means they will be more reluctant to do so. It is more hassle, the political pressure from on high will mean some cases will now be dropped when they should not be. It is the same when the police automatically arrest the man in domestic abuse cases when both are making accusations (or of course they arrest the man anyway).

Thirdly, there will be less chance of justice for those men and boys who were accused. At least if there name was in the papers, those who had made a false allegations would have their reputations damaged as well and be prosecuted and on occasion jailed. There will be fewer examples of this now.

This will be a further victory for the anti-male feminists on this issue within six months.

First they succeed in stopping men accused of rape from remaining anonymous unless found guilty. Now they have succeeded in making it harder for women who make false allegations to be prosecuted.

The Government says it is consulting but it did so on the anonymity issue and did not take any notice of those wanting anonymity so it won't do now for those groups asking them not to water down existing law and procedures.

Posted by Skimmington

Postscript - The False Rape Society is absolutely brilliant on this subject and please read these posts:

FRS#1, FRS#2, FRS#3

 

ARTICLE UPDATE

Here are a few articles that have not been covered so far but may be of interest.

The Guardian - Welfare Reform Bill will trap women in their violent hell (Lisa Ansell)

The Observer - Review threatens companies with disclosure over number of women they interview (Andrew Clark) plus UK lags behind Nordic nations.

Daily Telegraph - Young women face £1,000 increase in car insurance (David Williams)

The Guardian - Paying the price for equality (Rupert Jones)

Daily Mail - One in three female offenders are thugs (Sarah Harris)

Warminster TImes - £80 fine for false rape claim 

Aberdeen Press and Journal - False rape claim woman faces jail

NPR (USA) - Love doesn't have to hurt (Michel Martin) About an appalling Pepsi Superbowl advert 

BBC Berkshire - Woman cautioned over false rape claim

Daily Mail - Female Chaplain sentenced over false rape claim 

The Independent - Boardroom quotas (Margareta Pagano)

Daily Telegraph - Lady golfers unhappy about law to end sex discrimination (Adam Lusher) 

Posted by Skimmington 

ARTICLES ROUND-UP

Just an update on a few recent articles worth looking at:

Daily Mail - My wife hugged me and then stabbed me in the back (Penny Marshall) Please read comments section.

This is Leicestershire - Support for male victims of domestic abuse (Ciaran Fagan)

Daily Telegraph - Poor white boys score lower than chinese classmates (Tim Ross)

Daily Telegraph - Mother stunned after being accused of kerb-crawling (Chris Brooke) : Mother attacks police tactics mentioning what would happen if it was a man accused.

Evening Standard - Fathers at risk from legal aid cuts (Martin Bentham)

Daily Mail - The children who never see daddy (James Chapman): 369 comments in this section

Daily Mail - More rights for women has led to fewer jobs in the recession (Harry Phibbs)

Daily Mail - My dad is number one role model

Posted by Skimmington

 

 

REVIEW OF RADIO 4 PLAY AND DOCUMENTARY ON MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

As stated at the weekend, BBC Radio 4 ran two programmes today about male victims of domestic abuse.

The play called Believe Me was extremely moving and showed the slow burn of domestic abuse that many male and female victims face. And it was very clever in the set up so it was not obvious what was to happen but showed the gut wrenching nature not only of the abuse Tyrone suffered but also the scandal of false allegations and the pain that many men suffer because of them.

All too real for so many men.

I have to say congratulations to the playwright and Radio 4 for making the play although there was not much made in the BBC's pre-coverage about the false allegation issue which was absolutely central to this.

If domestic abuse against men is one Britain's last taboos then false allegations by female perpetrators of domestic abuse against men, is the last of the last taboos.

In terms of the documentary, the Last Refuge, threading the case studies through the documentary, especially the one used throughout, added real weight. As did the comments made by the Dyn Project who added real depth and knowledge to the subject. Even though the commentator from Dyn raised the issue of screening, he at least explained why and also raised the fact that there may be a need to screen females as well. I liked the point about reiterating that many men get arrested even though they are the victim - not often you hear that on national radio!

One of the commentators was bizarre though - the guy from the Nottingham Domestic Abuse Forum, who seemed more intent in trying to undermine the case for support and awareness of male victims. His research and assertions involved 14 (yes, 14) people, that his screening tool is well established (has anyone heard of it?) and the way he bizarrely tried to dumb down men by saying the figure is the 2000 Scottish Crime Survey were wrong (based on research of 22 people!!) and that male refuges were never full.

The person from Dyn then contradicted him as obviously did the explanation at the start of the programme from the Montgomery Centre which offers housing support for men.The question is why was he included if the show was about supporing male victims? However, it was perhaps useful in showing the type of misandry that male victims face from many in the domestic abuse establishment.

The show did not really reach any conclusions but having said all of that, it is better it was aired because again it is another example of the issue being raised and placed on the radar.

We are still waiting though for the political elite and its officer class to take the plight of male victims seriously...

Posted by Skimmington

ARTICLES ROUND-UP

As is traditional, there have been a number of articles/stories that the site has not covered or linked through to over the past month or so. A list is set out below:

UK Poverty - Suicide statistics show 80% of young adult suicides are by young men

Daily Mail - Amber Portwood charged with domestic violence

Prince's Trust - Youth happiness

Oxford University - Men's weight

Porstmouth News- DV policy is a war on men

Daily Mail- Amanda Bradley jailed for false allegation

BBC News- Emma Bunden jailed for false allegation

BBC News- Merthyr 16 year old jailed for false allegation

Daily Mail - Judge Coleridge says women should have children taken away if they do not allow contact with father.

BBC News - 61 women sent to trial over false allegations

Posted by Skimmington

 

2010 - ANOTHER BAD YEAR AND ANOTHER BAD GOVERNMENT FOR BRITISH MEN

When the coalition government came together (also with lots of new MP's) there was some hope that the prospects for equality for men would improve after 13 years of a proudly anti-male Labour government with Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman, proudly proclaiming her anti-male credentials.

When the coalition government came to power, there were a number of positive things it outlined. Family law reform (still pending), anonymity for rape defendants unless found guilty and a commitment not to implement the controversial 'positive' discrimination sections of the Equality Act specifically designed to undermine the employment chances of men. Plus there was a general feeling that there would no longer be the harsh anti-male tone of the previous Government.

There were still troubling issues such as the fact that there was again a Minister for Women but no Minister for Men (how can a government state it believes in equality and have a Minister for one gender and not for the other, if it has to them at all). It also talked about equality in the boardroom (now going ahead), continuing with pension age discrimination and also nothing on men's health or education.

So what has happened, well its worse than we feared:

(1) The government performed a heinous u-turn on anonymity for rape defendants.

(2) The controversial section (section 159) of the Equality Act was implemented (on the link see latest news on 2nd December 2010) and hidden in the small print on its announcement on its Equality Strategy (see 8 below). This pernicious part of the Act was substantially covered on this site (1 and 2 ) and the u-tunr was covered in the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Metro, Daily Telegraph 2, Daily Telegraph 3

(3) Still no Minister for Men

(4) The government adopted the End Violence against Women & Girls strategy which has meant that male victims of rape and domestic abuse do not feature in government, police or local authority plans in tackling rape or domestic abuse. The outcome can be seen by the way the government handled its trials on 'stop' orders which were framed at female victims (thereby setting the tone for the way the police will handle the issue) or its Christmas campaign. For an example of how it percolates through the system, see a response the ManKind Initiative recently received from the Equalities Commission.

(5) Its continuing and deliberate misinterpretation of the gender pay gap, even though we now know younger women earn more than younger men. Plus resurrecting the issue that there are not enough women in the boardroom (1 and 2) and stating it has an aspiration to ensure 50% of appointees to public bodies are female.

Lord Mervyn Davies who is leading the taskforce looking at the female make up of boardroom has already declared "let's put women first for 2011". I kid you not. With this and the Equality Act, men are being shut out, make no mistake. Academies for female executives, board internships and now the 30% club.

Equality should mean the best people, now basing people on their gender but that is now what is happening and in many circumstances men (and of course that means their wife/partner or daughter as well) will lose out because good men will be held back to allow a woman with less skill to take their place. How can this be equality, gender is irrelevant.

Can Lord Mervyn Davies hand on heart say that a black boy from a run-down council estate attending a sink school has more chance of being on a board of a FTSE-100 company that a white girl living in Knightsbridge and going to a private school. Davies thinks so. 

(6) No action on boy's education, men's health (Prostate Cancer society article shows why) or suicide (80% of young people committing suicide are men).

(7) No one in Parliament (including the 232 new MP's - 35% of the total) and certainly no one in the Government is standing up for men and men's issues. It means the anti-male feminists in all parties are again riding roughshod over the true meaning of equality and doing all the can to marginalise men. 

(8) And finally - the coup de grace - the government's shiny new Equality Strategy - Building a Fairer Britain. At no stage (except fleetingly on Caribean boys)  does it ever mention men and boys or the isuses facing them. None of them in this post are ever mentioned. Nothing on education, higher rates of unemployment, health, suicide - just example after example on issues affecting women.

The Equality Strategy published this month, makes it completley clear - this governement is no better and no more interested than the last in tackling issues that affect men & boys (and consequently their mothers, sisters, daughters and wives/partners/girlfriends).

It actually wants to make things worse not just by the overt discrimination (see 1, 2,3,4 and 5 above) but the covert discrimination of discrimination by omission. And with Parliamentary terms lasting five years now, we have over four years of this to go.

There have been a few advances, equality of pesnion age, a family review still pending (who know what the result will be) and Mirko Fischer's BA win. Plus some organisations seem to be pushing more and more (Men's Network, ManKind Initiative, Prostate Cancer Society, Families Need Fathers, Parity, False Allegations Support Organisation, Men's Health Forum amongst others) and they will need to be encouraged by us all to continue.

However, looking back, the hopes at the beginning of the year have proved unfounded and it is clear that things have got worse in 2010 for men and boys.

Posted by Skimmington