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.

FURTHER MISTREATMENT METED OUT TO WARREN BLACKWELL

As reported in the Daily Mail (link), Warren Blackwell has lost his appeal against having to pay his bed and board for the time he wrongly spent at Her Majesty's Pleasure after being falsely accused of committing rape by a serial accuser.  As he states, whilst he received more than enough compensation to cover the £12,000 cost, it is the principle that matters.

This judgement really does stink and it is another case of institutional sexism against men. How can it be just and fair that an innocent man is charged for the time he wrongfully spent in prison because of false allegations made against him which severely damaged his and his family's reputation. It is even worse that those actually guilty of crimes like robbery and murder are not charged for their bed and board.

No wonder people in the UK have lost faith in their institutions. 

BRUCE HYMAN CASE : FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

After reading the latest Familes Need Fathers magazine (McKenzie) I was amazed to read about Bruce Hyman's character witnesses in the infamous story of how he was jailed for perverting the court of justice in his attempt to frame a man fighting for access to his children (link).

One of the character witnesses was Sir Mark Potter - President of the Family Division of the High Court. He is in charge of the family courts. 

What chance have men got when the man in charge of fmaily courts is prepared to be a character witness for someone who was trying to corrupt a family court and smear a father?. 

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.

 

   

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

THE ANTI-MALE JUSTICE SYSTEM - DENNIS NORTH HAD TO APPEAL AGAINST PAYING EX-WIFE £200,0000 AFTER 30 YEARS OF DIVORCE

The case in June of Dennis North,a builder being ordered to pay more money (£200,000) to the woman he divorced nearly 30 years ago after a judge heard she had "fallen on hard times" was beyond madness and certainly anti-male.

Mr North successfully appealed against the judgement.

As quoted from the Daily Telegraph (link) at the time, "Mr North, 70, was divorced from his first wife Jean, 61, in 1978 - a year after finding out she was having an affair with the man she later went to live with. In 1981 he made a financial settlement with the woman he married in 1964, buying her a house and investments." It was also covered elsewhere including a debate on the Daily Mail site (link) and The Times (link).

Mrs North, who now lives in Leeds, was awarded the £202,000 by a district judge last year. The ruling was later upheld in the High Court.

Mr North then had to appeal and Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Bennett, ruled that the award was “fundamentally flawed”. The story was covered in The Times (link) and The Telegraph (link) . The Appeal Judges ruled that District Judge Peter Greene who awarded her the lump sum had an approach which was “fundamentally flawed” and the appeal should be allowed.

The issue is that the judgement made by this District Judge Peter Greene was so wrong and unfair that it is clear he is not fit to be a judge. Why did Mr North have to spend time and money appealing the case? Any costs should be paid personally by the District Judge.

Can you imagine a court awarding such a figure to a man whose ex-wife then went on to make a fortune? Of course not.

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.

MFI SHOW NO REMORSE OVER BANNED AD SHOWING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST A MAN

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week banned an advertisement from furniture group MFI because it had received complaints that it trivialised domestic violence. See the full ruling here (link).

The ASA said "The woman's action of slapping her husband twice as punishment for leaving the toilet seat up gave the impression that aggression and violence enabled people in everyday life to get their own way. The scene of domestic violence was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and could be seen to condone intimidation, domestic violence and aggression as an acceptable way to resolve issues.”

In the adverts, produced by advertising group M&C Search, domestic scenes are played out in their stores and finish with the end credit "feel right at home".

In the articles that followed, MFI were quoted in the Daily Mail (link) as stating "The dialogue and action was vigorous but it was not offencive or shocking."  In addition, complaints had been made on five of their ads with the domestic violence one being upheld.

The Daily Mail stated 'Responding to the investigation, MFI said the five commercials had aimed to be an original, humorous take on common domestic scenes'. They try and defend the ad!

What is concerning is the fact that MFI and M&C Search did not even think that this is offencive, trivialises domestic violence and would upset the thousands of male domestic violence victims who already are bereft of help and support. It did not even cross their radar. It is almost as though they think it is acceptable behaviour and that raises a real social problem that male victims face, the lack of acceptance that their plight is serious.

The last point, is the usual one. If this ad had featured a man hitting a women, firstly, the outcry would have been deafening. But as ever, nothing from the Equal Opportunities Commission and other equalities groups because it was a man who was the domestic violence victim.

MALE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS IN BLACK COMMUNITY : EXCELLENT ARTICLE IN THE VOICE

There was an excellent article published in The Voice newspaper about battered men in January. It was orignally missed by this site but a helpful reader forwarded it. Please read it here (link).