Thread: Flood at it again

The Mangina of Oz has been working his citation index again. The more he publishes - even in dating sites - the better chances he has for getting grants from the Office for the Status of Wymin.

So line up. No jostling. You can all have a turn at whacking him. You can add to the already long list of people on the site below who have whacked him; you can do it here; or directly to him. I'll put his address below.

Father’s Rights and Violence Against Women
by Dr. Michael Flood

In this talk, I’m going to focus on the ‘fathers’ rights’ movement, and their impact on violence against women.

Introduction: The fathers’ rights movement

The fathers’ rights movement is defined by the claim that fathers are deprived of their ‘rights’ and subjected to systematic discrimination as men and fathers, in a system biased towards women and dominated by feminists. Fathers’ rights groups overlap with men’s rights groups and both represent an organised backlash to feminism. Fathers’ rights and men’s rights groups can be seen as the anti-feminist wing of the men’s movement, the network of men’s groups and organisations mobilised on gender issues (Flood, 1998).

Two experiences bring most men (and women) to the fathers’ rights movement. The first is deeply painful marriage breakups and custody battles. Fathers’ rights groups are characterised by anger and blame directed at ex-partners and the ‘system’ that has deprived men or fathers of their ‘rights’, and such themes are relatively common among men who have undergone separation and divorce. The second experience is non-resident fathers’ dissatisfaction with loss of contact with their children or with regimes of child support.

The fathers’ rights movement focuses on trying to re-establish fathers’ authority and control over their children’s and ex-partners’ lives, on gaining an equality concerned with fathers’ ‘rights’ and status rather than the actual care of children, and on winding back legal and cultural changes which have lessened gender inequalities.

Fathers’ rights groups are well-organised advocates for changes in family law, and vocal opponents of feminist perspectives and achievements on interpersonal violence.

Impact of the fathers’ rights movement on violence against women

The fathers’ rights movement has had four forms of impact on violence against women.

Priviledging contact over safety. Most importantly, the fathers’ rights movement has influenced family law, with damaging consequences for women, children, and indeed men. Above all, fathers’ contact with children has been privileged, over children’s safety from violence. [See The Custody Scam, the story of Dawn Axsom, Child Abuse: When Family Courts Get it Wrong, Letter to Judge from Jury foreman regarding prosecution of mother trying to protect her children from abusive father, or watch the PBS documentary Breaking The Silence; Children's Stories at the bottom of this post.--Deborrah]

More at: http://survivingdating.com/?p=1084

You could address your complaints to

Dr Michael Flood
Research Leader (P. Ooohwer ! Quick, run away !)
Violence Against Women Program
VicHealth & La Trobe University Partnership
Phone: 0415 082 733
Email: mflood@vichealth.vic.gov.au
Post: PO Box 4026,
Ainslie ACT, 2602
Victoria
Australia

(Or write to his mum. !)

(Many thanks for the correction to Mr. Anon )