4th-August-2008
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 | Men's rights activist | | | |
Isn't this war too Trevor Phillips? | |
Written by Captain MRA: Isn't this war too Trevor Phillips? Quote:
Earlier this year, Trevor Phillips, (chairperson of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) talked about "an undeclared war on women" in British society.
Mr Phillips defined this war with statistics about how many women will face rape, violence and sexual assault.
http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and...lence-equality
What I find sad is that violence against men causes hardly any concern. For example, Home Office figures show that while one in four women will experience domestic abuse, so will one in six men. One in six is less than one in four, sure, but it is still a lot. Why, I wonder, do these male victims seem less important?
The government have set up a Men's Coalition, and although I hope that this will one day help many in society view a male victim with the same sympathy they view a female victim of the same crime, comments I have read from some personel in the Home Office is that one of the main purposes of the Coalition is to change the attitudes and behaviour of males towards violence against women. But what about many in society who need to change their attitudes towards males?
We are always told that society has wronged women for centuries. But it has also wronged men. From the dawn of time the majority of men (those not born into wealth) in virtually every nation has been bred to kill, i.e. war. As a pacifist, I can think of few worse examples of exploitation than being forced to go and take the lives of other human beings.
Trevor Phillips includes in the war on women, genital mutilation. And yet although the government have made female genital mutilation (circumcision) illegal, they allow circumcision of males to continue. This is despite the fact that many victims of this view it as mutilation. The Book "The Joy of Uncircumcising" by Jim Bigelow Ph.D., gives a great many accounts from men who are left traumatised for life because they had this alteration made to their body as an infant, feeling that they were abused. The mental suffering of such men seems to mean nothing.
Treating male victims less seriously makes it very difficult for them to be believed, or even dare to come forward, especially if the abuser is a female. Figures on the Mankind Initiative website show that of the male victims of domestic abuse who sought help from the police 28% were themselves arrested, 18% were asked to leave and 35% were offered no help at all. As the BBC Panorama programme "The Sexual Abuse by Women of Children and Teenagers" a few years back showed, 86% of victims said they were not believed when they said they were abused by a woman.
Here are several more issues that do not seem to be classed as a war on men:
Paranoia That All Men Are Sexual Abusers
It is sad that I, as a male who is neither a rapist or paedophile, can remember being labelled as one or the other a great many times because I am male.
The attitude of some in society towards men can be seen by quotes such as that by former Minister for Women and Equality, Patricia Hewitt, regarding male teachers, saying it was a question of (quote) "whether we can trust men with children". Ms Hewitt concluded that there might have to be a practice introduced of (quote) "not leaving men on their own with groups of children" in environments such as schools.
Some airlines, such as British Airways, Quantus, and Air New Zealand have been criticised for their policies of not allowing a male passenger to sit next to a child that he doesn't know.
There was a story in the USA recently where a man was reported to the police for holding his little daughter's hand as they got off the bus. And here in the UK, only last month (see link below) a man was merely taking some photographs of his two little sons on a public slide, when he was accused by a woman of being a 'pervert' and putting photographs of children on the internet.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...blic-park.html
Unacceptable Discrimination Against Women Is Acceptable Against Men
Much has been said about how wrong it is to pay a woman less than a man, or to not employ women who might become pregnant, yet I wonder how many of those people take advantage of discrimination against men in getting cheaper car insurance and the like. They are hypocritcal if they do. Staistics should not justify discriminaton, since this fully justifies unequal pay, for a man is less likely to become pregnant and so need time off. With unequal pay the principle has been because it is wrong to discriminate against women whatever the 'excuse'. A pity discrimination against men is not viewed in this way.
Violence Against Males Is Humorous
Clothing company David and Goliath sell clothes with the slogan "Girls Kick Balls", which shows a cartoon girl kicking a boy so hard in the testicles that he is actually lifted off the ground. These t-shirts and other merchandise seem to be sold worldwide and are aimed at girls and young women. Yet a kick in the testicles can be very dangerous. It is no woder that I have seen comments on forums and videos on Youtube where some girls and young women say they think this is funny and even brag about causing males pain by assaulting them in this way.
Likewise the seemingly very popular "All Men Are B****ards" knifeblock for sale on the internet is the figure of a man with knives piercing through several parts of his body including his head.
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