Article Summary

• AUGUST ARTICLE SUMMARY [2010-Aug-30]
• RECOGNITION FOR MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE – SOME PROGRESS BUT STILL LIKE PUSHING BOULDERS UPHILL [2010-Aug-24]
• WHY CAN’T CANCER RESEARCH COPY IRELAND’S MEN’S HEALTH FORUM [2010-Aug-22]
• EQUALITY FOR MEN VICTORY AS BRITISH AIRWAYS CLIMB DOWNS ON ITS SEXIST POLICY [2010-Aug-22]
• UPDATE: EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MEN [2010-Aug-16]
• MEN’S HOUR GREATLY IMPROVES [2010-Aug-15]
• MALE BOSSES COME OUT ON TOP SAY WOMEN [2010-Aug-15]
• HOME OFFICE: FEMALE PAEDOPHILES DO NOT EXIST [2010-Aug-13]
• THE FEMINIST WORLDVIEW AT THE BBC [2010-Aug-12]
• COALITION’S NEW PUBLIC BODY ASPIRATION HEAPS ON MORE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MEN [2010-Aug-10]
• « Previous Articles

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

 

 

A constant issue is often the way that the media forget that men can also be victims of domestic abuse.

Part of the problem is that they are constantly being fed by organisations like Women's Aid and Refuge who live off the mega-million-pound domestic abuse industry and do not want the money shared around to male victims. Also they are being fed only side of the story by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission as well as organisations like the Government's Equalities Office (which incidentally has a budget of £69 million reduced from a massive £83 million in 07/08!!).

But legally the Government has to ensure legislation applies equally to male and female victims and often it will make announcements that affect all victims but these are written up by the media as if they only apply to female victims. A recent article (The Media's Invisible Men) on the ManKind Initiative website (they have also update their stats package) shows how this occurred recently when the Home Secretary  and Minister for Women spoke about a New York style system of keeping tabs on perpetrators.

Much of the media then converted the story into one about wife beaters when the system applies to perpetrators from both genders and Theresa May never mentioned wife beaters once. The Guardian repeated the trick in this article. Still May is hardly blameless in forgetting about men on this issue.

There has been progress in some quarters though and some has been covered here on the site  but additionally.

Firstly, new Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Nicola Blackwood, covered the issue of male victims in her Maiden Speech in Parliament, though this is tempered by the fact that Baroness Scotland has maintained her position as Chairman of the All Party Group on Domestic Violence (with Caroline Flint alarmingly as Secretary) so male victims have absolutely no chance of getting any semblance of a hearing or recognition with those two running it.

Secondly, a few new groups have sprung up including in Derbyshire (good ITV feature on it) and in Scotland (which must be better than the Government funded Mens Advice Line who are running a Scottish helpline and are a sub charity of Respect - who do nothing for female perpetrators becuase they do not believe they exist). De Gwynedd Women's Aid also changed its name to show it supported men as well.

Other coverage not covered on this site before includes the plight of Kieron Bell (This Morning and Daily Mirror).

Some progress is being made but it still does feel like it is pushing a boulder uphill.

Posted by Skimmington

 

In a variation on Cancer Research UK's discriminatory Run For Life event the Men’s Health Forum Ireland is drawing attention to the need for focus on men’s health needs through runs for men, and women willing to dress as men! A fun idea to highlight the issues and raise money. Happening in September the Forum seems, with these runs, to have combined the idea of raising the issues and money without a blanket exclusion policy.

Meanwhile last year Cancer Research UK published the results of the most comprehensive research into the risks and treatment of all major cancers. The results shocked the researchers themselves.

 

Men are 70% more likely to die of cancers that are not sex specific (and 40% more likely if all cancers are included). Though such research indicates that many lives would be saved if there is little in the way of  action. CRUK in their own research establish men are more likely to contract all forms of cancer (apart from those specific to sex) and very much more likely to die in all apart from Melanomas.

 

However they continue to wriggle and squirm to avoid an inclusive approach to their Runs for Life. They may be correct that many men would prefer to do more challenging fundraising events, but why exclude those who do want to participate? Even better how about picking up the idea from Ireland to highlight men’s need for earlier diagnosis and treatment?

 

Posted by Adrian Ashby

 

Coverage of CR UK reseaerch is here - Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Telegraph and BBC

 

Editor's Note - Please read this article about John Taylor's fight for equality in the Yorkshire Press

 

 

As covered comprehensively on the site (and here and here) and rightly a cause celebre for anyone who believes that equality should also apply to men, British Airways had a policy which stopped a man from sitting next to a child unless he was their father. 

After suffering from this sexual discrimination (the policy did not apply to women) Mirko Fischer won a court case at Swindon County Court after he has was told by British Airways to move from his seat. It also forced British Airways to review its policies.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that British Airways has now changed its policy and dropped this discrimination.

This is a clear victory for male equality campaigners and shows what can be done as many have written and called BA to keep the pressure on. The policy probably would not have changed though without Mirko Fischer winning his court case so as well as male equality campaigners keeping the pressure up, sites like and others disseminating information there is a need for men to challenge issues through the courts.

This is glib as men are not backed by or supported by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission or has a vociferous and well funded group (including by the public sector) organisation like the anti-male Fawcett Society (though they will have been screwed by their pathetic and ridiculous challenge to the Governement's Budget).

Putting that aside the equality legisiation is therefore of men and women.

On other issue is something that has been seen before (the MFI advert was a classic example) is the fact British Airways does not show any sign of remorse that it operated a sexist policy. It hides behind jargonese but does not say sorry, that is shameful and speaks volumes.

Now it is just Qantas that has such a sexist policy. 

Posted by Skimmington

As things have been really busy the past four months or so, the next week few weeks will see interspersed with the usual commentary a list of articles on similar topics which then can be discussed.

Preferably it is better to have some commentary in the posts themselves but time is of the essence and it is better that the articles etc are shared rather than being overlooked because of time then not at all.

The first ones are on some employment related issues (not including the Equality Act which will be dealt with at a later date).

Useless Jobless Men by Camila Cavendish (The Times)

Debt - Men are emerging as the new underclass (Daily Telegraph)

Equality payout for female cleaners in Birminghamby Jamie Doward (The Observer)

The issue with the above is whether or not it also applies to male cleaners as well as female cleaners as well as other types of similar jobs wher ethe issue was apllied for females. If you remember this was an issue from last year where the sexist councils of Middlesbrough, Hartleppol and South Tyneside had to be taken to court so that men could be granted equal treatment.

South Tyneside were going to appeal. Love to find out if this decision also applied to male cleaners and whetehr South Tyneside appealed or not?

Sacked lawyer wins sex discrimination case (Yorkshire Evening Post)

Unemployment rate far higher for male graduates than female graduates (Higher Education Policy Institute) and Guardian article

Work experience at the Foreign Office? Not if you are a white middle class male by Brendan Carlin (Daily Mail)

Have we missed any employment related discrimination stories?

Posted by Skimmington

When BBC Radio Five first broadcast Men's Hour I amongst others were disappointed. However, three episodes on I have to say things have vastly improved and it has now the right mix of serious issues and those with bit more irreverence. In many ways, quite typical of us men.

The show on the 8th of August which had DJ Gary Crowley on talking about his daughter being  taken away by her mother to live in Denmark was very moving.

There are two more episodes to go and if it continues to improve, this should be a permanent fixture on Radio 5. Hats off to presenter Tim Samuels I say.

Today's programmes will appear here.

Posted by Skimmington

Last week on of our regular readers and contributors (called Groan) pointed out in the comments section on one of the posts about research from UKjobs.net which shows that men make the best bosses and that this is a view held by men and women. This was highlighted this time last year in other research when the site questioned how Harman and Co would react to these traitorous women.

Now as you know this site is not anti-women, but I have to say as another week of work beckons, it did make me smile and wanted to ensure it was shared more widely.

Read the coverage here: Daily Mail (read the comments), Daily Telegraph and Express plus of course the laughable Barbara Ellen in the Guardian.  

Posted by Skimmington

Hattip: Groan

Our newest writer on this blog yesterday drew my attention to this article at the BBC. The document discusses "Sarah's Law"  a new piece of legislation permitting parents to check the background of those people who have unsupervised access to their children just in case they are paedophiles. The piece gives five scenarios the scheme could cover, and there's a rather disturbing common theme throughout. I've since discovered that the five scenarios given actually appear in various different articles on the issue on different sites, therefore it's uncertain as to who is to blame exactly.

One of the characters we get to hear about is a male sports coach offering informal football training. It tells us that parents can find information about him due to "rumours about the man doing the rounds". Obviously checks based on rumours aren't especially desirable but the piece is well balanced and does warn of the danger off vigilantism.

We also read about an "odd-looking" neighbour. Again this potential paedophile is male as well as "shifty, reclusive" and "always rude", though at least the piece informs us that no check are likely to be performed on this particular character due to the lack of evidence of risk.

A second neighbour "playing with children" is another possible paedophile discussed. We hear how neighbours are suspicious about the "individual" and their intentions towards local children and one is given the impression we're finally at least seeing a gender neutral scenario or perhaps even a female sex offender discussed. However this all change in the final paragraph where it's revealed that the character in question is an offender though perhaps not thought to be a risk because "he is co-operating with monitoring arrangements".

The two remaining characters supposedly representing likely scenarios are both "new boyfriends" . It' essentially the same scenario twice, the only difference being the source of the concern. One is where a mother wants to know more about someone she is dating, whereas in the second case the relationship is more developed and the concern instead comes from the grandparents.

In total we've got five possible paedophiles (or even actual paedophiles in some cases), every single one of them is a man. The scenarios manage to be perfectly gender neutral in terms of the possible victims of these sex offenders so why demonise all men in this way?

Last year the BBC produced an article asking "are there women paedophiles?" . It comes to the conclusion that there are indeed plenty of female paedophiles though notes how they often go undetected. It states that "society's different attitude to women offenders is reflected in the language of the media reporting it" and the writer goes on to say that "that victims suffered a peculiar sense of isolation and stigma because this form of abuse was not so widely recognised."

To be honest I couldn't' have put it much better myself. By ignoring female paedophiles whoever came up with these five scenarios is not only unfairly stigmatising men, but it's making it easier for female child abusers and mean their victims feel less able to come forward. Despite the lack of effort in detecting such abusers and the reluctance in victims coming forward, research still puts the percentage of female paedophiles at up to 20%. Therefore we should certainly have seen one female abuser featured for the sake of accuracy yet we didn't even see a single gender neutral scenario thus thoroughly reinforcing the myth that only men sexually abuse children.

The misandry doesn't stop at pretending there aren't' any female paedophiles either. There is vast dishonesty in the identify of the parties concerned about potential paedophiles too.  Every single scenario in the piece either features a parent who's gender is undisclosed worried about a random neighbour/coach, or a mother/grandparent worried about a boyfriend. Nothing wrong with that you might think, but lets consider the reality of the situation and the options open to the parties involved.

If a mother is so worried about a potential new partner that he might be a paedophile then it's pretty obvious there isn't any level of trust in the relationship and she's surely going to find someone else rather than instigate a police investigation? On the other hand a father cannot put a stop to his ex wife's new relationship and he actually faces far more barriers in terms of contact with the child than almost any other male on the planet. Therefore fathers are the one's mostly likely to make use of Sarah's law, and they'd be quite right to do so given that one of the most dangerous environment for a child is with their mother and her latest boyfriend.

Some readers may well be sceptical of the above assertions, but they're not just random likely suggestions based on probabilities - the actual evidence from the four Sarah's Law trials  shows these fathers to be the main users of Sarah's Law, with mothers not even mentioned as one of the smaller groups making requests.

So the question is who exactly is responsible for such dishonest writing? The earliest trace of the article I can find is actually a BBC piece from 2008 by Dominic Casciani, I've contacted him and he informs me the piece was based upon Home Office publicity material and this really is very worrying indeed. It's not the BBC pretending that there are no female paedophiles, they're merely giving coverage to the sexist lies manufactured at the Home Office.

How can we possibly protect victims of female paedophiles if we refuse to acknowledge their existence? Lets hope the new coalition government put an end to such sexism and starts protecting all children rather than just those with the "correct" type of abuser.

by John Kimble

Well, it's my first real go at blogging and, as is probably usual in these situations, I kind of feel it has been thrust upon me by circumstances more than anything else.

The story started a few weeks ago, where on a long car journey home from work I happened upon the views of one Lynne Franks, as she was asked for her impression of "Men's Hour", an experimental show for men that pitched itself (no joke) as "Women's Hour's cheeky younger brother". Lynne was asked her opinion of whether the show was necessary and worthwhile, and proceeded to heap scorn on both the show, and the notion that men as a group might find more media attention helpful.

After spending the remainder of the drive quietly seething to myself, as soon as I got home I wrote an indignant email to the feedback section of the show - the full text of which you can find here.

I got what I would call a cursory response; more intrigued as to why I might possibly have anything to complain about than, well, appreciating and understanding the complaint and perhaps even (gasp) apologising for the broadcast.

After returning from my holidays last week there was something more promising: an email from the BBC's iPM programme, which deals with listener feedback. They were planning a "Men's Hour" version of iPM, including interviews with a man who survived breast cancer, and a man who ran a 'domestic violence unit', in their words "...a field so dominated by women that he has very interesting things to say about how his co-workers view him and the effect on his own masculinity." This is a very interesting choice of words, and one that I will return to before I finish the article.

A brief phone call followed who, to the production team’s credit, were very enthusiastic and eager to have my feedback and input into the show. I had a real hope that this show might be worth listening to, and really raise men's issues, from a men's perspective.

You can hear the full broadcast here, if you are in the UK and until Saturday I believe.

So what did I think?

A brave but severely misguided attempt.

The piece on male breast cancer was very interesting - John Nestor tells the story of his experiences being treated for the cancer, alongside his late wife. But why no mention of the disgusting 'Race for Life'? This would seem extremely relevant to the story, especially as it is yet another example of blatant apartheid against men. The "men's issue" here should have been Race for Life, as well as the lack of funding for male cancers, not just the occasional breast cancer case within men.

The piece on domestic violence was a vivid reminder of just why we need a men's rights movement. I guess I should have been forewarned by the intro piece at the beginning of the show: "..dedicated to the things men do, like domestic violence".

Then Simon Currs 'Domestic abuse partnership manager' from Cambridgeshire came on and was if anything as sad to listen to as Lynne Franks. This guy not only has significant mistrust towards the male gender as a gender, he has been so programmed during his 'training back in 2002' that he considers domestic violence to be a gender crime. This flies in the face of the a comprehensive study by California State University, which examined 275 'scholarly investigations', and concluded that "women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners". So why does Simon describe DA as a gender crime? You can get some hints from his comments about the 'King of the castle' character that he goes on to describe:

"I wasn't sure of the history and dynamics of domestic abuse, really and fully until I undertook some training back in 2002, based around an individual called the 'dominator', a male individual who exhibits certain abusive characteristics. The idea of this 'dominator' really made me look at myself, my use of language, the way I conduct myself, the beliefs I have, and certainly, at some level, the character of the 'dominator' is exhibited by all men.

"'The king of the castle'; I'm sure you'll recognise the stereotype.

"He has his own chair at home, sits with the remote control on the arm of the chair and a beer in the other and scratching... his balls, if you like. I know its a bit of a stretch to get from that type of individual to an abusive personality, but its indicative of the types of behaviours that all men exhibit - I certainly do it..

"That is me acting in my capacity as king of the castle."

Er... what!?

Having a favourite chair, drinking a beer, using a remote control, and scratching your balls are all signs of a potential abuser? A good editor could have cut this right down to the words 'x chromosome'. So wait a minute… if a woman has a favourite chair, drinks wine while watching TV and using a remote control (gasp), and occasionally adjusts her bra strap, should she be on the watch list? Or is this just another way for feminists to basically describe men as evil, by their very nature?

This is why I know that Simon Currs is a feminist. He views all males with distrust, including himself, and 'realises' that deep down inside, every man has domestic abuser traits just waiting to come out. I suspect that the 'training' he undertook in 2002 was in fact simply feminist brainwashing.

In short, Simon Currs is the last person we should be hearing from on a show broadcast to publicise 'men's issues'. A domestic violence feature from a 'men's perspective' should feature the severe under-reporting of domestic violence against men (briefly mentioned, admittedly), but then feature details of shelters for men, men's stories about abuse they have suffered, the reaction they got and the support, if any, when they reported it. It should also mention the fact that for every pound spent on DA shelters and support for men, three and a half grand is spent on women. Simon says that, in Cambridgeshire, the ratio of men to women reporting DA is 15% / 85%. Even if this is correct (which is doubtful), why, on average, do female DA victims get 99.97% of the funding?

The answer is simple. There is a gender crime being committed, and it isn't Domestic Abuse against women, it is the ignorance of the needs of male victims.

So, to summarise. To the BBC, thanks for the effort, but no thanks. All you have done here is to demonstrate what you think are 'men's issues', and to frame them through the feminist weltanschauung lens of the Beeb.

I see this time and time again from the BBC. Here is the most recent example:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10826350

Can you see where you went wrong there? I sincerely hope so.

 

Posted by Jon Horridge

As each day goes by the Coalition Government is exhibiting more and more of the Marxist feminist anti-male traits of its predecessor. As set out here it is backtracking on equality issues all the time extinguishing any hope that men will no longer be treated as second class citizens.

Last week, the Coalition Government announced that it had aspirations on the following:

1. By the end of the Parliament at least half of all new appointees being made to the boards of public bodies will be women

2.Business Minister Edward Davey and Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equalities, have today announced that Lord Davies of Abersoch will develop a business strategy to increase the number of women on the boards of listed companies in the UK (covered here and here).

As this site and any one who believes in equality knows, positive action means negative action for someone else and that someone else is always men. This is what makes the Equality Act anything but about equality, when employers can discriminate against people because of their gender (the powers not yet taken by the Governement - interesting)

This of course is no difference to what Harman, Flint, the Fawcett Society and the Equalities Commission wanted before the election. Plus Ca Change.

The Government has tried to couch the policy on public bodies by stating that it will be based on merit. But we all know what happens in the real world of politics behind closed doors.

Good men will be weeded out at the selection process, subtle pressure put on public bodies to meet their target, even non-subtle targets (you'll lose funding if you don't appoint a woman), retiring men being replaced automatically by a women and of course there will be the full blown pressure put on public bodies to toe the line. Now this aspiration has been made, Harman will not let them forget it.

This is not an aspiration, in the real body politic world this is a hard and fast policy and woe betide any public body not meeting it. Because in reality if you have an aspiration you will do all you can to achieve it and if it looks like it is not working you will move heaven and earth to do so, and blow the issues of meritocracy or legality. Has any Government not wanted to meet an aspiration and gear policy both overtly and covertly towards meeting it? Never.

This aspiration is a policy and it is the end of meritocracy. All that matters is your gender, your ability is irrelevant.

Posted by Skimmington

Media Coverage - Telegraph, Independent, Independent