"Man Up" campaign & the continued media erosion of men.

Zulu

So today marks the start of an anti domestic violence campaign "Man Up" by Safe Ireland.

It's great that collective responsibility is the continued response to the tiny percentage of men who perpetrate domestic violence against women & children. Clearly this warrants an attack on (all) "men". </sarcasm>

Sadly though, as Newstalk reported a tragic 46% increase on women seeking support from domestic violence, there was no inclination that the number of men increased or decreased. Nothing. In fact there was no mention of men at all.

The piece was promptly followed by an ad from the campaign: a man who controls his partner and has to "get physical". I'm sure you'll hear it soon.

So, what's my problem? Well it's Tuesday morning for one, but more importantly, my concern is that:

1. an organisation "safe Ireland" that is supposedly to representing domestic abuse support services, blatantly seems to ignores domestic violence suffered by men
2. the same organisation is painting a clear picture "men perpetrate domestic violence"; "men are responsible"

There is some good in this (of course), at least it's heightening the issues faced by one gender. However, I do fear that it continues to paint the women are victims picture.

openup

I really fail to see how it's an attack on all men. Yes it's a shame that they focus on violence against women but I don't see how highlighting that portrays all women as victims or all men as criminals. Domestic violence isn't talked about enough (at least not among younger people), so anything that puts it in peoples minds is probably a good thing, especially if it's on the increase. And, of course, the posters come from a group that combats violence against women so...?

That being said I really dislike this weird fashion for extolling the "manliness" of not beating/raping women, it's sort of skirting the issue in my opinion.

Zulu

openup wrote: »

I really fail to see how it's an attack on all men.

By continually portraying men as violent sexual predators, then all men are eventually viewed with suspicion. Essentially it's propaganda (whether intentional or not). I'm sure you can at least concede that propaganda has a proven track record?

That being said I really dislike this weird fashion for extolling the "manliness" of not beating/raping women, it's sort of skirting the issue in my opinion.

Well the implication there is that it is considered manly to beat/rape women, which of course is wholly incorrect. However, if you start from a prejudiced point that men are violent sexual predators, then it's not hard to believe that. Therein lies the problem.

smash

That link has nothing to do with safe Ireland...

seamus

openup wrote: »

I really fail to see how it's an attack on all men.

The name of the campaign is "Man Up". Clearly chosen to try and say that "Real men don't beat their partners". What it does is ignore the massive amount of domestic violence which is perpetrated by women and implies that only men are the perpetrators of domestic violence.

http://www.safeireland.ie/

The organisation basically ignores the existence of men, except as abusers of women and children. How many times does it tag the word "safety" to "women and children"?

They should be ashamed of themselves.

Zulu

smash wrote: »

That link has nothing to do with safe Ireland...

Do you really care?

"Man Up" at SafeIreland..

Jimmy Bottlehead

I'm actually pretty horrified just browsing that website... clearly the only humans who need 'safely' are women and children.

It creates such an uncomfortable image, one closely aligned to all men being potential paedophiles... I think as men, we're really given the raw end of the deal with regards how we're portrayed.

smash

Zulu wrote: »

Do you really care?

"Man Up" at SafeIreland..

Well yes, and you should too. The campaign you linked to is a different campaign tackling issues like Female Genital Mutilation and forced marriage. Neither of which happen in Ireland.

Strummerville

Dont Worry OP anyone who watches Corrie knows women beat men too.

Morag

I am livid at it, been questioning them about it on twitter, the 40 orgs under the umbrella term SAFEirleand only provide serves to straight women with kids.

Galvasean

Sharrow wrote: »

I am livid at it, been questioning them about it on twitter, the 40 orgs under the umbrella term SAFEirleand only provide serves to straight women with kids.

The website's news feed is smilarly one-sided. You'd swear there was no domestic abuse against men the way it seems to ignore it. That strikes me as a very irresponsible attitude for the campaign to have.

Morag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8UVJdTL2o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUKsHL-VBf0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e64Um5WC_FI

I get what they are trying to do but an inclusive campaign would be better, with even one video of a woman abusing her partner.

DamoKen

Sharrow wrote: »

I am livid at it, been questioning them about it on twitter, the 40 orgs under the umbrella term SAFEirleand only provide serves to straight women with kids.

Just had a look and have to say I'm shocked. Everything from the logo on blatantly ignores half the population in any sense other than the negative and only reinforces the victimisation of women and demonisation of men.

Irresponsible in the extreme. Are they government funded?

Domestic violence is a huge issue and cannot be ignored. But neither can it pick and chose who is deserving of support, and if anything minimise the already minuscule public awareness of domestic violence experienced by a not insignificant percentage of men. Do men not matter at all?

Or only in the sense that we must accept blame for something we've never done? And Man Up if we experience it ourselves? Not in the sense they meant I know but on top of everything else there the outmoded stereotypes are frustrating in the extreme!

Morag

DamoKen wrote: »

Just had a look and have to say I'm shocked. Everything from the logo on blatantly ignores half the population in any sense other than the negative and only reinforces the victimisation of women and demonisation of men.

Irresponsible in the extreme. Are they government funded?

Yes.

http://www.safeireland.ie/about-us/our-funders/

Primarily via the HSE

2008 2009 2010
HSE Children & Families 491,845 490,963 414,800

LeeHoffmann

"Safe Ireland...creating safety for women and children"
´Safe Ireland´ sounds inclusive to me, giving the impression that the campaign is targeting everyone´s well-being and safety, but the next line clarifies that safety is only an issue for some people. :rolleyes: I haven´t perused the website but clicked into the ´domestic violence services´ section. The lead question is: What supports are available for women and children? I find this a very backward attitude. By focusing only on male-on-female domestic violence, it ignores safety concerns for more than half the population (i.e. female on male, male on male, female on female domestic violence is all ignored). It ignores the people who have little to no representation and focuses exclusively on a group that is already well-represented. How can they make appeals to men to support their cause, when they demonstrate that men´s safety issues are irrelevant to them, especially given that men have such meagre representation in comparison? That seems kind of sick to me - asking men for help while insulting them and systematically ignoring their needs - a slap in the face to those who are already disempowered.

Maybe they should have to change the name of the website to make it less misleading...safe ireland? no, safe women and children.

Benny_Cake

A spokesperson from this organisation was on the lunchtime show on Radio 1 just now. The issue of violence against men was put to her and she replied that her organisation doesn't condone violence against anyone and that men who are victims of abuse should be provided with the same services as women and children. All very nice, but as an umbrella group dealing with domestic violence, why on earth wouldn't they seek to include a group such as AMEN? I don't usually let these things upset me as violence against women is an issue, but hearing that ad on the radio really annoyed me.

Ken.

I'm a man and I'm sorry.

Zulu

Them ads sicken me. It is such a lost opportunity. Even one ad to highlight emotional or physical abuse towards men would be a great help to encourage people to come forward and to diminish the stigma.

Even the title alone is a horrible thing. Yes, it could be seen as only "real men" don't abuse their partners, or whatever, but for any men who have suffered abuse at the hands of their partners (male or female), they are then told to "man up" about it.

Blowfish

Some of the stuff surrounding this on Twitter is pretty unbelievable, things like this in particular are immediately blaming men only.

Zulu

Blowfish wrote: »

Some of the stuff surrounding this on Twitter is pretty unbelievable, things like this in particular are immediately blaming men only.

Clearly this isn't meant to condone domestic violence, however, if we view this tweet through the lens of a man being abused by his partner...

"Changing the conversation around domestic violence - what did he do, not what is wrong with her" is very inappropriate.

Emeraldy Pebbles

A lot of people seem disgusted by this campaign so with any hope there'll be a big stink made about it, and the organisers will have to reconsider their stance. It's indefensible really.

Benny_Cake

Blowfish wrote: »

Some of the stuff surrounding this on Twitter is pretty unbelievable, things like this in particular are immediately blaming men only.

I'm surprised at the Rape Crisis Network. As part of a job I had a good few years back I attended a day's training with them (some of those using our services had been sexuality assaulted) and as part of it we heard the story of a man who had been raped. They struck me as humane and even-handed at the time so why they have gotten themselves involved with this cack-handed campaign is beyond me.

kayos

Sure all us men are the evil ones. Only women suffer domestic violence. Just like only women are objectified in ads and never men.....

I'm all for equal rights and equal protection of those rights but these days it seems more and more one sided. If our tax money is funding a one sided biased and non inclusive group such as safe Ireland there needs to be serious questions asked.

py2006

I hope when they say 'children' that they include male child victims too.

FrogMarch

I'm saddened to be honest. As someone who was insidiously abused by a woman with a severe, abusive personality disorder, I wish someone was there to help me. I spent the year after our breakup suffering from severe depression. The general consensus from family and friends, that I stopped trying to confide in quite quickly, was "Well I hope you learned your lesson about women like her" AKA "Serves you right"

Little did they know I didn't understand what was happening to me. I was raised naive of the concepts of gaslighting, projection and severe, abusive and insidious mental disorders.

But I'm a man. So I suppose it's my own fault :rolleyes:

eviltwin

AMEN won't be included in Safe Ireland because they give dangerous advice. I heard a story from a man who contacted them, abusive wife, had been violent in the past, there were a few guns in the house and they told him to stay put no matter what. Thats the kind of advice that can get a person killed.

Sleepy

It's stuff like this that makes me roll my eyes at most feminist organisations these days. I'll be teaching my kids to ignore such organisations and to consider them to be little more than noise pieces that distribute misandrist propaganda.

If a real egalitarian movement that seeks equal rights for all, regardless of gender should start up, I'll consider supporting it. In the meantime, I'll feel fully justified in ignoring everything put out by the womens' rights movement, whether it's sensible or not.

Benny_Cake

Sleepy wrote: »

It's stuff like this that makes me roll my eyes at most feminist organisations these days. I'll be teaching my kids to ignore such organisations and to consider them to be little more than noise pieces that distribute misandrist propaganda.

If a real egalitarian movement that seeks equal rights for all, regardless of gender should start up, I'll consider supporting it. In the meantime, I'll feel fully justified in ignoring everything put out by the womens' rights movement, whether it's sensible or not.

Well, if it's sensible, there's no need to ignore it. There are undoubtedly issues which affect women disproportionately and those which affect men disproportionately, and groups can't tackle everything at the same time. In this case though, both men and went can be the perpetrators and victims of domestic violence and abuse, something which this campaign doesn't seem to acknowledge.

The problem with stuff like this is that refuges and so on do need help and funding, but I can't see too many encountering a campaign such as "Man Up" and deciding to make a donation to the local refuge - it just puts people off and ultimately does no favours to those who are in need of such services.

eviltwin

But Safe Ireland only deal with women. Its like a gay charity doing an awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS, its not saying only gay people are at risk but is focusing on the people they represent. I wouldn't expect Amen to start talking about domestic violence against women so why would you expect Safe Ireland which is an umbrella group for all the domestic violence services aimed at women to start dealing with men??

py2006

eviltwin wrote: »

But Safe Ireland only deal with women. Its like a gay charity doing an awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS, its not saying only gay people are at risk but is focusing on the people they represent. I wouldn't expect Amen to start talking about domestic violence against women so why would you expect Safe Ireland which is an umbrella group for all the domestic violence services aimed at women to start dealing with men??

It's safe Ireland not Safe women Ireland