Is the MAN UP campaign sexist?

otto_26 · 28-11-2012 02:03PM #1

As there are thousands of men that are victims of domestic abuse every year I find it strange that an organisation that prides itself on looking after victims of abuse actually excludes a whole section of victims because of their gender.

Is this fair? Is it sexist? Are these old fashion ways of looking at domestic abuse?

Also is the slogan MAN UP not a sexist one?

Shouldn't Safe Ireland be reaching out to ALL victims of domestic abuse?

El Guapo! · 28-11-2012 02:05PM

Meh.
Men get the short end of the stick all the time while being made out to be bastards. These hypocritical groups claim to be all about equality as long as its not men.
Nothing new there.

Wibbs · 28-11-2012 02:07PM

Yes /Thread.

Cabaal · 28-11-2012 02:08PM

The organization in question from what I understand keeps zero stats on male abuse victims and offers not support to them either, support should be given to all victims of abuse regardless of sex.

admiralofthefleet · 28-11-2012 02:28PM

it happens to both sexes. my wife reads all them womens magazines, you should see the sexism towards men in them.
articles and pages titled 'arent men daft' 'the silly things men do' and you rarely see a story where a woman has done wrong. they also have pics of men in the nude yet women go mad over page 3 and nuts magazine ect.....

Lollipops23 · 28-11-2012 02:54PM

I think it further humiliates male victims of abuse (of which there are plenty)- it's hard enough to be a male victim of an abusive partner, pretending it doesn't exist or assuming it doesn't exist only makes it all more difficult for these men to come forward.

cuckoo · 28-11-2012 03:06PM

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers, the road safety crowd do nothing about animal cruelty and the fire brigade aren't checking the best before dates of the milk in my fridge.

Amen is the voluntary organisation that supports male victims of domestic violence btw.

http://www.amen.ie/

Green Diesel · 28-11-2012 03:07PM

Maybe. Do I care? No.

jam_mac_jam · 28-11-2012 03:08PM

cuckoo wrote: »

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers, the road safety crowd do nothing about animal cruelty and the fire brigade aren't checking the best before dates of the milk in my fridge.

Amen is the voluntary organisation that supports male victims of domestic violence btw.

http://www.amen.ie/

Exactly.

super_furry · 28-11-2012 03:08PM

cuckoo wrote: »

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers, the road safety crowd do nothing about animal cruelty and the fire brigade aren't checking the best before dates of the milk in my fridge.

The Irish Cancer Society don't demonize half of the population and label every man as a potential psychopath. Because in listening to those radio adverts, these Man Up people do.

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:11PM

cuckoo wrote: »

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers

And yet their ads don't accuse alzheimhers patients of giving people cancer. Really cuckoo? You can't see the difference??

dr.bollocko · 28-11-2012 03:12PM

super_furry wrote: »

The Irish Cancer Society don't demonize half of the population and label every man as a potential psychopath. Because in listening to those radio adverts, these Man Up people do.

No they don't.

My name is URL · 28-11-2012 03:13PM

cuckoo wrote: »

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers, the road safety crowd do nothing about animal cruelty and the fire brigade aren't checking the best before dates of the milk in my fridge.

Amen is the voluntary organisation that supports male victims of domestic violence btw.

http://www.amen.ie/

The problem isn't about men not being represented as potential victims, it's about men being the only ones portrayed as abusers.

Have you heard or listened to any of the ads?

http://www.safeireland.ie/manup/

cuckoo · 28-11-2012 03:15PM

super_furry wrote: »

The Irish Cancer Society don't demonize half of the population and label every man as a potential psychopath. Because in listening to those radio adverts, these Man Up people do.

"...abuse of women and children is not what men do. man up - join the campaign"

From that radio ad. I interpret that as saying that it's not manly to abuse and it's not the norm, not that all men are potential abusers.

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:16PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

No they don't.

There isn't a single ad with a woman as the abuser, is there?

So are we to take it that women don't abuse women? No?? No Mother, daughter, sister, aunt, or lover ever abused a woman? I suppose it's not in them. Not even emotional or financial abuse.

<sarcasm>Sure women are natural born carers, aren't they. Great in the home. </sarcasm>

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:17PM

cuckoo wrote: »

From that radio ad. I interpret that as saying that it's not manly to abuse and it's not the norm, not that all men are potential abusers.

...not all men, and no women.

dr.bollocko · 28-11-2012 03:18PM

Zulu wrote: »

There isn't a single ad with a woman as the abuser, is there?

So are we to take it that women don't abuse women? No?? No Mother, daughter, sister, aunt, or lover ever abused a woman? I suppose it's not in them. Not even emotional or financial abuse.

<sarcasm>Sure women are natural born carers, aren't they. Great in the home. </sarcasm>

His statement was that the ad paints all men as abusers.

It doesn't. Though the case that it paints all abusers as men, or certainly neglects to mention the other case is certainly one which has merit.

JonathanAnon · 28-11-2012 03:19PM

I heard this and thought the same... It was like a message from the rape crisis centre or another one of those "all men are bastards" groups... But these bleeding heart groups can say whatever they want, nobody in the left wing media would ever tackle them over it.

Madam_X · 28-11-2012 03:20PM

cuckoo wrote: »

And the Irish Cancer Society do nothing for alzheimhers, the road safety crowd do nothing about animal cruelty and the fire brigade aren't checking the best before dates of the milk in my fridge

But they're all distinctly different issues. Domestic violence is domestic violence.

Amen gets feck all funding btw.

Doc B, I do think this campaign seems to put out the message that all men are potential abusers, and "Don't be that man".

BizzyC · 28-11-2012 03:23PM

Reminds me of the Fox news "Not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are muslim"

cuckoo · 28-11-2012 03:25PM

from http://www.safeireland.ie/manup/ :

"Most men celebrate and respect women – they don’t control them. Good men protect and care for children. Today men are proudly standing up and declaring zero tolerance on domestic violence of any kind. It’s time to help make Ireland the safest place for women and children."

This is an organisation running a specific, targeted campaign. My cancer society/alzheimhers analogy may have been a bit too subtle - different organisations focus on different areas of social change. There is no one group trying to fix everything.

Each year when this annual campaign about domestic violence against women and children is run in November boards is full of these threads. Every single year.

If you feel strongly that domestic violence against men isn't been given enough attention, get involved with Amen. Contact the media. Write to your TD.

To reuse my earlier analogy, don't diss the cancer society because you think the alzheimher society aren't doing enough.

dr.bollocko · 28-11-2012 03:27PM

Madam_X wrote: »

But they're all distinctly different issues. Domestic violence is domestic violence.

Amen gets feck all funding btw.

Doc B, I do think this campaign seems to put out the message that all men are potential abusers, and "Don't be that man".

Speaking as one who does not domestically abuse I never for a second thought the ad was aimed at me or by extension my entire gender.

I'm not saying it's all fine and dandy. The thing creeps me out like "he drives, she dies" which was a travesty.

It's succeeding in its aim which is to court controversy.

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:29PM

cuckoo wrote: »

To reuse my earlier analogy, don't diss the cancer society because you think the alzheimher society aren't doing enough.

So it's mens (the alzheimher society aren't doing enough) fault they are portrayed negatively in the media campaigns (don't diss the cancer society)?

I'll refer you to my previous question(s)
:
There isn't a single ad with a woman as the abuser, is there?

So are we to take it that women don't abuse women? No?? No Mother, daughter, sister, aunt, or lover ever abused a woman? I suppose it's not in them. Not even emotional or financial abuse.

Leftist · 28-11-2012 03:31PM

''any bloke who lets his missus batter him probably deserves it.''

wise words.

a man beating a woman is one thing, he's physically bigger, faster and stronger. It's disgusting and he should be castrated.

but what kind of man would let a woman beat him around the place? stand up for yourself for christ's sake. We should protect the most vulnerable but we can't cotton wool the entire world for people who really should be able to do the basics.

and if your bird knocks you about, then leave her. if she's sexy, just turn it into a dominatrix thing. That would actually be a good laugh.

But use a bit of sense.

What next if we go down this route? oh no I can't wash my hands, the water hurts me

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:34PM

Leftist wrote: »

<utter tripe>

Wow, you should win some sort of anti-post of the day.

cuckoo · 28-11-2012 03:35PM

Zulu wrote: »

So are we to take it that women don't abuse women? No?? No Mother, daughter, sister, aunt, or lover ever abused a woman? I suppose it's not in them. Not even emotional or financial abuse.

Where in this one campaign are you getting the message that women don't abuse? Not mentioning women as abusers is not the same as stating women don't abuse.

I'm ok with different groups focusing on different aspects of domestic violence, and developing expertise with supporting their target group.

Where are the threads criticising Amen for not running campaigns that get as much attention?

Micky Dolenz · 28-11-2012 03:36PM

Leftist wrote: »

''any bloke who lets his missus batter him probably deserves it.''

wise words.

a man beating a woman is one thing, he's physically bigger, faster and stronger. It's disgusting and he should be castrated.

but what kind of man would let a woman beat him around the place? stand up for yourself for christ's sake. We should protect the most vulnerable but we can't cotton wool the entire world for people who really should be able to do the basics.

and if your bird knocks you about, then leave her. if she's sexy, just turn it into a dominatrix thing. That would actually be a good laugh.

But use a bit of sense.

What next if we go down this route? oh no I can't wash my hands, the water hurts me

You trolling?

Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Abuse comes in many forms.

Leftist · 28-11-2012 03:37PM

Zulu wrote: »

Wow, you should win some sort of anti-post of the day.

in your opinion. But you haven't argued any point.

Dropping insults instead of addressing points is a roundabout way of admitting you are incapable of disproving it.

Zulu · 28-11-2012 03:38PM

cuckoo wrote: »

Where in this one campaign are you getting the message that women don't abuse?

You seemed to have missed my first leading question. I'll post it again for you:

There isn't a single ad with a woman as the abuser, is there?

super_furry · 28-11-2012 03:39PM

cuckoo wrote: »

To reuse my earlier analogy, don't diss the cancer society because you think the alzheimher society aren't doing enough.

I'm afraid that's still a really poor analogy. The Cancer society aren't putting out radio adverts that basically claim Alzheimhers is the sole cause of domestic abuse.

These radio adverts may be targeted at just one issue, but it's a dangerous implication that they're making in portraying men as the sole cause of domestic violence and women and children as the sole sufferers.

The fact that they're condescending and talking to men, asking them not to do something that the vast, vast majority would never dream of doing is the icing on a particularly distasteful cake.

ixoy · 28-11-2012 03:39PM

cuckoo wrote: »

I'm ok with different groups focusing on different aspects of domestic violence, and developing expertise with supporting their target group.

But it's not really different aspects is it? Different aspects would be physical or psychological. The perpetrator, be they male or female, can still inflict the same terror and pain.
It's a disservice to those who are abused by women be they men or women.

Is the MAN UP campaign sexist?

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