by Alphabeta Supe
Gender violence campaigns like White Ribbon Day and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence by the Centre for Global Womens Leadership are two examples of campaigns that attempt to shame men into acknowledging that they’re all violent criminals by the fact of their birth. Like Josh Jasper’s baby ad campaign and Verizon’s recent Monster campaign, they present ideas in such a way that provide men with no other response but those society is already primed to see as disingenuous. This view blinds society to the fact that men are also victims of violence and that perpetrators are just as often women. It’s frustrating that no matter how easily and how often this fraud is exposed, most women prefer to keep their delusion.
In Australia, according to the organisers of White Ribbon Day, the data source behind the campaign is the Australian Bureau of Statistics in their Personal Safety Survey 2005 (reissued 2006), which states that 39.9% of women over 15 have experienced at least one incidence of violence in their lifetime. It is supported by an Australian Institute of Criminology national survey (Mouzos and Makkai, 2004). These studies are publicly available here and here.
When one studies these documents, however, it becomes clear very quickly that the statistic is part of a broader picture about violence in which men are the greater victims. One can’t blame female victims for ignoring the forest for the trees in the aftermath of a traumatic experience but organisers of campaigns have no excuse. Using these statistics only in reference to women makes it easy to forget that violence affects everyone, especially men. It’s also easy to forget that women are violent too, and often excessively. This social blindness makes it easy for feminist ideologues to emotionally manipulate the public, which is exactly what the gender violence campaigns are intended to do.
The feminist narrative is loaded with all kinds of discussion-ending, ironclad “arguments” that use cherry-picked statistics that “prove” men are solely at fault. This makes it easy to justify wildly disproportionate public funding for women’s programs at the expense of that for men in all areas of public spending. Disturbingly, it also allows feminist ideologues to press forward with man-hating legislation such as the Australian Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 which seems to endorse the idea that all men are guilty of violence merely if a woman fears it.
Let’s look more closely at the ABS report:
“An estimated 35% (5,275,400) of men and women have experienced physical assault since the age of 15.”
In other words, one-in-three people (men and women) experience violence in their lifetimes.
“In the 12 months prior to the survey, there were an estimated 443,800 (5.8%) women who experienced an incident of violence compared to 808,300 (11%) men.”
In other words, twice as many men than women experienced violence in the previous 12 months.
“Since the age of 15, there were an estimated 3,065,800 (39.9%) women who experienced violence compared with 3,744,900 (50.1%) men.”
In other words, more men than women experience violence. This is no doubt a primary source of violent behaviour in men, yet there are no mainstream anti-violence programs aimed at helping male victims. Public spending on anti-violence programs for women is an order of magnitude higher than those for men in most western countries.
“29% (2,243,600) of women experienced physical assault compared to 41% (3,031,800) of men.”
Yet violence against women is increasingly labelled a crisis, while violence against men is increasingly mocked – e.g. “man up”, “don’t be a wuss” etc.
“11% (833,200) of women experienced physical threat compared to 22% (1,675,300) of men.”
In other words, more men than women face violence, yet a man is expected to simply deal with it or face ridicule and revulsion, while a woman’s mere fear of violence is sufficient for the Family Court to undermine the very foundations of a civilised justice system (the presumption of innocence for men accused of violence).
“17% (1,293,100) of women experienced sexual assault compared to 4.8% (362,400) of men.”
“4.6% (353,700) of women experienced sexual threat compared to 0.9% (69,500) of men.”
“Since the age of 15, 5.5% (408,100) of men reported experiencing sexual violence compared to 19% (1,469,500) of women.”
One-in-five women and one-in-twenty men experience sexual violence or threat in their lifetimes. Clearly, sexual assualt centres for women are necessary, yet there are twenty times as many government subsidised centres for women as there are for men despite the fact that men are sexually assaulted only four times less.
The second source (Mouzos/Makkai, 2004) used by the White Ribbon people is more sociological in nature, but the figure it cites – i.e. that 57% of women suffer abuse in their lifetime, is too broad to apply only to violence and is clearly stated as an inference only. There also appears to be no evidence that the population samples used in the analysis were independent or unbiased. This information must therefore be treated with caution.
The conclusions I draw from this very brief analysis are threefold:
1. There is nothing to suggest women are special victims of violence, although sexual violence is four times more likely to be against women than men. The opposite is, in fact, true – men are victims of violence in greater numbers than women, and more often.
2. Men are severely neglected in all areas of public discussion and spending when it comes to violence, sexual or otherwise. While there are a few agencies that help men who have been assaulted in terms of legal recourse, there are very few programs that adequately assist men psychologically and emotionally. There are no government programs in Australia to assist men who have been raped. NB. The average man is no better equipped to deal with violence than the average woman – the feelings of anger, fear, neglect, low self-esteem and acute sense of social injustice are the same, possibly more since society tends to feel revulsion towards victimised men.
Read about how rape affects men here.
3. Violence is not just a women’s issue nor can it be said to just be caused by men. The feminist narrative avoids describing the extent to which female victims of violence might have initiated, contributed to, or exacerbated it. Feminists encourage such misnomers as “victim shaming” in an attempt to discredit any evidence that might point to a woman’s guilt, while disavowing any responsibility by the woman, exhorting even when such evidence is irrefutable that “a man must have made her do it”.
