MP Philip Davies criticises 'militant feminists' - a fair overview of the debate from the BBC?

wisty · 2015-11-20T16:43:59+00:00

tl;dr - the BBC article could be interpreted as "Tory calls for debate on male suicide, uses it as an excuse to complain about feminism". In reality, he spent a huge amount of time talking about male suicide, and other inequalities faced by men (and the government's indifference at best to these inequalities).

The BBC even includes a quote to that effect:

SNP MP Paul Monaghan said he found many of Mr Davies' remarks "unrelated to the title of the debate", saying the Scottish government was "deeply concerned" about suicide rates.

I think it sells him a bit short (as well as all the other participants).

BBC overview (https://archive.is/fytmW):

An MP has blamed "militant feminists and politically correct males" for stirring up problems between men and women.

Conservative Philip Davies said there was an attitude in Parliament that equality "often applies just to women". But his comments were criticised by fellow Tory MP Maria Miller, who accused him of trying to belittle discrimination faced by women.

They were speaking as MPs debated male suicide and International Men's Day.

The BBC doesn't even really bother explicitly mentioning that male suicide was in fact discussed in the debate by Davies, or any of the pertinent points he raised, which could play into a narrative that the debate was just some Tory using it as a platform to complain about feminists.

Other points Davies raised (source - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm151119/halltext/151119h0001.htm#15111929000001)

Violence against men

I will move on to talk about violence. In this House, we always seem to be hearing about strategies for combating violence against women and girls—in fact, there have been debates in the House on that very subject—so people might be forgiven for thinking that there is a special problem of violence against women and girls, and that it does not apply to men and boys. Some might think that far more women and girls than men and boys must be victims of violence, but the reality does not always match people’s concerns. It is a fact that in this country, men are much more likely than women to be victims of violent crime. The most recent biennial statistics from the Ministry of Justice on the representation of females and males in the criminal justice system confirmed that 1.4% of women interviewed in the crime survey reported being a victim of a violent crime, compared with 2.3% of men.

A lack of action on domestic violence against men

There has been a lot of talk about the female victims of domestic violence. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 8.5% of women were victims of domestic violence in 2013-14, but so were 4.5% of men. That is equivalent to 1.4 million female victims and about 700,000 male victims of domestic violence. That figure refers not to partner abuse, but to all abuse in a domestic setting, including among families. When we look at the figures for partner abuse, we see that 5.9% of women and 2.9% of men report being victims. It is quite clear that around one in three victims is a man.

Something else that needs to change is the reaction to violence against males, certainly when it comes to female-on-male violence. Some see it as almost a laughing matter, but nobody would laugh or turn a blind eye if a female was the victim. Anecdotal evidence suggests that male victims are treated differently from female victims by the police and other agencies. Considering the sheer numbers involved, male victims are given hardly any resources in comparison with female victims. Resources should be available to both male and female victims of domestic violence.

Issues such as the lack of places of refuge and the lack of support for men need to be addressed. The ManKind initiative, which works with men suffering from domestic violence or domestic abuse, says that it will run out of funding in January. It needs people to back it now so that it can provide the emotional support and practical information that male victims need. There are moving stories on its website from men who have suffered domestic violence. Although there seem to be more female victims of domestic abuse, each male victim is also a person, not a statistic, and it is only right and fair that help should be there for victims of both sexes.

Prison sentences

Since that debate, I have amassed much more evidence on the subject. I will not go through it all now, otherwise we would be here all day, but I want to put some of the key facts on the record. About 5% of the prison population at any time in recent history has been female, and the other 95% has been male, yet so much consternation, time and effort have been expended on the very small number of women in prison. For every category of offence, men are more likely than women to be sent to prison. That is a fact. I will give an example to illustrate that: 45% of men sentenced for an offence of violence against the person will be given a custodial sentence, compared with just 23% of women. Of those with 15 or more previous convictions, 39% of men but only 29% of women are sent to immediate custody. In Crown courts, which deal with the most serious offences, probation recommends immediate custody in 24% of cases for male offenders, and just 11% of cases for female offenders.

The focus on helping female prisoners

The facts and figures that I have set out show that there are certainly questions to be answered about how men are treated in the justice system, compared with women. It seems that there is clear discrimination against men. If outcomes are all-important, what do people have to say about that? What will be done to deal with that balance? Well, the Under-Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Family Justice has made an announcement. She has said that she wants fewer women in prison—not fewer people or fewer men. Yes, hon. Members heard me right: just fewer women. The Conservative manifesto read:

“We will improve the treatment of women offenders, exploring how new technology may enable more women…to serve their sentence in the community.”

Now, I am not somebody who supports prisoners, but where on earth is the equality in that? How does that fit in with the Equality Act 2010?

And of course there was an extensive discussion on male suicide (by multiple participants) taking up most of the time.

A Tory having a dig at 'militant feminists' isn't, IMO, the most newsworthy part of the debate. Tory MPs bringing up the importance of class might be more newsworthy

Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con): I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. I may not agree with everything he has said until now, but one thing I very much agree with him on is the constant obsession with gender equality. Does he agree that some of the people who have the worst life outcomes, particularly in our areas, are working-class men, who suffer some of the worst health issues and have some of the poorest life chances? Simply replacing a middle-class, privately educated man with a middle-class, privately educated woman does very little to increase diversity and opportunity for working-class lads.

Philip Davies: I very much agree with my hon. Friend. Increasingly, working-class boys are some of those who are doing the worst at school and need the most help. I certainly agree with him about political representation. I have often said that replacing Rupert from Kensington and Chelsea with Jemima from Kensington and Chelsea does not do much for diversity in the House of Commons, but that is perhaps a debate for another day.

Or just the facts they brought to the table

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of female suicide victims declined from 10.9 per thousand in 1982 to 5.1 per thousand in 2013, whereas male suicide rates in the UK were much higher and were virtually the same in 2013 as they were in 1982—19 per thousand in 2013 and 20.6 per thousand in 1982. Those statistics sound bad enough, but it is nothing compared to the reality of suicide: according to the House of Commons Library, what that means is that in 2012, more than 4,500 men felt they had no choice but to take their own life. Given that there was an increase in suicides in 2013, the figure for that year is nearly 5,000 men.

In fact, over the last 30 years, according to ONS figures supplied by the House of Commons Library, more than 130,000 men have taken their own life. That is a staggering number: it is a staggering number of people who have needlessly died, and a staggering number of families left behind—parents, spouses, children, friends and colleagues —all of whom have been left grieving and suffering.

Lethn · 2015-11-20T16:33:30+00:00

He's being exceptionally rational I'd say, now watch him get mobbed by angry feminists lol.

azazelcrowley · 2015-11-20T17:49:18+00:00

No surprises there, when I read your title I thought you meant

"What the fuck? They gave a fair overview?!?"

But now I get what you were asking.

Vance87 · 2015-11-20T21:16:29+00:00

I watched that "debate". Damned if every person that stood up to comment said something along the lines of "Hey we know men have issues too, BUT LET'S NOT FORGET ABOUT WOMEN'S ISSUES WHICH ARE MORE IMPORTANT GUYS"

It really got annoying after the second person. Also he was getting called out on the most semantic crap, like saying "commit suicide" instead of "taking your own life". They really didn't want him to look good.

pnw_diver · 2015-11-20T17:41:58+00:00

BBC - the Brainwash Broadcasting Corporation.

Title	MP Philip Davies criticises 'militant feminists' - a fair overview of the debate from the BBC?
Author	wisty
Upvotes	40
Comments	10
Date	November 20, 2015 4:14 PM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3tkwvs/mp_philip_davies_criticises_militant_feminists_a/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/mp-philip-davies-criticises-militant-feminists-a.966720 https://theredarchive.com/post/966720

Comments