Just had a discussion on social media about the number of women murdered in Ireland since 1996. It was a list of 244 names, the names of all women murdered in the last 25 years.

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The people commenting and posting were saying that men needed to do better, and we couldn't understand what it is like.

I countered by saying that 230 men were killed between 2017-2019 (the most recent government statistics that I could find). The number of women murdered in a 25 year period is matched by the number of men murdered in a mere 3 years.

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The first response: "and what gender were the attackers?"

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I was polite and respectful, backed up my arguments with sources and didn't take away from the tragedy of the 244. I simply tried to put that number into context, and point out the need for egalitarian support.

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It went pretty much how you'd expect. A large group of women (and they weren't even young, reactionary girls; it was women from ages 20-40) ignoring the facts and giving me a wave of abuse.

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My point is this: how the bloody hell are any of us supposed to affect change and even generate a crumb of sympathy for the overwhelming numbers of male victims if this is how people (primarily women) respond? Furthermore, I sometimes wonder what the point of trying is, since very few people outside of this sub and TinMenBlog affiliated pages even acknowledge men's issues. Everyone else will, at best, dismiss you out of hand and at worst, label you a mysoginist.

It makes me so damn pissed off, and there's nothing I can do to help men and bring attention to these problems without being labelled as something unpleasant and sexist

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End rant.