November 25th is White Ribbon Day in Australia, a day devoted to ending domestic violence against women. This year – the 25th has already drawn to a close in Australia – there were reportedly hundreds of White Ribbon events held across the country, including a massive march in suburban Sydney that drew thousands of participants.
White Ribbon Australia, which describes itself as “Australia’s only national, male led Campaign to end men’s violence against women” calls on men to “swear never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.” It helps to coordinate events in schools and workplaces, and has gotten support from police departments across the country as well as from various branches of the nation’s military.
It’s also gotten the attention of the folks at A Voice for Men.
Not that long ago, as you may recall, everyone’s favorite Men’s Rights hate site set up its own phony White Ribbon website in an attempt to push its own noxious views on domestic violence, undermine real White Ribbon organizations worldwide – and to do a bit of fundraising of its own. (AVFM, perhaps fearing legal reprisal, has since taken down the “donate” button it used to have on the site.)
Now AVFM has decided to take White Ribbon Australia on directly, declaring November 25th to be “White Ribbon Fraud Day.” That’s right: the group that just set up a fake White Ribbon website is accusing the real domestic violence awareness group of fraud.
AVFM’s head boy Paul Elam declares in his typically overheated prose that
Profiteers have now industrialized battered women, reducing them to storefront mannequins for the sake of lining their pockets. …
One of the most deplorable examples of that in existence today is the so-called “White Ribbon Campaign.” … Their modus operandi is to paint a false picture of the problem, identifying its sole source as abusive men and its sole victims as helpless women. It is a calculated deception that flies in the face of virtually all known credible research on the issue, but it is a financial windfall because female-only victims and male-only perpetrators have proven to provide the best incentive for inspiring well-meaning people to give money.
Perhaps the worst of the worst in this worldwide consortium of con artists is the White Ribbon Campaign in Australia.
Never mind the actual domestic violence survivors (not mannequins) who show up and speak out at White Ribbon Day events. Never mind that Elam’s notion of “credible research” on the subject of domestic violence is considered by most DV experts as seriously flawed.
And never mind that Elam himself seems to think that the best “solution” to domestic violence perpetrated by women against men is for men
to beat the living shit out of them. I don’t mean subdue them, or deliver an open handed pop on the face to get them to settle down. I mean literally to grab them by the hair and smack their face against the wall till the smugness of beating on someone because you know they won’t fight back drains from their nose with a few million red corpuscles.
And then make them clean up the mess.
This isn’t the only time that the truculent Elam has fantasized publicly about beating up women.
So the idea that Elam is some sort of moral authority on the issue of domestic violence is laughable.
But let’s hear him out anyway.
Elam’s “smoking gun” against White Ribbon Australia? That after a cursory examination of the group’s publicly available financial records
we have found no evidence that White Ribbon Australia has ever contributed a solid nickel to a single service for actual victims of domestic violence. That includes female victims.
Well, Paul, that’s probably because THAT’S NOT WHAT WHITE RIBBON AUSTRALIA DOES. There are numerous groups in Australia that do provide direct support to victims of domestic violence; White Ribbon Australia links to many of them on its website.
But, as the group makes plain on its website, it doesn’t provide direct assistance. Instead, it “work[s] to change the attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence against women.”
What does this mean? Well, in addition to White Ribbon Day events (and other events held throughout the year), the group organizes programs in schools and workplaces, recruits and works with corporate partners, and trains Advocates and Amabassadors to speak out against violence against women.
The efforts of White Ribbon Australia and other DV organizations to raise awareness are bearing fruit; indeed, the Australian government earlier this year pledged $100 million to step up the fight against domestic violence.
A Voice for Men, meanwhile, has set up a phony website to undermine these efforts.
I think it’s pretty clear who the real fraud is here.
Unfortunately, the actual fraud being “pretty clear” isn’t good enough. Lots and lots of people go in for Paul Elam’s lies by being relatively uncritical of them.
Isn’t there some sort of international trade law (the only international law we sort of respect here in the US) that Elam is violating by doing this? Some sort of slander/libel law? Probably not, but a girl can dream of him being hustled away in the night by the Customs Bureau.
I’ve never seen more projection in my life.
Shut up, Woody.
Has anyone ever figured out what happened to this guy to cause him to have such vile ridiculous views? Surely no one is born so crazy
Also ShutUpWoody.org, ShutUpWoody.edu, and ShutUpWoody.com. Just to cover all the bases.
Elam’s livid that other domestic violence awareness campaigns are raising 1000 times the money he is. It’s pretty telling that he thinks it’s because they’re “con artists”. It couldn’t possibly be because White Ribbon is doing important, valuable work, or because people agree that reducing domestic violence is socially beneficial. No, it’s because in his mind, anybody who donates money is an ignorant sheep. And it infuriates him that he’s not getting a piece of the action.
Can we call out paul for what he is? A sociopath. A manipulative con artist with no conscience. Sociopaths like paul are an absolute cancer in society.
Don’t forget ShutUpWoody.info!
You know, elam must be pretty desperate for attention these days if this is the best he can manage. GG totally stole his fanbase.
How odd. Apparently the actual whiteribbon.org website claims it is now owned by Erin Prizzey, and is only hosted by AVFM. Which lets Paul Elam perform this nice little piece of rhetorical gynastics.
“Her website” being “whiteribbon.org” I presume? The one that AVFM started and apparently handed off to avoid culpability?
By the way, the “studies” section is still hilarious. Now instead of being completely blank, it links to a huge database of studies (rather than hosting any or providing any guidance towards the important ones).
Hi Sarah,
Please don’t use “crazy” as an insult. Thanks.
That last line of the “bash a violent bitch” rant always gives me chills. And then make them clean up the mess. I can hear it now: “just look what you made me do!” But Paul Elam is not an abuser. Suuuuure.
So while AVFM is combating White Ribbon on the claim that their campaign is fraudulent, exactly what has the “fighting domestic violence against everyone” version accomplished for victims of DV? Any positive effort of outreach for real victims to be found anywhere near the “real” organization site? Somehow I don’t see posting angry opinion article after article doing much to help.
Also hi, longtime lurker just chiming in.
It really annoys me when misogynists call other people sexist. Whether it’s sexism against men or against women, AVFM has no right to accuse anyone else because AVFM does both.
This certainly violates international trademark law. If you attempt to use trademarked material in order to compete with an existing orginization in their existing market, you’ve violated the law. Jail time is unlikely, but AVFM could face some very serious fines. If AVFM is not an LLC, that means Elam would be responsible for these fines.
What kills me is that Facebook hasn’t taken down the page yet, dispite this being straight from Facebook:
Facebook is committed to helping people and organizations protect their intellectual property rights. The Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities does not allow posting content that violates someone else’s intellectual property rights, including copyright and trademark. …
A trademark is a word, slogan, symbol or design (ex: brand name, logo) that distinguishes the products or services offered by one person, group or company from another. Generally, trademark law seeks to prevent confusion among consumers about who provides or is affiliated with a product or service.
Sigh. I cannot help wondering whether Mr. ElamMale, about whom I can find practically nothing on Google, is trying to create such a loud and public brouhaha that the exposure will make the real White Ribbon men jump their ship and join his. Maybe he thinks that the men of White Ribbon will realize what wimps and chumps they have been and decide to become “manly men” again. This would, of course, fill Elams coffers, make him the god king of masculinity, and drive the final nail into the coffin of feminism everywhere.
In his pathetic, sick and miserable dreams.
I went to school with a person whose last name actually was Elam. It’s a legitimate name, I don’t think there’s any reason to suspect that Paul’s name is other than Elam.
Well, if you want to ascribe to him a staggering ego, maybe. There certainly seems to be enough circumstantial evidence.
sunnysombrera
The saddest/most frustrating thing is, they only seem to do it when the accused is trying to help out a target they don’t deem worthy. AVfM doesn’t see women as “worthy” of assistance, no matter their “equal help for DV victims” stance on their phony website. They only care about male victims, and even then, it’s only to try to shit on feminists and other people who focus on women’s rights or are an organization dedicated to helping female victims like White Ribbon. I have never seen AVfM give two flying rat turds about male victims until it suited their anti-feminist agenda.
I always find that whenever an actual thing that would place AVfM in the right to be outraged about is happening, either they ignore it, or spin the hell out of it to somehow place the blame on a woman. And when something is happening that would help their cause, they get upset and cry wolf about it because it’s somehow terrible because of women.
Wow, it’s like I woke up in backwards land.
Shut up Woody
Chutzpah: “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan”
MRAs, they have it. (Wonder if we can get them to freak out over a Jewish word?)
The roller coaster ride never ends with these characters.
So at what point will people recognise that you completely miss 50 % of all victims by focusing on the sexist stereotyping of men as always being the aggressors, many many guys have been the victims of domestic violence and no one cares about them (we don’t make very good victims for $$$$ do we) which we all know is not always the case you ignore repeated proven NZ and Australian studies and shamelessly fool others,people are waking up to the blatant porky pies and not these “white knight” “man purses” , you parade around as supporters. We are against all violence towards men women and children, and until you do get that spoon out of your butt and smell the shite your shovelling nothing will ever improve except your bank balance. “NZ men fed up with the NZ family court”
You realize that Paul is engaging in POLITICAL SATIRE, right? Do you also think that the head of the Republican Party is actually an elephant?
This blog is an exercise in missing the point.
I literally never noticed that ‘Elam’ is ‘male’ backwards, and I’ve been following David’s takedowns of this shyster for years.
*headdesk*
That’s not cool.
That’s exactly the sort of shit you know Elam is going to screenshot and use as “proof” his life is threatened by us.
Perhaps some kind and generous souls could buy Paulie a ticket to Australia for a private interview with the head or our Army. Not only is General David Morrison eternally famous for his “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept” speech not so long ago, he’s also a longstanding “ambassador” for the Australian White Ribbon organisation.
(Though I’m pretty sure Morrison wouldn’t give him the time of day.)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-25/army-chief-calls-on-all-australians-to-end/5917824