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.
Porky pies is rhyming slang for lies, often shortened to porkies.
As in ‘Oh Mr Elam, you really shouldn’t tell blatant porkies’
You know, it really warms the cockles of my malevolent heart (evil here, my avatar says so) to know that Woody is *still* here. Every once and I while, I wonder if he’s stopped reading, and we’re shouting into the void. And then he manages a post.
@gilshalos
i see
so …
that helps, but it still doesn’t quite make sense. people are waking up to the lies, which are different from the white knights? people are not waking up to the white knights? i mean, i agree that lies and white knights are different, and it’s true that i don’t wake up to a white knight, but i don’t know how that helps convey information in this context.
I think he’s contrasting the people who are waking up as opposed to the White Knights and maningas who believe our lies.
I think.
ohhhh so white knights and man purses are not people.
well, that’s half right
Woah, LuxLustravi. The “real” site I referred to was AVfM’s phony version, hence the quotes (that they name theirs the real site is what I was mocking). Same for the absolute uselessness of their piss-and-moan articles for real life sufferers of DV. I appreciate David’s work, and certainly that of the real (no quotes) White Ribbon Austlalia.
Happy to have brought you out of lurking, even if over a little misunderstanding.
Yes, the Family Court in New Zealand is a terrible organisation. Look how it just leaps in at the earliest possible opportunity to ruin the lives of men: http://www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice/about-children/making-decisions-about-children/getting-help-outside-the-court/overview-of-how-the-family-justice-system-can-help-you
Anyone want to take a bet against me that Dominic da Silva’s ex went via the bottom route?
@hellkell @Dawn Incognito I recommend Dr. Martha Stout’s The Sociopath Next Door and Dr. Robert Hare’s Without Conscience, both finely researched books to begin to understand sociopathy and its affects on victims and followers. Both books should give you insight on the differences between sociopathy and anti-social personality disorder. Happy reading 🙂
Wall of run-on sentence says WHAT?
Oh. Just another angry shithead, yelling at the clouds.
>yawn<
is this a sock of crissa, or do we honestly have a second and separate individual who thinks that the board conforms to their standards instead of the reverse?
headcheese: thanks, but that is not the point.
Anyone who makes an internet diagnosis here should be forced to write a 500-word essay on circular reasoning, and confirmation bias, at minimum.
Just don’t do it. And don’t excuse it. Those of us arguing that you should stop doing it do understand the topic. Throwing “recommended reading” at us won’t change our minds.
I vote for moderation; perhaps only non-ableist posts can be let through.
Are they mad cuz they aren’t making a profit off domestic violence? Am I misunderstanding their rage rant?
Headcheese, your condescension is much appreciated 🙂 😉 :-p
Talking about MRA custody rants- MRAs are scarey-attached to splitting custody exactly down the middle. I remember an article on Psychology Today that talked about when splitting custody down the middle was bad for children that attracted some angry fathers righters. Shared custody, and constantly moving back and forth between houses, can be very stressful for some children, but don’t tell that to men who are only concerned with equal access.
Yes, and organisations that work against cruelty against animals also don’t give equal time to the fact that dogs do indeed bite humans. They are therefore fraud
And how often do humans bite dogs, anyway? Probably much less often than vice versa. It’s sheer hypocrisy I tell you. Next thing you know, they’ll put a muzzle on Richard Dawkins just because he’s been mildly rabid lately. He hasn’t even bitten anyone yet.
Policy of Madness:
also with the comma where it is “you” parade around as supporters – not the “white knights”, “man purses” or possibly even the lies people are waking up from. All my life I’ve been living a lie! or a man purse. I can’t tell which.
Re ableism; there’s no need to do an armchair diagnosis over the internet. Just describe what you see, without labelling it.
e.g.) Instead of calling someone a sociopath (still a diagnosis, however sloppily it’s used in everyday speech and even though it’s not au courant as per the DSM), describe the behaviour that you actually see (this guy seems to lack empathy). Instead of calling someone psychotic, describe the behaviour (this comment is not in touch with my reality).
Do I really have to give a lecture on why internet diagnosing and ableism is bad? (answer; it’s inaccurate, it stigmatises actual illnesses, and it hurts people who live with those diagnoses and other mental illnesses). The big problem is that people who are actually mad need support, not abuse (and most of them are pretty regular, decent people whatever popular media might tell you), and most of the people who are behaving badly on the internet are choosing to be selfish, immature, reality denying, solipsistic jerks.
TL;DR – ableism is bad because it conflates the group ‘jerks’ with the group ‘mentally ill’.
Giliell, hi! (2kittehs here)
Arctic Ape:
LOL!
I’d love to see him literally muzzled if that included taking away his internet access.
I read a novel once in which a wolf was bitten by a werewolf and turned into a man every full moon.
Unimaginative, I would read that. Do you remember what it was called?
Howling Mad by Peter David
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175935.Howling_Mad
It was a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time ago. I suspect it had some problematic elements.