Hijacking causes

This has been on my mind a bit and I am finally going to put it out there for the world.....

Thursday was the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, commonly known as White Ribbon Day. A fsntastic cause, one worth supporting, and I do so wholeheartedly. But I noticed a disturbing trend. Virtually everytime White Ribbon Day was mentioned somebody, generally a male, asked "What about men?"

Now, I don't have a problem with supporting an end to violence against men, particularly sexual and domestic violence. I have come to know men who have been victimised, physically and sexually, by both men and women. It is wrong for anybody to suffer in this way. But why hijack a really good cause? Nobody debates that violence against men occurs, and yes, at the hands of women as well as men. Nobody I saw said that violence against men is any more acceptable than violence against women. But the simple truth is that one in three women in Australia have experienced domestic or intimate partner violence (something that is becoming more prevalent in teen relationships) and one in four to five women have experienced sexual victimisation. This type of violence is primarily perpetrated by males.

If you look overseas (mostly) you will see gender based violence that includes rape as a weapon of war, female genital mutilation, honour killings, dowry murders, and the killing of female babies in China so that families can have another child, hopefully a male, to carry on the family name.

Many of the men who posed the question on Thursday went on to quote statistics and recommend articles about violence perpetrated by women against men. The problem is that the research for many of these articles is based on discreditied tools. For a good article on Men as Victims try this Australian one.

Men as Victims

The best response I saw to the "What about men?" question was that they hear that question more than they hear men say "Violence against women is unacceptable." She also said that rather than promoting discussion and breaking the silence about an issue, me too-ism closes discussion down, leaving victims and advocates silenced.

To support one cause does not mean that another is not equally worthy; we don't support research funding for childhood cancers but not for adult cancers; we don't support ending poverty for those of European heritage over those of Asian or African heritage; and we don't support responsible driving or alcohol consumption for men over women. The fact is the November 25 is a UN nominated day for supporting an end to violence against women, and it comes at the end of the 16 days of activism against domestic violence. And White Ribbon Day was created by two Canadian men who saw a need for other men to step up and say that violence against women is unacceptable.

Please don't silence a good cause just because your particular sub-set of humanity isn't specifically included. If you want to get your cause recognised do what so many others have over the years - Get of your arse and start something yourself.