‘It’s Relentlessly Anti-Men’: Domestic Violence Campaign Set for Valentine’s Day Sparks Battle

Article here. Excerpt:

'To raise awareness about domestic violence, an Australian nonprofit has encouraged women to use the hashtag #IGotFlowersToday on Valentine’s Day in reference to a poem about a battered woman.

The poem, written by Paulette Kelly, “chronicles the life of an abused woman with the gift of flowers used as an apology for a torturous life, rather than a symbol of love and affection,” explained Karen Willis, executive director of the Full Stop Foundation, the group behind the campaign.

But the Full Stop Foundation’s campaign was met with backlash as a Daily Telegraph columnist denounced it as “savage, relentless anti-men messaging.”

“It’s not enough that some poor guy has schlepped to the florist or sweated over which flowers to pick online and poured over poignant words for the card,” wrote Corrine Barraclough. “ These infuriating feminist fools now want his motives to be questioned too. So, in addition to your colleagues’ ‘Nice flowers,’ comments, if you get a dozen long-stemmed you can now presumably look forward to comments such as, ‘Is everything OK?’ and ‘What did he do?’”

Barraclough also writes that the campaign focuses only on abuse perpetrated by men against women, though she says “domestic violence is not—and has never been—a gendered issue.”'

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If the man doesn't buy flowers, he's unromantic and uncaring.

If he does buy flowers, he's abusive.

Is there anything feminists cannot eff up?

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... but they do excel at it.

Here's what I do: I don't let it affect my behavior in the least. If I feel moved to buy a woman or women flowers, candy, etc. for V's Day or any other time for that matter, I will do so. What a bunch of vile old fem-bots think about it is their business. What I think and do however is mine. And so it goes.

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Every couple....uh, I mean person should do what's right for them. Do what you like and then find a person who matches your style (or at least tolerates it)

I'm not a shopper, I'm not a big gift giver and I don't celebrate many holidays. At first, my husband felt great about the no gift giving. Our "gifts" are outings or an adventure like a concert or a NFL or NBA game, they are not physical "gifts" so no shopping is ever involved. He thinks my refusal to celebrate Christmas is extreme (I agree it is, but I'm just not that in to it). We compromise and do Christmas every other year. On my year we travel if we can or go on a winter hike. On his year we drag a tree into the house, decorate and I clean, cook, shop and wrap presents. My kids have never believed in Santa (I am admitting all my oddities). Even on his Christmas way, my husband and I rarely exchange gifts.

Valentines Day at my house is mostly kid stuff and home made stuff. We make food in the shape of hearts and I make a special dinner. Tonight was steak and lobster.

Some people think I am strange, some people think I am denying my kids a "regular" childhood, some people have said my kids wont witness normal gift giving and romance between man and woman, and the may end up damaged, especially when you throw in the homeschooling and the never doing Santa thing,

I don't know why I am admitting all this, but my attitude is "who cares" be yourself and treat yourself right! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

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Your philosophy re: gifts reminds me of something a co-worker of mine said that really made sense. She said that it makes more sense to seek experiences, rather than material things. It sounds to me that your gift-giving tends to follow that same logic.

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