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RADAR ALERT: Presidential Proclamation on Domestic Violence Recognizes Male Victims
Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2006-10-17 01:15
In this year's presidential proclamation on domestic violence, George W. Bush said, "Domestic violence has no place in our society, and we have a moral obligation to help prevent it. The terrible tragedies that result from it destroy lives and insult the dignity of women, men, and children."
The inclusion of "men" in the proclamation is significant. Never before has anyone at this level acknowledged what researchers have known for three decades – that domestic violence victimizes men as well as women and children. Domestic violence is not a gender issue. It's a human issue.
Our effort last year to get the VAWA reauthorization bill to require service providers to stop refusing to help men resulted in explicit language in the bill, stating, "Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit male victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from receiving benefits and services under this title." It's likely that this is what brought the issue to the president's attention.
But there are politically powerful groups that are committed to continuing the long-standing policies that place blame solely on men and refuse to hold women accountable for any transgression. In the face of such oppostion, most politicians would have taken the politically prudent course, and as in past years, would have acknowledged only women and children as victims. So it's important that the president's inclusion of that one little word, "men", not go unacknowledged.
Please send a note to the president, telling him that you appreciate the fact that he saw fit to include male victims in his proclamation on domestic violence. You might want to mention:
- researchers have known since the first National Family Violence Survey in 1975 that many men are victims of women's domestic violence
- this has been confirmed by nearly 200 studies and analyses by respected researchers (http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm)
- Congress has consistently ignored these findings
Send your letters to:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
or send email to:
comments-at-whitehouse.gov
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Date of RADAR Release: October 16, 2006
Sign up today to receive RADAR's Alerts! Go to http://www.mediaradar.org/, enter your e-mail address in the upper right hand box, then hit Subscribe!
R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to assure that the problem of domestic violence is treated in a balanced and effective manner. http://www.mediaradar.org/.
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Comments
Nothing In This Bill Shall Be Construed....
To prevent a landing on Mars by 2008.
Same degree of legal enforcement.
If you want to see the impact that the "gender-neutral" language in VAWA 2005 has made, you'll have to do some research at the D.O.J.'s Office of Violence Against Women.
This is the where the BINDING legal language for applying for the actual VAWA grants may be located.
No men's domestic violence service could or will be funded under the "gender-inclusive" VAWA unless its applicants are already partnered with a Duluth-model, radical feminist established agency.
The devil (she-devil?) is in the details.
Sham victories are no victories at all.
I am personally very, very tired of RADAR's self-promotion and NO actual demonstrable benefits for men's rights.
P.T. Barnum died a long time ago, but his "there's a sucker born every minute" axiom seems to have outlived him.
Can we request a full disclosure of who RADAR is/are?
Is there a Board of Directors?
A Foundation?
A street address?
A van?
A girlfriend with a phone number that I can talk to?
Do we know why he is including 'men' in the sentence??
Can we be sure that Bush is acknowledging that men are sometimes victims of DV? I don't see where the sentence necessarily implies men as VICTIMS. There could be any number of other ways DV could be construed as hurting men's "dignity", the most obvious example being, all of the adverse publicity giving them a bad name. I'm sure each one of you guys could think of other examples.
I am not complaining, but sometime I think that the board is too negative, and other times it is too hopeful.
-Axolotl
"It's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's NO ROAD BACK from the ridiculous to the sublime."
I'm not buying any of this...
C'mon...our past two presidents should've known what has been going on in the so-called DV industry! That VAWA is still sexist and never should've been passed in the first place! President Bush's addressing of the problem won't help stop it...oh well, too late for that, now you're gonna have to pay the price!
Eman
Emma.noelle.blay@hotmail.com
*****masculism is a black male's best friend!!!!!*****
If you don't like their
If you don't like their work, you can always start your own group. I don't think such rants are fair.
Also, the self-promotion might actually be a good strategy. Single people are nothing nowadays in the struggle for attention by countless advocacy groups. If it makes them appear larger than they are, all the better. Also, men who are looking for a job might not want their names to appear in google in the context of men's right advocacy.
If you have evidence for the said details about VAWA, why not document and inform others about them.
Sometimes Men Are Their Own Worst Enemies
Unfortunately, many men who are actually aware of their 2nd or even 3rd class standing in today's society too often lend "some" support to an organization that is fighting for men's rights like RADAR. But they seldom get directly involved in the fight themselves. They may occasionally send a couple of bucks to a men's rights organization and expect miracles to happen. But then they get all snotty and condescending when that organization doesn't seem to be producing the results they expected. Basically they want someone else to do the grunge work for the trifling amount they personally contribute. And that ain't going to fly!
If you want the truth about d.v. & d.v. law to be know...
IMO, if you want the truth about d.v. and d.v. law to be known make your own public proclaimation.
It was another very productive day today. I talked to seven people who came up to me. Has the peaceful revolution in the streets begun against the vile d.v. laws??? I started out in Van Nuys and talked to one couple in front of the courthouse. It was just the usual d.v. horror story so I gave them an NCFMLA flyer and a copy of RADAR's fact sheet. Here are a couple of photos of where I parked the truck.
Photo 1
Photo 2
After about an hour I drove to the City of San Fernando Court House. I expected a slow day. I was wrong.
I talked to a woman I met last week for over two hours in front of the entrance to the judge’s parking lot. I gave her a copy of Tom James' book today.
Photo 3
Note the little curved driveway to the back of the truck. We stood the whole time near the rear of the truck so judges were just a couple of yards from us as they entered. I had two other people talk to me at that location, a woman who disagreed with my sign and a man who didn't understand. I explained it to both of them. The woman "kind of" understood as did the man. I told both of them, “I'm not here to give apologies for what's on that sign, but to back it up with solid scholarly facts and evidence.” I gave them both NCFMLA flyers, RADAR fact sheets and Tom James' book.
I moved to the front of the courthouse after a couple of hours and met another man (the husband of the woman I talked to for two hours), and a d.v. counselor who came up to the driver's side as we were talking.
Photo 4
The d.v. counselor volunteered that the system is corrupt and women abuse it. She gave examples from her counseling experience, and her life. I gave her the NCFMLA flyer, the RADAR fact sheet and copy of Tom James' book.
I gave out four copies of Tom James' book, Domestic Violence: The Twelve Things You Aren't Supposed to Know. The people I gave the books to seemed genuinely interested.
At one point in the day, that little self-analysis voice that we all have in our heads said, "My goodness, what is this, group therapy in the street?" I guess it was more like "classroom in the street," or "court of public opinion in session, evaluating our judges and legal system." I didn't even get time to change the truck sign this evening. I'll just get up early tomorrow and change it before I head out.
This is quite a start to the d.v. awareness campaign, and I've only been putting the mild stuff on the street so far. I also should mention that one guy shouted from his vehicle as he drove by, "I totally agree with what you have on your sign." Lots of people looked, stared, stopped and read the sign, and a number turned their heads to look again after they passed - including a couple of judges. One uniformed officer from inside the steel gated, judges parking lot stared at our location for a good five minutes. Was he taking down my license plate? Maybe, but I could care less, because I'm just curious enough to want to know if America still permits free speech, or has the Stalinist, Gender Feminist Police State decided to trample the constitution over that unalienable right too? :?
Here are a couple of other photos from the day, at different locations I visited.
Photo 5
Photo 6
I have a few copies of Warren Farrell's The Myth of Male Power I'm taking with me tomorrow to hand out to people who seem interested.
Activism At Work
MR you are obviously not one of those men's rights advocates that expects others to do the work while they reap the benefits.
Nice going! We can learn from you!
Agreed!
Great work! You're the role model, MR!
Great job MR!
Need I say more?
-Axolotl
Is Mark Rosenthal the Entire RADAR Organization?
Mark Rosenthal is to be admired for creating a web site that advances men's issues. If only by publicizing all the obvious MRA grievances.
RADAR's legislative impact has been represented as something that has not occured.
If I am incorrect, I have yet to find the evidence. (Anti-VAWA votes? Bills? Op-eds by pro-MRA Congresspersons?)
Tellingly, there is no "Who We Are" link on RADAR's site. (But you can donate via Paypal.)
No staff directory. No list of credentials of associates.
Mark R. has been acknowledged in mainstream media as the "president of RADAR's Board of Directors."
But I have searched in vain for the names of the actual persons serving on RADAR's Board.
If I were a real conspiracy theorist, I would suspect that Kim Gandy is a RADAR advisor.
All Mark has to do...
And I have requested this for months, is to publish RADAR's "full monty...."
Who are you? (You's?)
Publish the membership of RADAR.
I might wish to join.
I think everyone who has posted here has valid points
I understand Roy's concerns. I do know that Media RADAR has guys, such as myself, who have volunteered to monitor newspapers in various major cities for biased articles; and to give contact information for the paper and the reporter(s) so we can sound off. It has been a while since I have seen more than one or two of these posts. (To tell the truth, I have not been too diligent myself lately).
Perhaps others can "join" to monitor their own city's paper.
-Axolotl
I think there are others
I don't think Mark isn't the only one. It is a collaborative effort, comprised of a number of people to the best of my understanding. From all I've seen they are good guys, and gals. They are much more adept at dancing with the politicians than I so I respect them for that. Even if at times it appears they are not as MRA centered as we would like them to be, I still think their hearts are in the right place and that they are trying hard to correct the unfairness against men contained in VAWA.
Thank you all, and here is today's protest
I visited the usual locations again today.
I saw a Judge/Commissioner scowling at my sign today as I was waiting for a police car to drive by to photograph in the foreground so I told the judge, "It all fully proveable by scholarly documentation in our possession, Judge; facts in evidence not a prejudiced ideology (like gender feminism)." The suit (man) walking along with the Judge/Commissioner chuckled. I was standing in the same spot I was in when I took this photo.
Photo 1
There were a couple of news vans at the City of San Fernando court house to cover a heinous murder trial. A guy beat a convenience store clerk to death with a baseball bat.
Photo 2
I actually got in a good short conversation with a couple of the guys from Channel 5, and gave one guy, NCFMLA and RADAR flyers and Warren Farrell's The Myth of Male Power. After a while I went back to Van Nuys to finish up the day.
Photo 3
Photo 4
Small improvement
I'm glad the president at least mentioned men among domestic violence victims. It's a small improvement. Of course VAWA needs to be abolished. It should include all people of all genders.
By the way good work MR. :)