Press Release: Verizon removes its anti-dad commercial, but NCFM's rally will still occur in Santa Monica 12/10/2011‏

For Immediate Release (12/9/11 Los Angeles):

Background: The National Coalition For Men's (NCFM) Los Angeles chapter, and the faith-based organization "Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny" and their leader, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson (http://www.bondinfo.org/), together will rally outside Verizon at 2530 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, corner of Wilshire & 26th St., on Saturday, 12/10/11 at 2pm, to protest Verizon's sexist, anti-father commercial that stereotypes fathers as "monsters," leaves male victims of domestic violence and their children invisible as usual, and says girls who are exposed to the violence grow up to be victims while boys grow up to be abusers. The rally is part of a national protest organized by Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), who created the flyer for the protest. See http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Verizon-Monster-Video-flyer-FINAL.pdf and http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/12/domestic_violence_men_women_ve.php

Update: Verizon recently agreed to withdraw their ad, which they did. NCFM is thankful with this. However, Verizon has a history of anti-father ads, and so the rally will proceed.

There is a long history of neglect and discrimination against male victims and their children. NCFM successfully sued the State of California and overturned, as unconstitutional, the state laws that exclude male victims and their children from state-funded services. Woods v. Horton (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 658. (http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/wood101508.htm)

No domestic violence should be ignored. Even "minor" domestic violence (pushing, yelling, throwing things, put-downs) hurts children when they see it and becomes their example to follow. By ignoring female violence and male victims, we foster that cycle rather than prevent it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, every year there are 4.8 million incidents of intimate partner assaults and rapes against women and 2.9 against men, with 25% of the deaths being men. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/ipv_factsheet.pdf)

However, male victims are less likely than female victims to report their victimization, and that makes crime figures unreliable. And independent empirical survey data consistently shows men and women initiate domestic violence at similar rates, and that men suffer one-third of physical injuries. Almost 300 of these studies, from all around the world, using various methodologies, are summarized by California State University Professor Martin Fiebert in his online bibliography at http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

For example, a 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found women are as violent and controlling as men in dating relationships worldwide. See http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n and http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf

This Canadian government report also recognizes the above data:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/pdfs/fv-intime_e.pdf

NCFM asks that Verizon stop stereotyping fathers, ignoring male victims and their children, and spreading the message that female-on-male violence is not frequent or serious enough to include in their public statements. ALL victims deserve recognition regardless of their sex.

Marc E. Angelucci, Esq.
Vice President
National Coalition For Men
www.ncfm.org