The ‘Safe and Equal’ organisation

“Safe and Equal is the peak body for specialist family violence services that provide support to victim survivors in Victoria. We are an independent, non-government organisation that leads, organises, advocates for, and acts on behalf of our members – with a focus across the continuum from primary prevention through to response and recovery.” (Source)

Safe and Equal Inc was formerly known as the ‘Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria Inc’ – see their organisational history here.

Safe and Equal Inc. appears to have a pronounced feminist outlook. This means for e.g. that men are viewed (only) as perpetrators of domestic violence and women as their victims. This page in their website lists various submissions and policy papers prepared by them.

Safe and Equal notes that “A newly established partnership with ‘The Men’s Project’ was a positive step in focusing on an emerging need to assess the role of men, boys and masculinities in prevention–developing work that will remain a priority for capability building across the workforce over the next year” (Annual Report, Page 34). The Men’s Project is run by Jesuit Social Services. The Jesuits are known to be generally most supportive of the feminist movement. (See also)

The four priorities of Safe & Equal are listed on page 6 of the latest Annual Report.  ‘Building a strong peak organisation‘, is one of these nominated priorities. Reducing the incidence of domestic violence, on the other hand, is not.

Their entry in the charity register is located here.

Their Twitter account is at @safe_and_equal

There are nine directors (none of whom are male), and whilst the organisation has more than 90 staff, they do not appear to employ any male staff (Annual Report, page 38).

Both their Annual Report and their Financial Statement, for the year ending 30 June 2023 are available here. The Financial Statement shows annual receipt of government grants totaling $7,135,582 and ‘total revenue and other income’ of $8,152,510 (page 15). The corresponding figures for the preceding financial year are $3,592,114 and $7,091,095.

The ‘Remuneration paid to key management personnel’ is listed to be $1,053,072 in the last financial year (Financial Statement, page 18). The matter of either who, or how many staff, fill such roles is not stipulated. Indeed several items normally addressed in an Annual Report do not seem to be present here. Examples include the number, seniority and remuneration of staff, contractors and consultants, and the nature of expenditure generally.

Footnote: I’ll expand this post after I’ve had time to digest some/all of the policy papers in their website.

Draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032

The Australian Government is developing a National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 to replace the existing National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022.

The deadline for public submissions was 25 February 2022.

Firstly, here is a link to a copy of the draft Plan

“The draft National Plan has been developed through consultation with victim-survivors, specialist services, representatives from the health, law and justice sectors, business, and community groups, all levels of government and other experts. This consultation opportunity builds upon previous consultations including:

I prepared a brief submission using the online questionnaire format which was relatively quick and painless, however I couldn’t easily save a copy to reproduce on this page.

Below are just some notes that I made earlier on in the process:

Let’s start nice and simple with a word search of the draft Plan looking for the terms ‘male victim’ and/or ‘female perpetrator’ and/or ‘abusive women’. How about a reference to the best known/established Australian organisation that represent male victims of domestic violence, the One in Three group? And what about the important term ‘bilateral violence’? Ok, surprise, surprise, no hits anywhere there.

Normally these sort of documents begin with a section entitled ‘What is domestic violence?’, and then trot out the tired claim that ‘whilst sometimes men may be victims of domestic violence, the overwhelming majority of domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women’ (and then aim to use this as justification for ignoring male victims for the remainder of the document). The draft Plan gets around that believability problem by entitling the relevant section as ‘What is violence against women and children?’, creating the impression that domestic violence is limited to that one form of action or behaviour. (Page 10)

The first modification of the Plan that I requested was a change in its name to the ‘National Plan to Reduce Domestic Violence in the Community’ (or similar). The current name of the plan is a ridiculous, outdated affront to the victims of abusive women/girls and their families.

Next, the draft Plan features a section identified as “Drivers of violence against women and children” (Page 12), wherein the authors note:

Violence against women is not caused by any single factor. However, Australia’s national guide to prevent violence against women, Change the Story, sets out that violence against women has distinct gendered drivers. Evidence points to four factors that most consistently predict or drive violence against women and explain its gendered patterns.

  • Driver 1: Condoning of violence against women.
  • Driver 2: Men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence in public and private life.
  • Driver 3: Rigid gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity.
  • Driver 4: Male peer relations and cultures of masculinity that emphasise aggression, dominance and control.

The primary driver of violence against women is gender inequality, however this also intersects with other forms of discrimination and disadvantage that can marginalise people and make it more likely that some groups of women and children will experience greater levels of violence than others.

But what of two factors that studies have shown to be absolutely seminal – although not in feminist-conducted research – in their influence with regards to fostering domestic violence? These are the initiation and routine use of violence by the female partner, and the childhood experiences of parental neglect and abuse of those people who become adult male abusers?

More related online references:

Ministers agree on ‘pathway’ finalising national plan to end violence against women and children (22 July 2022)

Advocates weigh in on new plan for ending violence against women (11 July 2022)

Jobs for the girls

This is a job description that appeared in the Queensland Government’s website for vacant employment positions in December 2021.

You might well ask, ‘are there any equivalent positions available in relation to the prevention of violence against men and boys?’. Dream on!

Principal Program Officer, Justice and Attorney-General, Office for Women and Violence Prevention

The Office for Women and Violence Prevention support women and girls to participate fully in the social, economic and cultural opportunities that Queensland offers; and to achieve their full potential.

We deliver services and supports that victims and their children need to be free of violence, and that ensure perpetrators are held to account for their actions and given opportunity to change their behaviour.

We also drive reform to strengthen community and whole of government responses to gendered violence by changing community attitudes and behaviours, integrating service responses and strengthening justice system responses.

The proposed annual salary is $112,502 – $120,480

From the position description:

“The team leads and delivers the Investing in Queensland Women grant program, utilizing tools such as Smartygrants and P2i. We lead and support Queensland Government sponsorship agreements with high profile partners such as the Women of the World Festivals and the Australian Women in Music Awards to ensure benefits are delivered for Queensland women and girls. We also liaise with community groups and organisations across Queensland to engage the community on a range of initiatives that promote and protect the rights, interests, leadership and well-being of women and girls.”


The Australian 2021 Federal Budget through to the 2022 election

Firstly, and by way of background here are links to some of my earlier posts on related topics:

Australian 2016 Federal Election: No party willing to step up to the mark for men & boys

The Australian federal election of 2019: Men & boys remain invisible

Re-instatement of the Women’s Budget Statement in Australia? Bring it on, but consider men too

Last night the Australian Treasurer, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP presented his Budget speech 2021-22. Nothing has changed, and nothing will change in the near future. Women were handed substantial allocations of money, whilst men and boys essentially got nothing (in terms of dedicated gender-specific grants).

Sure enough, in his lengthy speech Josh mentioned the word ‘women’ 17 times. He mentioned the word ‘men’ once … and that being in condemnation:

On average women retire with less superannuation than men.

In addition there was an 80+ page ‘Women’s Budget Statement | Budget 2021-22‘, which was the first one produced since 2013.

According to various commentators the 2021 budget contained the following allocations for women & girls. Here are some excerpts:

“As Morrison seeks to repair his image with women, there is a range of measures on women’s safety, economic security, health and wellbeing totaling $3.4 billion.

This includes $1.7 billion for changes to child care, $351.6 million for women’s health, and $1.1 billion for women’s safety.

“We will help more women break into non-traditional trades, with training support for 5,000 places,” he said

There will be 2,700 places in Indigenous girls academies to help them finish school and enter the workforce.

More STEM scholarships will be provided for women. Another 5,000 places are being made available in higher education short courses.” (Source) See also this post in my blog.

Other related sources

Women stormed the 2022 election in numbers too big to ignore: what has Labor pledged on gender? (22 May 2022)

Hey, guess what, guys? Women vote too – and they may decide the outcome of this election (18 May 2022)

Women have been at the centre of political debate in the past two years. Will they decide the 2022 election? (10 April 2022) “In focusing so tightly on the male vote, Morrison has neglected women”. Oh please, TV shots of him shaking the hands of factory workers hardly equals “focusing so tightly on the male vote“.

Women’s Budget Statement 2022/23 (29 March 2022)

New research asked government insiders how to fix gender discrimination in Australia – this is what they said (7 March 2022) From the feminist perspective

What Australian women need from the next government, by Lucy Dean (23 February 2022) We need someone to write and publish an article like this for Australian men. And we need it now.

2021 Women’s Budget Statement 2021-labor-womens-budget-statement.pdf (alp.org.au)

Hold the celebrations — the budget’s supposed focus on women is no game-changer (theconversation.com) (13 May 2021)

Budget 2021: Women’s safety measures beefed up by $1.1b (afr.com) (11 May 2021)

Male victims of domestic violence – Do ‘help-lines’ actually help?

Some time ago I wrote a post about an Australian domestic violence organisation called ‘DV Connect’ and how they treated men who contacted them. I’d suggest taking a read of that now if you have the time. This other post may be of broader interest.

I haven’t written anything more about the topic. Yet at the same time, it is something which is put in our face every time the media (TV) runs an item on domestic violence and finishes with the advice to call (such and such agency) if “you are troubled by violent or abusive behaviour from your partner”. Which leaves everyone thinking that at least some help is available for (all) victims of domestic behaviour. But it’s not so.

Most agencies in the domestic violence sector will either turn male callers away or will (officially) cater for them, but on the (wink/nudge) understanding that they are either abusers trying to locate their partners, or are simply abusers in denial.

But now the topic of whether domestic violence help-lines actually do assist male callers has been raised again by an English researcher, Deborah Powney (Twitter id = @Firebird_psych). On 14 April 2020 Deborah began sending daily tweets as per the following:

“Can @RefugeCharity@ukhomeoffice be clear whether the 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline directly supports male victims of domestic abuse or not? Can they clearly state what happens when a man calls? @ManKindInit@nicolejacobsST@10DowningStreet@patel4witham

Simple question. Shouldn’t take long to answer. And she waited. And while she did, she asked one or two further questions, for example:

“Could you provide the numbers of female perpetrators you have helped in the past 12 month? Could also provide the number of female perpetrator programmes that Respect have accredited in the same time period?” (To @RespectUK on 29 April 2020)

It took until 15 May 2020 before Deborah received an initial response.

“Hi, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is branded as a women’s helpline, however if we do receive calls from men the Helpline our staff will always listen, risk assess, address any safeguarding issues and validate the experience. They will then refer them to the Men’s Advice Line which provides specialist support for men.”

Deborah responded the same day, as follows: “Thank you for your response. Just to clarify – you do not help male victims at all – other than ‘immediate’ referal to the @RespectUK men’s helpline. Is that correct?”

@RefugeCharity further responded (also 15 May 2020)

“Hi, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is branded as a women’s helpline, however if we do receive calls from men the Helpline our staff will always listen, risk assess, address any safeguarding issues and validate the experience. The national domestic abuse helpline, which Refuge runs, is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days week. If male callers contact us, we refer them immediately to the men’s advice line, which is a specialist service for male victims of domestic abuse. They will then refer them to the Men’s Advice Line which provides specialist support for men.”

On 15 May 2020 Deborah then asked:

“Can @RefugeCharity@ukhomeoffice be clear what support the 24 hour National DA Helpline gives to male victims of domestic abuse when the @RespectUK taxpayer- funded “Men’s Advice Line” is closed (from either 5pm or 8pm weekdays to 9am & weekends) @nicolejacobsST@pritipatel”

While waiting for a response to the above, on 17 May 2020 Deborah queried another troubling aspect of the UK Government’s current DV response:

@martintandc @RespectUK @JoTodd4 Could you clearly explain why you make specific reference to male terrorists in your Toolkit for working with Male Victims of domestic abuse for the Men’s Advice Line? @nicolejacobsST @pritipatel @ukhomeoffice @mankind @MartinDaubney @PhilipDaviesUK

“For instance, the biggest denominator in acts of terrorism and mass killings is that almost all of the perpetrators are men. Women suffer mental illness at roughly the same rate as men, but almost none commit large-scale violence. Similarly, the levels of suicide for men are much greater then for women, because of social pressure on men not to seek help to deal with their emotional problems”. (Source)

Response subsequently received from a reader (19 May 2020)

From reading this material it seems obvious to me that staff in the relevant agencies had not considered how male callers were being dealt with, let alone how they should be dealt with. The topic was not even ‘on the radar’ as it was seemingly seen to be unimportant, and offering to assist men at all was seen as merely a token gesture.

You might wish to now refer to Deborah’s Twitter account to see if any further responses have been received from government, domestic violence industry, or readers.

(Some information about Deborah’s current research project regarding the experience of male victims of domestic violence can be found here.)

Readers may also find these papers to be of interest:

NorthEast records equal male and female domestic abuse fatalities in three years (1 October 2023) UK

National domestic violence helpline wants only women (12 December 2022)

“The nation’s official anti-domestic violence and sexual harassment hotline (1800 Respect) is battling in SA to have only women answering telephone calls for help”

1IN3’s submission in response to the discussion paper: Implementation considerations should coercive control be criminalised in South Australia, by One in Three (12 April 2022)

How government-funded services in Australia discriminate against male victims of domestic and family violence by presuming they are perpetrators, by One in Three (6 March 2022)

ICMI20: Glass Blind Spot – “What Happens When Someone Calls the National Domestic Abuse Helpline?” – YouTube (15 November 2021) Video

Exploring the Experiences of Telephone Support Providers for Male Victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse (29 July 2020)

Understanding the Profile and Needs of Abused Men: Exploring Call Data From a Male Domestic Violence Charity in the United Kingdom – Benjamin Hine, Sarah Wallace, Elizabeth A. Bates, 2021 (sagepub.com) (28 June 2021)

What happens when people call the Men’s Advice Line? (6 May 2020)

Was there a surge in domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the feminist lobby claimed that there had been a surge* in domestic violence. (*Note that the term ‘surge’ has been well and truly overtaken, more recently by ‘staggering increase‘ or ‘driving a spike‘, etc). This trend has manifested itself across several countries, with the UN Women agency being a significant player. UN Women has produced guidelines in relation to gathering data about domestic violence against women.

The feminist lobby has linked this alleged increase in violence to, in particular, the common practice of governments requiring people to quarantine in their own homes. The proof offered to support the feminist position has primarily been claimed to be significant increases in call volume to DV help-lines (largely operated by feminist NGO’s). There have also been similar claims made in relation to alleged increases in traffic to web sites dealing with the welfare of victims of DV.

In only one of the media articles I read, prior to uploading this post, was reference made to an increase in the number of calls to police. This did not relate to increases in the number of charges laid, nor punishments meted out, but rather to queries made by people concerned about a perceived threat of DV.

I would suggest, as have others, that domestic violence is the feminist lobby’s primary cash-cow. Consider too, for example, the salary of DV agency bosses such as Sandra Horley, who is reported to receive a remuneration package of more than £210,000. The British Prime Minister is currently paid approx. £155,000.

To base government policy, even just one-off hand-outs of public money, on unverified allegations, is at best naïve. And when such claims are being provided by individuals with a vested interest in promoting a public view of a problem that they assert to be large & growing. Well, one might label such vested interest ‘ideological bias’, ‘pecuniary interest’, or worse as per the flow-chart below (Source). But whatever you call it, it is by no means competent, objective, unbiased research.

Image

It is particularly annoying that whilst the feminist-saturated domestic violence industry is loudly proclaiming a jump in violence in the home, they are maintaining their silence with respect to the reality of female-perpetrated assaults/abuse of men and children.

The other galling issue, although unrelated to Covid-19, is that I have belatedly learnt that, in the UK, the rate of women being killed by their partner was now at a 40 year low (Source). You would think that this would be shouted from the rooftops, wouldn’t you? Well, unless people sought to maintain perception of a growing epidemic. One that desperately demands further public funding. More please, sir!

Sickeningly, the feminist lobby have recently, begrudgingly, admitted this fall in the number of female victims. But, wait for it, they say it’s only occurred as a result of women being unable to flee due to Covid lockdowns – and hence male partners don’t become enraged and kill them (Source).

Finally, “William Collins’ recently showed in his Illustrated Empathy Gap website that, contrary to claims by some domestic violence agencies, there was no tsunami of domestic violence during the first covid-19 lockdown, even though that claim had been supported by UK governments to the tune of about £150 million of extra money given to domestic violence agencies.

William Collins did something that I also had actually done: we both separately made Freedom of Information applications to the police forces in the UK, analysed the data, and found that there was no such tsunami of incidents of domestic violence. It didn’t happen. The claim was fraudulent.

This is a very important line of inquiry and it should have generated headlines all over the national media, instead of which it got no coverage at all. I found it impossible to place those findings in national media. I got no reply at all from newspapers like The Mail, The Telegraph, or from Unheard or Spiked. They simply did not even reply“, (Source)

What follows now are a series of media releases or articles dealing with the issue, presented in reverse chronological order:

The long shadow pandemic: Examining the intersection between long-COVID and intimate partner violence (19 October 2023) “Despite well-established evidence of the increased risk of intimate partner violence during the first two years of the pandemic”. And on and on it goes.

Women work harder than men – phooey! Another fabulous article by Bettina Arndt (31 March 2023)

Scroll down to “Back in August 2021 I wrote a blog about the feminists’ great covid domestic violence fundraiser which revealed that all the proper evidence at that time was showing no increase in violence. But despite this, the feminist’s lobbying produced an astonishing 150% increase in the domestic violence industry’s annual handout from the Feds – leaping from $100 to $250 million per annum at least until 2022-23. Surely we can find some parliamentarians to ask questions in Senate Estimates suggesting this money be paid back, now that official proof is in that it was based on a fraud?

Women are three times more likely than men to report violence by their partner, as rates of sexual harassment fall (15 March 2023)

Disgraceful act costing NSW $3.3b during Covid-19 pandemic (12 September 2022)

I hope the future isn’t female, by Janice Fiamengo (27 August 2022)

The great Covid domestic violence fundraiser (24 August 2021) by Bettina Arndt. Recommended reading

Domestic Abuse in the Year of Lockdowns: An Epidemic (2 November 2021)

The Great Coronavirus Abuse Hoax, by the Coalition to End Domestic Violence (2021)

The great domestic abuse epidemic that never was (23 October 2021)

The Great COVID Domestic Violence Fundraiser – Quadrant Online (13 August 2021)

Domestic violence service providers struggling as requests for help surge amid pandemic – ABC News (10 August 2021) Oh, we’re back to ‘surge’ (#retro). And count how many times the word ‘men’ or ‘male’ appears in this article (as in male victims, for example)

Services to be cut and ‘lives lost’ in Queensland’s looming domestic violence funding ‘catastrophe’, advocates warn (12 April 2021)

Coronavirus-Abuse Myth Named as Greatest Media Hoax of 2020 (29 December 2020)

Urgent funding plea to aid victims of abuse (26 September 2020) Australia

‘Revenge porn new normal’ after cases surge in lockdown (18 September 2020) UK, with a similar article in ‘The Independent’. A new funding angle it would seem.

The Domestic Violence racket explained (15 September 2020) UK video

Curb cash flow to the domestic abuse lobby (9 September 2020) UK

Frontline data reveals how Victorian lockdown is impacting family violence help-seeking behaviours (18 August 2020)

Domestic abuse surged in lockdown, Panorama investigation finds (17 August 2020)

$20m funds boost for family violence protection (17 August 2020)

“The Andrews government has announced an extra $20m for family violence prevention, citing an increase in demand for “perpetrator services” during the coronavirus pandemic. Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Gabrielle Williams cited an 11 per cent increase since last year in calls to the Men’s Referral Service.”

Urgent action needed to end pandemic of gender-based violence, say women’s rights experts (15 July 2020) Wow, now DV is the pandemic. Virus, listen, sorry, but it’s not all about you!

Domestic abuse charity anticipates ‘a tsunami of calls’ as figures rise (29 July 2020) A “tsunami of calls” – now that’s a bold new term

COVID-19 pandemic leads to rise in violence against women and girls in Asia Pacific, new report shows (22 July 2020) And ‘Plan International’ doesn’t have any history of feminist bias, now does it? I note too, that the article doesn’t identify the gender of perpetrators of child sex tourism. But it was 100% men, right?

Domestic violence on the rise during pandemic (13 July 2020) “The survey of 15,000 Australian women in May provides the most detailed information in the world about the prevalence and nature of domestic violence experienced by women during the pandemic.” How many men did they say were surveyed? That would be *none*

No spike in home violence, police say (10 June 2020) ‘The Australian’ newspaper tells us that NSW authorities “almost doubled domestic violence checks” but found “no increase in abuse rates“.

‘Tsunami’ warning for domestic violence networks as victims try to escape coronavirus lockdown (6 June 2020)

“Professor Wendt says women are experiencing violence at a more “intense level” as they try to survive the restrictions and plan their escape as measures lift”. Needless to say, what constitutes a “more intense level” is left to the imagination, and no supporting statistics are provided to quantify intensity.

NSW domestic violence down 12% amid virus (28 May 2020) Finally, the first of the ‘official’ figures emerge, and surprise, surprise …

UK Domestic Abuse Charity Sees 10-Fold Spike in Website Traffic During COVID-19 Lockdown (28 May 2020)

COVID-19 funding to boost domestic violence support (26 May 2020) Australia. The NSW and Federal Governments “investing” more than $21 million to boost frontline services and other supports.

Image

Clearly there’s no need to study the implications for male victims (there’s so darn few of them calling in for help, you see)

No evidence that domestic violence is rising due to COVID-19 (11 May 2020) USA

Government to invest millions into family violence services (11 May 2020) Meanwhile, also in New Zealand, “demand during lockdown increased by some 35 percent compared to last year, but she believed the full impact was yet to emerge.”

Coronavirus: Assault decline eases fears of spike in domestic abuse, by Kieran Gair (10 May 2020) Australia

Hollande highlights domestic violence in French lockdown (9 May 2020) The World Health Organisation claims that domestic violence has increased by 60% (based on “emergency calls by women” they claimed had been made).

Dementia charity sees 44% increase in calls during COVID-19 lockdown (9 May 2020) UK. Imagine 44% more people becoming demented. Better get your chequebook out, Prime Minister. Look out Team Harpie #HostileTakeover

The shocking rise in domestic violence reports since lockdown (3 May 2020) Australia

“One of the terrible side effects of Australia being in lockdown is the alarming rise in the number of people ringing domestic violence help lines”

Coronavirus: Government pledges £76m for abuse victims (2 May 2020) UK

“But Labour said this fell “woefully short” of what was needed and proposed amendments to the bill that would see 10% of the £750 million charity support package announced last month ring-fenced in a fast-track fund for domestic abuse charities”

Woman who stabbed boyfriend in the hand told police ‘isolation is getting to me’ (1 May 2020) UK

Domestic violence victims seeking help rises 10 per cent after COVID-19 lockdown (1 May 2020) Australia

” … I have just had 50 front-line workers on a statewide forum on the phone and all of them are saying how much busier it is… and now the stats come back to prove it”. “Stats” that agency staff themselves generated … what could go wrong?

“Ms Foster said the figures were concerning because they conflicted with a recent report from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, which found “domestic violence assaults recorded by police did not increase in March 2020, despite social distancing measures commencing … But Ms Foster said the report had sent a “dangerous message” to victims and policymakers. She said it was “irresponsible to put out a report drawing a conclusion that fears that domestic violence would increase hadn’t been realised.”

Coronavirus: Homes a prison as assaults on rise (1 May 2020) Australia

“The Queensland Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Di Farmer, said authorities across the country were grappling with an “amplification” of abuse caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and tough health restrictions.

Domestic violence crisis centres in the state have experienced a 40 per cent spike in calls for help since the start of the pandemic …”

Domestic violence services prepare for demand as coronavirus restrictions begin to ease (1 May 2020) Australia

“The most concerning statistic came from Google data, with the Federal Government seeing a 75 per cent increase in searches about family and domestic violence compared to the average number of searches over the previous five years.”

“Alison Macdonald, acting chief executive of Domestic Violence Victoria, said there was clear evidence a surge in demand was coming. “We know from international evidence that there are spikes in family violence in post emergency and post crisis situations,” she said. “We know from Australian experience with bushfires, with floods and with cyclones.”

Women’s safety and Covid-19: Focus on the evidence (30 April 2020) ANROWS agency. Australia. A slightly more detailed discussion of the information that is currently available

Domestic abuse killings double and calls to helpline surge by 50% during coronavirus lockdown (27 April 2020) UK. And online requests for help have gone up 400%. All as reported by campaigners and agency staff, etc. And gov’t hands over money for yet another awareness campaign (#youarenotalone)

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on family planning and ending gender-based violence (27 April 2020) Another day, another UN report, with this one asserting that:

“To estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on efforts to end gender-based violence, Avenir Health modelled a delay in the scale-up of prevention efforts as attention and resources are devoted to COVID-19, and an increase in violence during the period of lockdown. Assuming a slow start to the scale-up of prevention programmes (i.e., a 2-year delay in 2020 and 2021), followed by a rapid expansion of prevention programs in the middle of the decade, an estimated 2 million additional instances of intimate partner violence in 2020-2021 are expected.”

“COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cause a one-third reduction in progress towards ending gender-based violence by 2030”

“For every 3 months the lockdown continues, an additional 15 million additional cases of gender-based violence are expected”

That’s right, no police reports were used to generate predictions. It was all based on modelling. Remarkable. And of course, no mention anywhere of female perpetration.

UK lockdown: Calls to domestic abuse helpline jump by half (27 April 2020) UK. I’m getting dizzy, now calls to helplines *are* jumping up (but still no ‘real’ statistics).

Man fighting for life, woman expected to be charged following serious stabbing at Kilburn in Adelaide (25 April 2020) South Australia

Domestic violence in the wake of COVID-19 (23 April 2020) NSW, Australia

“Domestic violence assaults recorded by police did not increase in March 2020”

Hotels say offer of refuge for domestic abuse victims has been snubbed (19 April 2020) UK. Just send cash please

Coronavirus Australia: Why calls to domestic violence helplines are plummeting (18 April 2020) So a surge in calls means more domestic violence hence more funds are needed for feminist NGO’s, whereas a lull in calls means the same thing. OK, sure

Domestic abuse killings ‘more than double’ amid Covid-19 lockdown (15 April 2020) As identified by “campaigners”. Read more about ‘Counting Dead Women’ here.

COVID-19: The bystander role has never been more critical in calling out (9 April 2020) What’s going on? There appears to be a change of feminist tactics, as suddenly statements admitting that there has been no boost in the number of DV victims post commencement of pandemic.

No spike in domestic violence in Tasmania despite early warnings: police (9 April 2020) Whoops, now that’s awkward. And here’s an unconvincing attempt at recovery by a high-profile feminist spokesperson.

A new Covid-19 crisis: Domestic abuse rises worldwide (7 April 2020)

Statement by Executive-Director UN Women regarding the effect of Covid-19 on the incidence of domestic violence (6 April 2020) Another report released the same week. In each case the ‘proof’ of the link (between Covid-19 and heightened domestic violence) is inferred to be claims made by staff of feminist agencies & NGO’s.

Family violence perpetrators using COVID-19 as ‘a form of abuse we have not experienced before’ (29 March 2020)

‘Covid-19 will slam the door shut’: Australia’s family services brace for domestic violence spike (28 March 2020)

More men die: Women most affected. A Janice Fiamengo video (24 March 2020)

Coronavirus Australia: Why women will feel the impact more than men (17 March 2020) 

More on the Covid-19 issue can be found here, and other blog posts that may be of interest might include:

Public events and domestic violence myth

Partner in arms: A primer on the domestic violence industry

Two awareness campaigns. Only one can be criticised. Cowed by feminism?

Australian Federal Family Law Inquiry 2019

“The Federal Government will launch an inquiry into the family law system, after accusations the court system is failing vulnerable Australians.

Coalition backbenchers and the crossbench, including One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, have been calling for an inquiry for some time, arguing the system is too expensive and slow.

The inquiry will be run by former social services minister and long-serving Liberal MP Kevin Andrews.” (Source)

The feminist lobby and their domestic violence industry took great umbrage at this announcement. And so it began.

The Committee’s home page can be found here, and details concerning the making of submissions can be found here.

The first specific matter that the feminists got upset about was Pauline Hanson’s reference to the practice whereby some women make false claims against their former partners in family court, esp. in relation to domestic violence and sexual assault (refer example of outrage in the media).

In terms of topics related to the treatment of victims, another issue was that of couples counselling (related article). The feminist DV Industry is generally opposed to this practice, claiming that it exposes women to additional unnecessary risk. But not everyone was of the same view (related article).

Another curious complaint from various feminist spokespersons was that there had been too many inquiries, and the proposed inquiry was both unnecessary and would delay progress. This is extraordinary given the ongoing vocal urging for more inquiries/commissions/etc despite the many state and federal inquiries that have taken place – particularly related to domestic violence. A number of these inquiries can be seen listed in the relevant section of my Table of Contents page.

Submissions to the Family Law Inquiry have now closed, and a final report was due to be submitted in October 2020. On 31 August 2020, both Houses of Parliament agreed to extend the reporting date to the last sitting day in February 2021. An interim report was subsequently released on 7 October 2020.

See also:

Calls for courts to better acknowledge family violence in property settlement cases (18 September 2023) Australia

Winner takes all, by Bettina Arndt (8 February 2023)

Greg Ellis shares harrowing story after ’10-word lie’ ruined his life overnight – Mirror Online (25 July 2021) An overseas example of family law in all it’s glory

When facts don’t matter (22 July 2021) By Sarah Phillimore UK (Posted here for background interest regarding feminist corruption of the family law arena)

1IN3’s Questions on Notice for Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System (19 October 2020) Re: Issuing of domestic violence orders against abusive women

Transcript of One in Three’s appearance before the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System (15 October 2020)

Mounting anger around the Family Law inquiry (29 June 2020)

Activists attempt to shut down the family law inquiry (19 March 2020)

Women lie about DV attacks: Inquiry told (12 March 2020)

One in Three’s submission to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System (24 January 2020)

B.C. psychologist apologizes for one-sided opinion in family court (14 January 2020) How many Australian ‘professionals’ are providing similar support to mothers?

How abuse of violence orders corrupts our family law system, by Augusto Zimmermann (11 November 2019)

Help make sure the family law inquiry exposes the real issues, by Bettina Arndt (1 November 2019) The closing date for submissions to the Inquiry is 18 December 2019

The Family Court does need reform, but not the way Pauline Hanson thinks (28 October 2019) As is often the case with these pro-feminist items, the material in the readers comments is more valuable than the article itself. Or at least the comments that haven’t yet been removed by the moderators, which is common practice at The Conversation. This here is a Twitter thread that might well present a wider range of views.

Joe Hildebrand: ‘Deadliest of lies’ we keep swallowing (27 October 2019) Australia

Pauline Hanson should be replaced on family law inquiry, Rosie Batty says (23 October 2019)

Rosie Batty launches alternative to government family law enquiry (23 October 2019)

A counsellor writes to the Family Court inquiry (18 October 2019)

Zali Steggall and family law: Part of the disease, not the cure (30 September 2019) Australia

Kevin Andrews refused to condemn Hanson over ‘lying’ women claim (24 September 2019) Australia

Thousands misusing abuse orders to get legal aid, says parenting charity (3 July 2018) UK

Domestic violence offenders use child custody orders to abuse ex-partners (3 January 2016) “Men who manipulate the system and abuse their partners”. Of course, only men do that, right? And it’s ok to label men that way, because I mean everyone knows we’re not taking about *all* men.

In closing, how many, if any, of the following groups explicitly represent fathers/men and/or male victims of domestic abuse? How many have anything approaching gender equality with regards to their board and/or their staff?

Image

Other posts in this blog that you might find relevant include:

Partners in alms: A primer on the ‘Domestic Violence Industry’

No to Violence: Working together to end men’s family violence

The No to Violence agency (‘NTV’), also known as the Male Family Violence Prevention Association, appears to be populated by ardent pro-feminists. Despite that, surprisingly one third of the board members are male. Of those staff listed in the website, seven are female and three are male.

In December 2022 I learnt of a conference being hosted by NTV in February 2023. It’s title is ‘Working with Men to End Family Violence – Enhancing perpetrator interventions & responses to ensure the safety of women and children‘ – read about it here and with a Twitter thread here. The gender bias and cognitive dissonance contained therein is staggering. Here’s an extract:

Enhancing engagement with men to end family violence

Men play a key role in breaking the cycle of family violence. To do that, it is crucial that we are effectively engaging with men in respectful and evidence-based ways that bring about change, and keep women and children safe.

The Working with Men to End Family Violence conference will explore innovative ways of working with men to hold them accountable, engage them in behaviour change and improve safety for victims. You will gain insights into the tools, programs and approaches to do this including the ACT program to reduce offending, motivational interviewing, the impact of culture within programs for First Nations communities and strategies for ethical and respectful engagement with men in order to keep women and children safe.”

In January 2019 I was blocked from the twitter stream of the CEO of NTV, Jacqui Watt, without explanation. I became aware of Jacqui’s stream via browsing the Twitter stream @OurWatch CEO, Patty Kinnersly. (Credit to Patty for not blocking me, although I am blocked from the OurWatch general account)

NTV do not appear to be listed in the ACNC register, but relevant details including a copy of their 2018 annual report are available in their web site. (Postscript December 2022: Their latest annual report is accessible here)

NTV is heavily supported by the Victorian government and their annual report acknowledges receipt of almost $3.9 million in grant funding for the year ending 30 June 2018.

In this 2014 submission NTV sought to undermine the integrity of the ‘One in Three‘ organisation.

Anyone wishing to complain about NTV or the conduct of specific staff members should familiarise themselves with the Complaints Procedure.

Update 12 August 2023: I am now blocked from both the CEO’s Twitter stream, and that of the organisation itself. If you have a moment, take a look at what I wrote there the past week.

Image

The Duluth Model: The theoretical basis for the feminist approach to domestic violence

The cornerstone of the feminist approach to domestic violence is known as the ‘Duluth Model’, which is often illustrated as follows:

The Duluth Model is “based in feminist theory positing that domestic violence is the result of patriarchal ideology in which men are encouraged and expected to control their partners”. (Source)

It is my position, and I am certainly not alone in this regard, that applying this theoretical framework to most (let alone all) incidents of domestic violence is highly misleading and inappropriate.

Further, if gender inequality is the most significant precursor in relation to domestic violence, then:

Why is the incidence of domestic violence greater in lesbian couple than in heterosexual couples?

How might one explain the already high and growing levels of female-perpetrated violence generally?

How might one explain the significant geographical variations in the incidence of domestic violence? The chart below, for example, looks at variations in the incidence of DV in the Australian state of New South Wales.

highrateDVareas

Why does there exist a very considerable number of male victims of domestic violence?

How might one explain the relatively high levels of child abuse and neglect involving single mothers?

Why is the level of domestic violence so high in countries like Sweden that, even feminists would agree, have a higher than average level of gender equality?

These categories or situations of domestic violence are not the inconsequential anomalies that many propose them to be. On the contrary, they constitute very large and substantial pieces of the domestic violence jigsaw.

In an intimate partnership between two people of different genders, an unequal balance of power can be a factor contributing to DV. But what feminists refuse to concede is that the partner asserting most power need not be male, and often isn’t.

The Duluth Model and its chief proponents are discussed at length in this illuminating series of email exchanges (mirror here).

“… the Duluth model essentially views all female transgressions as being self-defensive in nature (even against children!) and can be attributed either to previous victimization by a male or to an allegedly oppressive “patriarchy” (Dutton and Corvo, 2007)”

I would urge you to take a moment now to read Jason Dale’s detailed and insightful commentary. The quote below has been attributed to Ellen Pence (Wikipedia).

Image

See also:

Drive: The wheels come off (3 August 2020)

Duluth worked even better than I expected (25 July 2019)

You can’t help men by attacking masculinity, by Dr John Barry (27 November 2018)

Setting the record straight on Duluth (6 February 2017)

The Duluth model is working as designed; you won’t smart mouth her again, by Dalrock (3 February 2017)

Taking an in-depth look into domestic violence research – The Duluth Model (6 September 2015)

The Gender Paradigm In Domestic Violence: Research And Theory (2005) by Donald G. Dutton and Tonia L. Nicholls

Image

Gender bias and wasted opportunities at the 2017 National Family Violence Summit

Today was the second and final day of the National Family Violence Summit. The Summit was facilitated by the Tara Costigan Foundation and sponsored by BaptistCare. An extract from today’s program is shown below:

And no, in case you were wondering, there was no corresponding session to discuss what women could do to help reduce family violence.

How would this aspect of the program be interpreted by the average Joe or Josephine in-the-street? They would probably see it as implying that men were responsible for family violence, and that therefore it’s men’s duty to eradicate it.

This is the equivalent of having every man in Australia stand at the front of the classroom with a dunce’s hat on. Except the domestic violence lobby is not saying men are stupid, but that they are evil.

This is an affront to men everywhere, and it is difficult to imagine a situation where women are now smeared and disregarded in such a manner.

And this despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of men never commit acts of violence, and that male victims of domestic violence are rarely acknowledged.

Look, I understand that the basis for establishing the Tara Costigan Foundation was the tragic death of a young woman at the hands of a bestial man. That man is now in jail and sadly we cannot undo what happened to Tara. But the Summit is, or at least should be, about addressing domestic violence in its totality.

The ‘big picture’ of domestic violence comprises substantial numbers of abusive men and women, and of both male and female victims of that abuse.  There is also a considerable (yet rarely acknowledged) element of bi-directional violence, where both partners perpetuate abuse.

And what of women’s role in addressing domestic violence, not only as empowered and autonomous individuals, but also in recognition of the fact that many women are also abusive. Not only is there a long-running problem with child abuse by women, but there is also a growing problem with female violence generally. These issues are alternately either excused away (“women are only ever violent in self-defence“), minimised or ignored altogether.

The agencies that deal with domestic violence are heavily imbued with feminist doctrine. They continue to falsely portray domestic violence as heterosexual male on female violence, despite this constituting just one slice of the pizza (albeit probably the largest one). Feminist agencies address domestic violence in the context of a theoretical approach known as the Duluth Model. The validity of the Duluth Model is hotly debated, and its success is questionable.

There have been so many talk-fests and inquiries in relation to domestic violence. Almost without exception their value has been severely compromised by a failure to open the floor to all ideas, especially those contrary to feminist dogma. That appears to have also been the case with the Summit, given that none of the speakers represented a men’s rights group, a father’s group, or an advocacy group for male victims of domestic violence such as One-in-Three.

Why is this allowed to continue particularly considering the amount of public funds being expended, and the miserable progress being made?

The situation in the U.K is similar to Australia in this regard, but some progress is being made via vigorous lobbying by groups and individuals such as GenderFreeDV and Philip Davies MP.

Here is Australia we have balanced views on DV being expressed by a small but dedicated number of journalists such as Bettina Arndt, Miranda Devine, and Corrine Barraclough. As far as sitting politicians go however, there is little cause for optimism just at the moment. One outcome of this situation is that there is almost no funding provided at all for male victims of domestic violence – or indeed for addressing men’s/boys issues generally.

Please can someone finally take some real leadership on this issue?

I did not attend the Summit and await the report that is to be prepared for submission to the government. I will re-visit this post at that time and make any necessary adjustments. In the interim I stand ready to be corrected by an organiser or an attendee if what I have stated is in error. Should such a person wish to detail their experience at this event please submit a comment below.

Here are some links to related news coverage:

Rosie Batty joins 7.30 to discuss the summit on family violence (28 February 2017)

Former army chief David Morrison calls for national day for domestic violence victims (28 February 2017)

The good thing to come out of horror of Tara Costigan’s murder (1 March 2017)