@Douglas - You might like to take a look at NSW Laws re bail. Too many innocent people have spent up to 30 months in jail, only to either be found innocent and/or had all charges dropped, or were given a non-custodial punishment. All they've done is help create criminals - angry young people(usually males) who are perhaps raped and abused on a daily basis. This aspect of your assertions I agree with.

When it comes to the Laws/Legislation that relates to women, that is to reverse the ingrained sexist attitudes that for too many yrs denied women justice, and access to the same rights and privileges as men - just because of our sex. The NEW laws introduced to address this, is not discriminatory at all. I suggest you read, 'Damned Whores and God's Police' Anne Summers. You and some other blokes here insist on showing your ignorance re the discrimination metered out to women for years.

And to those who accuse me of being man haters etc. How come it's OK for you to point to practices etc that you disagree with, but when I do, I'm some strident man hating woman. You're being illogical, irrational, hateful and ignorant!
I've already alluded to one relatively small discrimination which I had to fight for, argue for, and it went on for several months. the right to have a credit account in my own name, without having to get my 'hubby' to approve it? I was working, and my then husband never shopped in the place anyway - I purchased all the kids clothes etc. He wouldn't have bought them a pair of socks, let alone anything else!

I had my car broken into once - the person who did it left glass all over the booster seat for my grand daughter. I was furious then, and still have no time for people? who do this! no doubt those strong feelings about this particular law breaking is OK, but not if I'm held in a hostage type situation and treated in a brutal manner - for years!

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@Liz Yes I have approached the police. 2 years ago I FINALLY worked up the courage to want to report be sexual; assault I was the victim of in high school. When I did, I was met with such indifference by the local police station when I called up about going in to see them to file a report, that it felt pointless as I knew from the tone in their voices that they didn't care, much like the system as a whole.

That's what men face these days- general indifference and trivialisation of their abuse, just as they always have.

You can say what you like about statistics, but as anyone who has studied statistics knows, you can manipulate the data quite easy through the sample (either through the types or data that is received from the sample or the naure of the sample). It's why the old saying "there are lies, damned lies and statistics" exists.

Furthermore, the "tinfoil hat" approach here simply doesn't work. The reality is that society gets caught up in ideological mindsets. Look at all the "studies" done under social Darwinism for example by academics of the time. If we took all those seriously still, who knows where we'd be in terms of the proliferation of racism. It's the same here- the world is caught up in an ideology of misandry and so many of the studies out there mirror that.

It's not about ending domestic violence in its entirety for these individuals; it's about ending violence for women while staying in line with the teachings of the SCUM manifesto, where "reality" is that all men are evil and need to be wiped out to save the world (don't bother with the claims about not condoning violence against men and boys- you've already contradicted yourself about that plenty of times here). Now where have I heard that before? Oh yes, Nuremberg regarding another group of individuals.
(to be continued)

2/2 (continued)

If it's not, and womens' groups are truly about equality, then why is it that womens' groups are up in arms when radical Islamic clerics make negative comments about women who have been raped, but are completely silent when the news media report underaged boys being groomed and raped by women as "an affair"? You're not interested in reality- you're interested in following the tenants of the SCUM manifesto like some religious zealot!

The irony here is that you accuse me of treating my girlfriend like some form of property and a glorified sex toy when nothing could be further from the truth. For someone who claims to have such an understanding of rape, you'd think that you'd have realised that my being raped might just have left lasting scars sexually. Then again, the notion of men being raped by women, let alone deeply traumatised by their abuse is heresy to your feminist bible, isn't it.

You claim that the world made you Liz- GARBAGE! We all have to choose how our pasts affect us, and you chose the path of hate instead of the path of justice, to turn into the very type of person who inflicted those horrors upon you- and much like those individuals, you use being a past victim to hide behind when facing criticism for your present behaviour.

Way to rise above your abuse there.

@Chaz No, more specifically, it is the knee jerk reaction to public attitudes towards abuse which have lead to this legislation.

Despite the claims of feminism, the world deep down still views all women in the world as "the poor helpless damsel in distress" in a potential victim situation and likewise all men as "being big, strong, tough and a victim to none".

Had those drafting the legislation bothered to factor this in, they would have realise that this ideology corrupts the legal system to the core. Without any accountability for judges, these stereotypes have become the REAL law in family court and domestic violence procedings.

It's so bad that an abusive woman can psychologically terrorise children and partners (I highly recommend getting hold of Erin Pizzey's "The Emotional Terrorist") then claim that they're the victim and can almost be guaranteed legal sanction to continue abusing. Yes you can have abusive men doing the same, but the stereotypes make their efforts far less likely to succeed.

Father's groups saw the current legislation as a victory because they felt it would have cut down on this. Yet they too overlooked the same problem which you and others supporting the changes to the legislation overlook- the fact that the stereotypes in judges are unchallenged and rule the courtrooms with complete impunity.

To give you an analogy, there's a bomb set to blow in your house that's boobytrapped to blow the moment you try and kill the detonator directly. Do you disable the boobytrap, or ignore it and rush to kill the detonator because you "have to do something"? So why ignore the figurative boobytrap in this case?

@bowspear - I do not believe what you've been exposed to re the response of some in the community to the sexual abuse of young boys by an older woman, usually in a position of trust as trivial or??.

None of the women I know agree with the revolting view you've either been exposed to or followed via the media. In fact, during talkback radio discussions when a case like this has been before the Courts, it's frequently OTHER MEN who think that the young man should've realised his 'enviable' position and just enjoyed himself - disgraceful.

So, I don't think you should put all people 'out there' in the category you find repugnant, and most decent human beings do too. As the mother of sons, I certainly would not have taken the revolting view you've experienced. Thankfully, those who think it's either funny or 'enviable' will be forced to change their minds due to public opinion-thankfully.

The same applies to those priests, brothers, scout masters etc who sexually abused children - boys and girls, some driven to self destruction even suicide. It's beyond me, even today, why politicians/police etc do not tell victims, not to go to the church beaurecrats, go to the police. They're crimes, and the churches have got away with covering up too many crimes - it's been estimated, that as far as the catholic church is concerned, the victims probably number hundreds of thousands. In fact, I have a brother and a sister who were abused. Neither did anything about it!

The experiences of women during the 50's and continued right up to the 70's+, who had their babies stolen from them re being forced to sign them away have recently received a national apology, and some states have done the same. I heard one woman's compelling and distressing story on ABC PM, and she asserted,that unless and until, those who perpetrated these traumas apologised, it was almost impossible to move on. Women like me who were abused during their marriage can suffer PTSD or a form of it. I've been told that I do.

@bowspear -"Despite the claims of feminism, the world deep down still views all women in the world as "the poor helpless damsel in distress" in a potential victim situation and likewise all men as "being big, strong, tough and a victim to none".

This is total rubbish. The fact is, that in crimes of violence against women, the perpetrator is male. My ex was 30 centimetres taller than I am; he was up to 20-30kilos heavier than me; being male he had more muscles than I have, and of course he was heaps stronger than I. He could put his hand on the front of my head, take a small step backwards, and then goad me to hit him. He'd taunt, insult, use derogatory terms, call me weak, stupid, sick, in need of a psychiatrist and continue for as long as he wished. If I went to remove myself, I either got a whack around the head or he'd pull my hair or arms or??

The fact is, that in some cases of male against male, there is a blatant use of ability re size, strength etc, and I've heard judges allude to this. So don't use reality to put more barbs into women. The fact is, that a woman has little chance against a person/male who uses his physical attributes to inflict physical harm, and then uses that fear to control his victim/s from that time on. Mine did it for over 20 yrs. I learnt very fast not to fight back or struggle etc, that's why, when women finally 'crack' they wait for him to be asleep or? as they don't have a hope in hell otherwise, or resort to a weapon!

Then, there's the experienced people who can tell the difference between 'defensive wounds' and offensive wounds. I haven't heard you or your mates refer to this. Many women, wrongly arrested by police at the home, have charges of assault dismissed either because the Judge believed her version of events and/or the wound/s on his body were brought about by her defending herself!