We at Men's Health Australia are fully supportive of all attempts to reduce violence against women. However it is essential that a high-profile organisation such as the White Ribbon Foundation provides the general public with an accurate picture of violence in Australian society, especially when in receipt of substantial Federal funding ($1 million over 4 years).

The White Ribbon Foundation recently provided its Ambassadors with a resource document containing numerous serious statistical errors and unreferenced claims about gender and violence which downplay the incidence and impacts of violence upon men and boys. The statistics cited above by whiteribbonaustralia seem to be following the same pattern.

A coalition of domestic violence researchers, counsellors, psychologists and men's health workers two days ago asked the Minister for Women Kate Ellis to investigate the possible misuse of Federal anti-violence funding by the White Ribbon Foundation. See http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/6144.

This is not the first time the White Ribbon Foundation has been caught using incorrect and misleading statistics. In 2008 the Foundation released "An Assault on our Future: the impact of violence on young people and their relationships." This report was responsible for creating news headlines across the country exclaiming "Boys think it's OK to hit girls!" when the actual data showed that 25% of young people agreed with the statement "when a girl hits a guy it's not really a big deal."

It isn't necessary for the White Ribbon Foundation to report incorrectly about male victims of violence in order to highlight the tragedy of female victims of violence. The horrific statistics about violence against women speak for themselves.

It might be useful to analyse some of the claims made above by whiteribbonaustralia. As this forum limits posts to 350 words, I have posted an analysis at http://www.menshealthaustralia.net/files/whiteribbonaustralia.pdf.

'it is predominantly males who commit the most violence in our society, so why not ask men to take a more proactive role in stopping it?'

There you have it. That sums up White Ribbon Day.

I don't feel any more kinship with, responsibility for, or influence over violent men than I expect most women do. Why is it that because I am male, I must therefore hold some responsibility for what other men do.

Do women feel more responsible than men for bad things other women do because they are women?

To me, that statement basically boils down to all men are guilty for the acts of a few men.

Or are you saying, secretly, most men are currently supporting the violence from other men. Which brings visions of a witch hunt where men have to prove their bona fides and prove they're not abusers or supportive of it. So unless you make a big song and dance about it, you are by default, one of those abusive men. I resent that.

I will continue to do what I've always done, which is never hit women, and do something if I see other women being hit. But I don't dance for nobody, and I refuse to be emotionally manipulated and shamed, and assumed to be the keeper of other men or be held more responsible for the wrongs of the world due to my gender.

"All you guys that carry on about never seeing women with signs of abuse must live very sheltered lives. Pied Piper has seen it, and so have I - far more often than I care to think of."

I've seen it to and had that discussion with runner before. Not often and only once where I was clearly told that it was the result of DV.

It is there and to try and pretend otherwise does not help.

My guess is that minimisation like that creates a similar impact to the one that's evoked for me with gender-based campaigns that pretend that DV is a male perpetrator only issues.

R0bert

Are there others out there like me who are fed up with TV ads and posters in public places like buses, trains, hospital emergency rooms and elsewhere that tell the viewers that in any relationship altercation the villain is always the male?

R0bert, I didn't say it wasn't there, just that when it occurs the DVO is often applied to a man who is already being charged with assault. Perhaps I was being specifically allocated mention dates when the matters were mostly associated with Family Law matters?

Men's Health Australia:"It isn't necessary for the White Ribbon Foundation to report incorrectly about male victims of violence in order to highlight the tragedy of female victims of violence"

Exacly right, but the people involved are professional advocates and they follow Alinsky's rules, not those set by the ethics committee for anybody serious.

I recommend David Burchell's article in The Australian

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/radicals-get-rich-while-truth-begs/story-e6frg6zo-1225957983565

Like I said I been slapped by my exmissus but what I dont get is why so many ""Men"" at this sight want to just make excuses for bashing their Woman. Havent they ever heard about Turning The Other Cheek when their wifes nag them?

Nobody should bash anybody but Men do it a lot more and worse than Woman do.