I not a troubling sentiment in the story. Both of the examples involved females, the statement afterwards was the women experince X amount. Is this to say that males do not experince abuse, harrasment and bullying also?

Arthur didn't you know that us males do not have the luxury of human rights. ;)

Some feminist even regard us a being less than human.

In actual fact the male suicide rate is much higher than that of females

http://www.livingisforeveryone.com.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/LIFE-Fact%20sheet%203.pdf

As previously pointed out it seems to matter little to feminist. If they were serious about preventing violence they would surely deal with the roots (breakdown of family unit, fatherless kids, pornography) instead of banging on about male attitudes. This however would mean feminist dogma would also have to change. The more secular the more violence as simple as that folk

The author conveniently ignores the fact that the Australian Human Rights Commission gets all its revenue by violence, bullying and harassment.

So what are you commenter's saying ? that this author has ignored that men are bullied and mistreated. The article is not about that I am sure the author would recognize that. This is not about feminism this is about what has occurred and cant be denied in Australian society.

The young girl in Tasmania of 12 tell her this is about nothing more than feminism. Her mother was the one who encouraged this and another person who happened to be male. Violence and bullying are in our society and something needs to be done and not having a go at someone who is bringing this issue to the forefront to discuss needs to be had a go at as a feminist like it is a bad thing. This issue is world wide and just about everyone has been affected by it.The stories that make the news are horrifying, this is up to men and women working together to stop this not just women and not just men.
Both are just important for society and both can stop this. Maybe some have missed the points that have been raised in this article? How do you feel about the situations and topics that have been raised

[Deleted. Off-topic.]

[Deleted. Off-topic.]

I was hoping that there might be some serious discussion about the causes of bullying and what we should or could do to combat it. Instead we get a rush of male posters claiming victim status for men - at a tanget at best to the article.

Bullying is certainly a problem on this forum which I have to confront as moderator, but which I hope others also confront via the opportunity to report suspect posts.

One of the issues that I confront is that I don't think a world without bullying is possible, or perhaps even desirable. To be involved in the world you need to have a certain resilience, and how do you get that without practice?

Graham "I was hoping that there might be some serious discussion about the causes of bullying and what we should or could do to combat it. Instead we get a rush of male posters claiming victim status for men"

I get what you are saying but once again it's another piece which seems to have loaded examples (although at least the first one has one female perpetrator).

The pattern from those who talk about "women and their children" never seems to include male victims or make any attempt to look balanced. There is enough coverage of the stats on child abuse, violence against men etc on other threads but the pattern of gender bias in the commentary from those who should be making some attempt to look even handed is well past it's use by date. As has already been noted, we are told how much violence against women and their children costs, why does that have to be a gendered example? What does violence against parents and their children cost this country each year? Does anybody know what violence against men and their children costs this country? If not why not?

It would be great to have a good discussion on the issues raised, in my view the response you refer to is a reaction to an ongoing campaign of harassment and bullying by some who should know and do better.

R0bert

OK Graham, what are the causes of bullying?

Firstly as schools it is part of the growing process, sadly though the activity tends to get encouraged rather than discouraged.

What I mean as part of the growing process is that children are trying to learn and discover what the rules are. Brothers and sister will bully each other.

On another level children are mimmicing the behaviour of their parents or significant adults. Trying to discover what works and what doesn't.

It can be about status, who occupies the highest 'social position'.

There are some extremely mean and nasty people, who do pass their genetic code onto their children.

Female bullying tends to be much more covert as research shows.

Peter Hume.. Hi 5 !

Yes.. the "Human Rights' (aka "inHuman Reich") also get's it's money from discriminating against Christian groups.

Bullying was reality at my secondary school..it was SOLVED overnight by our PT teacher opening up one of the class rooms on a rainy day for BOXING..and he paired up bullys with others and they got whacked from here to kingdom come. *the end* of bullying :)

On a less violent side.... sueing school, teachers and bully's parents is the way to go.
Any government program should include a FIGHTING FUND for victims to do just that without going broke.

If there is no recourse to justice because of expense..you and begin the countdown from now until the first exasperated parent murders his son or daughters bully

some causes of bullying
- pride
- greed
- selfishness
- insecurity

Unfortunately all part of the adamic nature. Left undisciplined we breed violence and bullying. You don't need a phd in human behaviour to see the problem. It is atrocious to watch 2 year olds bullying their mums while often emasculated dads pathetically look on. In fact many academics like Spock have created this massive tide of bullying in our nation. You need to get rid of pc dogma and address family breakdown issues to get the answers. Moral relativism leads to 100 men sleeping with a 12 year old in Australia of all places. Then again moral relativism allows for any behaviour except conviction of right and wrong.. Just ask Singer and his disciples. The massive moral failure of the baby boomers has opened the door to a massive failure in society for people to treat others with dignity. The porn industry summarizes a woman's worth in many instances while our society admires the sporting high priests who have morals like alley cats. When we have a politician or leader who displays some moral courage we have the morally bereft media doing all in their power to criticize.

I feel that it is world wide the bullying and all that is mentioned. runner raises some very valid points here. This however has been part of history for a long time. At least it is being discussed and people are trying to sort it out. I do not see things as doom and gloom we are getting there slowly by exposing certain things.

How can it be combated? Maybe writing and asking our local MP's to address areas in society that we find as not needed or required. This affects all of human kind not just Australia. In some countries they feel it is okay to engage in sex with children the men and the women do not feel they have the power to do something about this. This to even occurs in Australia. Women are now featuring in the news as having sex with children or teenagers. This is not good it is the same as if it was a male doing this. bullying and treating people with disrespect should not be part of schools. Children and teenagers are affected from this right into their adult lives some even kill themselves. Some turn to other means to cope.

These topics need to be addressed and something needs to happen. All we can do is start with our own families and friends. Stand up for abuse issues when we see them or write about them and discuss them.

Motorcyclemessiah I think it was slightly off topic and so deleted although a lot of history of the Aboriginal peoples could certainly be about bullying.

GY:”To be involved in the world you need to have a certain resilience, and how do you get that without practice?”

Hmm… something to be said for the “toughening up” school of thought and how needed it is if the society we live in is rampant with bullies. Shame though eh.

Bullying seems to be everywhere from the schoolyard to the workplace, sport field, online and I guess even road rage, funny how rage will die abruptly when a bigger person emerges from a vehicle which makes me think there was an attempt to bully rather than a matter of "rage".

Do we even the playing field – all peoples learn some form of defense (have to include mental defense).

Bullying is some kind of natural human instinct maybe like greed. But yes, something like in the cases of Brodie and the 12 year old girl - others must have known and no one stepped up.

We shouldn’t forget system bullying either. Now I am sorry menfolk but I was looking at stuff on the Hay institution for Girls and haven’t looked up any young male facilities yet. It seems to be an example of this kind of bulling although other subtle forms of system bullying happens in various ways where usually many people are quiet about what is going on or it becomes acceptable to them over time and/or they don’t notice they are doing it. Churches included.

Should I mention maternal or paternal gatekeeping – bullying by any other name?

Is bullying a new thing where the definitions can be expanded, they are bound to overlap with the expanding DV and abuse definitions. I’ve never heard bullying mentioned along with neglect or scapgoating or the other abuses.

Maybe they all actually do come under the heading of Bullying.

A major cause, which you will never see being mentioned by the feminist/politically correct crew, is fatherlessness.

A major US Senate report concluded with these facts...

The United States Congress has found
"Children who live without contact with their biological father are, in comparison to children who have such contact:
(A) 5 times more likely to live in poverty;
(B) more likely to bring weapons and drugs into the classroom;
(C) twice as likely to commit crime;
(D) twice as likely to drop out of school;
(E) more likely to commit suicide;
(F) more than twice as likely to abuse alcohol or drugs; and
(G) more likely to become pregnant as teenagers.

Violent criminals are overwhelmingly males who grew up without fathers."

Protect children's right to both natural parents will reduce violence.

How the hell will the Australian Human Rights Commission ever get ANYTHING right when they think only crims have any rights that need protecting.
A crim is barely apprehended when HR lawyers descend to make it almost impossible for our cops to question rhem.
The first thing they say"Dont say anything to the police."
then they say sometthing like "You were abused when you were young weent you?" Youre suffering from depression right?" They supply all the openers and ofcourse the crims love it. They know they'll be home in time for dinner.

HR Commission and their lawyers...I hate them

socratease

The author does not actually state the reasons for bullying, but seems to say that it is gender based.

It is not gender based, and I understand that the majority of women would rather work for a male boss, because they are less likely to be bullied than a female boss.

The author mentions two very unfortunate incidents, but I would not place any great trust in the Human Rights Commission because of their obvious gender bias and discrimination.

Instead of stating the obvious in articles why doesn't Catherine Branson in her capacity as a QC get onto the Law Reform Commission & such & change things. She is part of the crowd that dreams up rules & regulations so she should get her act together & act on this.

I don't know that violence and bullying are increasing. Perhaps it is all a matter of definition. Although definitions used by social researchers and lobbyists can be very broad, it is interesting that the subject of child neglect seems to be studiously avoided.

While the author is right to point to violence as a priority for government, much of it has to do with drugs where windfall profits ensure that all sections of the community are compromised. Organised crime involved in drug dealing could be considered one of the major businesses in Australia such is the money involved. What is a major problem is that law enforcement is hampered by the strange reluctance of government to support the continuation of highly effective teams and cooperation between the State police forces and with the federal force.

However there are other contributors to violence such as the loss of the traditional family.

Semi-autonomous governmental organisations like HREOC should be set up under a sundown clause to prevent continual re-jigging and expansion of goals. To be blunt, I am strongly in favour of closing down the Commission and directing the saved funds into the delivery of services through ministerial departments, which are also subject to the direct scrutiny of parliament.

I inadvertently witnessed an act of indecent assault on a twelve year old girl by her Father during a surprise visit when checking the welfare of my own daughter. The girl in particular, on further investigation was habitually sexually abused by friends of the Father also. I was naturally disgusted by what I had witnessed, but what most disgusted me was the obvious enjoyment of the child involved.
Q: What did I do in response?
A: Got the hell out of there and quickly;
So here is the answer to the question you posed. I then became actively involved in keeping my daughter away from undesirable elements in society. Protecting my own backside was a priority, especially since I could be co-accused by Police by simply being at the scene of a crime. Why would a male in particular intervene, it is just too dangerous

Graham, as R0bert says, this is a very one-sided article, Hardly worthy of the Commissioner for Human Rights. Of course, she is significantly hamstrung in any efforts to be even-handed by the grossly discrminatory framework in which she operates. The Commission is expressly charged with protecting the human rights of "minorities", which are defined as including women, depite the fact that women make up slightly more than 50% of the population.

The Commission's Website says this: "Working towards an Australian society where the human rights of all are respected, protected and promoted". It goes on to say:
"The Commission has statutory responsibilities under the following federal laws:

* Age Discrimination Act 2004
* Disability Discrimination Act 1992
* Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
* Sex Discrimination Act 1984
* Racial Discrimination Act 1975

We also have specific responsibilities under the Native Title Act 1993 (performed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner) and the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (performed by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner)."

I wonder what internal process of sophistry the highly-qualified lawyer Ms Branson QC applies to justify the one against the other?

On the subject of bullying specifically, the Commissioner discussed the case of a young woman who suicided, apparntly due to workplace bullying. I mentioned elsewhere the behaviour of a school principal and teacher toward my son and the broader issue of the treatment of boys at that large Brisbane school. I believe my son has been significantly bullied by those teachers, yet there is absoluttely no way the Commission can hear a complaint. It is simply not something they are intereted in according to their legislative remit. My son is a white Asutralian boy from a middle-class family. Even if I can demonstrate that he has been discriminated against, the Commissioner will not act, because he is of the wrong gender. His experience is excluded by legislation from her notice.

The Commision's website says (among other things):
"We fulfil our responsibilities by:
# holding public inquiries and consultations on important human rights issues
# working with and advising parliaments and governments to develop laws, programs and policies that protect and promote human rights
# researching human rights issues
# making submissions to parliamentary and other inquiries about human rights issues
# providing independent advice to assist courts in cases that involve human rights principles"

I wonder if the Commissioner could advise us of what her organisation is doing to address the issue of routine bullying directed at boys by teachers and Principals, often significantly deleteriously affecting their scholastic outcomes?

If the author was that interested in women, she would obviously read women’s magazines.

A quick scan through a women’s magazine immediately reveals the amount of spiteful gossip, innuendo and general bullying going on.

- Blown up pictures of a line of cellulite on that female movie star
- Before and after pictures of possible plastic surgery.
- Pictures of two women wearing a similar dress.
- Gossip about whether Mary will wait to get her divorce until after the Milan fashion festivals, or get her divorce before the Milan fashion festivals
- Pictures of the baby with rumors that it might not be his
- What Jill said to Margaret about Isabel
- Will Harriet ever lose weight etc, etc etc.

And of course the author overlooks the greatest amount of bullying carried out on girls, which is carried out by other girls.

And the author overlooks the amount of fighting so often carried out between mothers and daughters.

Someone doesn’t need a study undertaken to see these things, and the HRC is now just a bigoted, gender biased, feminist propaganda machine.

Ok thats just weird, get some person on Kerri Anne talking about how she had plastic surgery..........people are just weird.......why didnt they have another person who had plastic surgery talking about how it all went wrong. Its not something to be glorified.... Ok thats just weird.

It is difficult to speak out about abuses of authority in the forms of bullying or harassment. Often complainants are targeted with suspicion or seen as malcontents in a workplace setting (as is the current state in many government departments despite the rhetoric about Codes of Conduct).

In one department I worked in a senior manager was eventually chastised about his behaviour by the Deputy Secretary but only after other managers approached HR and the executive. When lower level staff raised concerns about service delivery and bullying behaviours they were basically told they were a bunch of whingers and were ignored.

The key is vigilance in reporting but how do you change a culture of apathy when it comes to 'getting involved'? The situation in relation to children has improved in modern times. In the past people were incredulous when confronted with an accusation of someone in authority (maybe a respected community member) being accused of child abuse as evidenced in religious institutions.

Bullying in the workplace has decreased overall. A raised awareness of bullying does not make it more prevalent it only appears so. This does not mean we should not remain vigilant only that it should be recognised that on many fronts things have improved.

Violence ie. street violence seems to have incrased, and with longer drinking hours the problem in bigger cities has increased.

In some ways we have become a society which knows all it's rights but none of it's responsibilities and we have become namby pamby 'rights' shouting wimps with any mention of solutions that might reduce violence such as reduced drinking hours.