It is eminently reasonable to challenge the obvious unfairness and emasculating effect on boys of trickle-down feminist ideology in Education in Australia. It is also reasonable to ask why the feminist policies being implemented in education are not subjected to scrutiny and why there is no adequate community consultation.

To label such questions as ‘feminist bashing’ is to indulge in tricky rhetoric, the implication being of course that these policies are beyond reproach and ‘never you mind’, the gender-type apparatchiks always know better than the voters.

What many people need to understand about government is that the laws passed by Parliament are only the tip of the iceberg of regulations that limit and control our behaviour.

In fact the greater lump of the iceberg of regulations is made up of regulations and operational interpretations and guidelines devised and implemented by bureaucrats, many of whom have considerable delegated powers.

So what is wrong with demanding greater transparency and accountability in public administration and for the community to be involved?

How many parents know that orthodox feminists have introduced Marxist inspired re-education campaigns (such as ‘boys work’) for boys?

How many would support it if they really understood the demeaning impact at grass roots level?

How many parents agree with the gender-type apparatchiks in public education who say that men are not really necessary as teachers because women can provide suitable role models?

When will Australian mothers revolt against the refusal by education bureaucrats to provide programs to address known problems in the self-esteem and wellbeing of boys in the education system

"When will Australian mothers revolt against the refusal by education bureaucrats to provide programs to address known problems in the self-esteem and wellbeing of boys in the education system"

Cornflower: I agree with you about the lack of accountability with the bureaucracy (and not just on this issue). I think we are seeing a revolt, but it's a quiet one. If I recall correctly, non-government education presently represents about 30% of school children, and it's growing at about 1% per annum. People are voting with their feet for the reasons you mention and others. At some point, there will be such a divide (on a whole range of issues) between the public and private systems that the public system will either have to reform or it will condemn itself to being a perpetual, distant second best.

I think this is the thing about Australians and Australian politics. I used to think we were really apathetic in this country, but I don't believe that to be so now. I think it's a lot more subtle than people give credit for. Other societies have (often violent and turbulent) revolutions, but we let things get a little out of hand here for a while, hoping they'll naturally correct themselves, and then we eventually get sick of that and all vote with our feet. We don't necessarily make a big song and dance of that though. I believe this will happen with gender relations in time.

Recently the Victorian Law Reform Commission asked for submission on domestic violence.

I submitted roughly 30 different articles and research papers from various sources.

The final report reads like an assignment for women's studies. No surprise there. It was intirely predictable what the findings were going to be.

Interestingly they listed all of Michael Floods submissions.
My name appears and that is all, no reference to any of the papers I submitted. Basically the claims made by myself and the Lone Fathers association were dismissed. And the final report by the Law Reform Commission was deliberately written to refer to women as the victims and men as the perpetrators of domestic violence.

I have noticed a very strong tendency where feminist research is always accepted and not challanged and any research which shows men in a positive light is challanged rather viciously.

What you just wrote is sufficient to send to politicians. Just grab the addresses from the Net and go for it.

All of our local pollies (both major Parties) complain that they only hear from the noisy lobby groups and that 'normal' people rarely come forward to express an opinion (except on election day I guess). Without complaints they feel a bit legless to do much.

So true... any wonder why 8-out-of-ten kids with ADHD are boys?, and the same proportion of suicides are men

JAmesH, DV stats and handling is one area where men are getting an amazingly bad rap despite numerous studies showing that DV is not significantly genderised.

I’ve posted this in the past but as support for your comments about the treatment of DV issues the following from the Queensland Health web site is worth a look. One of the ugliest government sponsored dissing men items I’ve seen.

"DOMESTIC VIOLENCE is the physical, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse of trust and power between partners in a spousal relationship.
Most (85% to 98%) domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women."
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/violence/domestic/default.asp

I’ve not seen any serious research results regarding the genderisation or frequency of emotional or psychological abuse but my guess is that women would give at least as much as they receive and that it would be more common than physical abuse. Maybe these people take the old “sticks and stones thing” seriously as well as the “sugar and spice and all things nice”.

I have a letter from Warren Pitt the then Minister for Communities, Disability Services and Seniors in which it is claimed that 76.6% of the applications for domestic violence orders made between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2004 were made by women (even if representative of all DV a long way from the lower end of the Qld Health range at 85%).

I’d also recommend a great book by feminist author Paticia Pearson called “When She Was Bad” dealing with the misrepresentation of female violence. ISBN 0-14-024388-7.
Subtitled “How and Why Women Get Away With Murder”.

Seeker, correct sitting on the fence does make me an easier target but it’s also easier to see who’s trying to pick the fight. As Trade said "Once you see how hard the batlle is and how difficult it is to challenge oneself, you give up, get angry, attack and vilify the opposition... maintain the rage.".

OZGIRL, I’ve put a response to some of your off topic comments at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=70#1435

R0bert