There's some nasty words coming from this forum lately. It's a pity.

All I really want to know is, do any of the women subscribing actually not want men to have a greater part in their kids' lives?

Because that's the gist of what Warwick was writing about.

I would be surprised if any of them were to answer in the negative....

Fractelle, I hate to burst your bubble but women are already displaying a lot of out of control behaviours; thier alcoholisim and binge drinking is at record levels, as is thier street violence, brawling at school and in the street, dangerous driving etc. And of course child abuse!

Anyway your childish hyperbole is obviously an attempt to distract yourself from the hurtful truth: mums are bashing kids in astonishing numbers.

Does this mean that all kids should be automatically placed with fathers? No. What these facts do suggest is that we need to take a reality check when promoting changes in Family Law designed to remove children from the supposed epidemic of abusive dads, ie. the myth is not true and the folklore about higher levels of abusive dads is just that.

The monopoly mothers currently have over child custody is enforced by maintaining the 'dirty little secret'. In cases of child abuse we need to place children with the safe parent regardless of that parent's sex. Keeping the dirty little secret going for advantage is harming our children.

Thanks rodcub - that's exactly as I suspected, and as you say typically disingenuous tactics for godbotherers and 'men's rights' losers.

There's really little point in engaging with people who can't at least be honest, but as a father I'm entitled to voice my resentment at their obvious attempt to appropriate fatherhood to what invariably ends up as a chorus of thinly disguised and mostly poorly expressed misogyny.

Most dads are great and ideally every kid should have theirs in their lives - which is in fact the case in the vast majority of Australian families, including those like mine where the parents have divorced but maintain caring, respectful relations.

Despite their predominance on any kind of gender-related discussion at OLO, I think that the most vocal 'men's rights' activists here are actually highly unrepresentative of men in general. I know lots of men and engage in all kinds of blokey activities with them, and very few of them express the kinds of bitter and twisted sentiments we see all too often at OLO.

<< Despite their predominance on any kind of gender-related discussion at OLO, I think that the most vocal 'men's rights' activists here are actually highly unrepresentative of men in general. I know lots of men and engage in all kinds of blokey activities with them, and very few of them express the kinds of bitter and twisted sentiments we see all too often at OLO. >>

CJ, I think you are right. I don't encounter the bitterness and hatred for women as expressed by this pernicious set of 'men's rights' in my every day life. At its core the sentiment of fatherhood is wonderful and, like you, I know many wonderful dads. However this thread has produced some of the most savage attacks on women, which is very disturbing. Celebrating fatherhood does not require denigrating women.

Piper asked, "What is it the menfolk want?" Well most men want the same thing as women, to be loved and respected, but the OLO coterie of disenchanted males appear to want nothing less than complete control over women and children - they are not interested in discussion as to how to care for our children. All we ever hear from them is how 'bad' women are. Look at the response to my 'pisstake' from Instep - not at all interested in promoting balance between the sexes, obsessed with the his male supremacy agenda.

Fact is there are bad parents - male and female. Painting one sex as the culprit for every human failing stifles debate and prevents the essential requirements for solving problems - communication and co-operation.

So after 160-odd comments where are we at?
As other posters have noted, there are horror stories on either side of the camp. There always will be.
And with any personal story there are almost always 3 sides to it - yours, theirs and the truth.
So will more legislation do the trick?
Not likely. A judge will always have leanings one way or another and he can only administer the legislation he is given by imperfect people with their own prejudices.
A marriage licence where you are assessed as to your marital and parenting suitability? Only in communist China or some other autocratic state.
Compulsory pre-marital counselling? In my opinion a great idea but I believe that the Liberals tried that and failed (someone please correct me if that’s not right).
There are some things you just can’t legislate - love, respect, honour. They are matters of the heart.
So how can we solve this dilemma?

Dare I say it, it leaves only a Love Revolution as the solution!

It has to start somewhere, right. Why leave it to the politicians to solve?
So I call on all fathers in Australia to love their wives and love their children. To seek the family’s good before their own.
Wives, respect your husbands - even if they do make mistakes.
Children - honour your parents and obey them. They really do want the best for you.

So let’s stop the blame game and let’s do something positive. Love WILL find a way.
Long live the Revolution!

Marty:”Now that this sinister conspiracy has been finally revealed, CJ, God bless his paranoia-driven soul, can rest in peace.”

Is it still called “paranoia” if they are right? But Marty help young James out with this:

Jimmy:”Such report use to be published in the various dept of human services or doc's reports. But have since mysteriously disappeared from the annual reports.”

“Lawks” I thought to myself. Please Marty can I call him paranoid? And Max seems to be having some kind of episode.

Suzy, seriously don’t go there, I think he’s about to start frothing at the mouth.

Marty:”As far as I am concerned CJ, you and rodcub can Facebook, Twitter and broadcast to your vast group of supporters and like-minded friends and tell them ALL to register, post and disagree with Warwick’s sentiments or whatever. The more the merrier.”

But it just isn’t done Marty, none of the grrls went and bought in support, it would be like totally uncool and bring shame on ones name. Did Warwick offer free pitchforks with every supportive post?

Fractelle:”Fact is there are bad parents - male and female. Painting one sex as the culprit for every human failing stifles debate and prevents the essential requirements for solving problems - communication and co-operation.”

Well said. Although it seems the combination of any two adult humans is just not workable. No matter which way you are inclined to read stats it becomes obvious that the message is children are not safe with adults.

My version: So I call on all Mothers in Australia to love their husbands and love their children. To seek the family’s good before their own.
Husbands, respect your wives - even if they do make mistakes.
Children - honour your parents and obey them. They really do want the best for you, except the abusive ones.
(Amen)