There is nothing wrong in advocating for women’s rights- but when this morphs into denigrating men we need to speak out. Various newspapers print anti-male articles on a very regular basis. Unsubstantiated stories citing domestic abuse by men against women are common-never once have I seen an article of the reciprocal situation. There is evidence to suggest that female against male violence is just as prevalent.

Recently we have read of 2 schoolboys who posted ill-advised comments on social media. This appeared to be the catalyst for a quite strong reaction. Cries of a ‘rape culture’ and a march to parliament by female students ensued.

In the last few days a man wrongfully imprisoned for sexual assault has been denied any compensation. The State made a clear, unequivocal error, yet will not acknowledge it and will not make any reparations-financial or otherwise.

“There was no avenue for compensation for Ferguson – in contrast to complainants, who could access counselling and ACC”

This is a blatant travesty of justice-here is a man whose life has been almost ruined by a system that assigns guilt without evidence.

We are a democratic nation that prides itself in speaking out against obvious exploitation and the plundering of human rights. We were the the first country to give women the vote, the first Western country to say no to US nuclear warships, the first to elicit international attention protesting against apartheid.

The decision not to compensate is illustrative of another, more subtle, erosion of Human rights. The rights of men to go about their business and to live normal lives without fear of being vilified and labelled as dangerous or predatory.