Save the males documentary screens on TV2
I managed to stay awake long enough to watch “Save the Males” last night on TV2, and I must say I was very impressed with Greg Stubbings’ production. What a shame it was screened so late, at a time when the majority of working men would be tucked up in bed asleep.
I may have been influenced by the shot of a Web browser accessing www.menz.org.nz near the beginning of the documentary, but I thought all the spokesmen came across very well, presumably helped by sympathetic editing. Mark Bradman from Mensline and Peter Zohrab from the NZ Equality Education Foundation were both impressive, but I have to nominate Kerry Bevin from the Men’s Affairs Group as one of the most effective media spokesmen for men issues to appear so far. With a bit of assistance from a wardrobe consultant this man could go far!
The opening segment on the law was the most disappointing in my view. It discussed male-only crimes such as ‘male assaults female’ and rape and pointed out that men usually receive longer sentences than woman, but it didn’t really touch on the two most important legal issues for men – the biased application of the Domestic Violence Act, and the huge number of false abuse accusations made against men.
Men’s health received a fairly comprehensive overview, with Dr Rob Williams doing a good job of highlighting the disparities in health statistics and funding. He says: “If a group is disadvantaged for some reason the government should put money into finding out why. They are doing it for Maori, Pacific Islanders and woman but not for men.”
The section on fatherhood focused on father’s rights (or lack thereof), but didn’t really get to grips with the fact that children lose entire extended families as a result of this feminist project to destroy the patriarchy, and that it’s really children’s rights we should be most concerned about. Union of Fathers’ Jim Bagnall explained how ‘the shadow of the law’ works – 92% of applicants at the Family Court are woman because they believe they will get everything they ask for, men know there is only a 10 to 15% chance that they will be awarded custody. A number of my photographs of Family Court protests from the www.menz.org.nz website were used in the film, with appropriate attribution.
Nelson College headmaster Selvi Gargiulo discussed his opposition to the sale of “boys are stupid — throw rocks at them” T-shirts, and demonstrated how you can easily spot media and cultural denigration by simply changing the target ‘boys’ or ‘men’ to other groups such as ”girls’ or ‘Maori’. I think there is a danger here however, I don’t see any gains for men if we start becoming precious about showing a bit of male buttock on TV or at a strip show — restricting what we can see, hear and read about is more likely to work against us in the long run, I reckon.
The feminisation of the education system and the consequent negative impact on boys was covered pretty well by Cal Greer from Oratia District High School who made it clear: “the previous disadvantage experienced by girls has disappeared and it’s been replaced by a growing disadvantage for boys”. According to the two headmasters, little is currently being done to look at what works best for boys.
The film ended with a discussion about the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs, and made a good argument for having a men’s Ministry to balance the advice given to government. It didn’t explore the possibility that the whole concept of creating public policy with deliberate gender bias is fundamentally wrong and needs to be ceased rather than balanced.
I Saw the Docco also. Each segment could comfortably have been expanded to take up a half hour. I also recorded it.
Comment by Alastair — Thu 24th November 2005 @ 12:29 pm
JP,
I saw this program streamed on the net.
I entirely concur.
Still, despite any flaws, with only 22.5 minutes to play with this was agreat effort by all concerned to get men’s issues aired, for which I’m very thankful.
Comment by Stephen — Thu 24th November 2005 @ 1:09 pm
Taped this show and watched it last nite. Excellent!
The Men who participated presented a clear and simple message. A big pat on the back to all of you.
It will be nice when we are equal enough to not have programs like this marginalised to a late night screening time.
Comment by Mark Shipman — Fri 25th November 2005 @ 9:34 am
Thanks for the positive comments. Greg Stubbings did a great job ! We’re all in this together.
You can buy a copy on DVD @ $30.00 + postage from Greg Stubbings
Ipso Facto Productions
cell: 027 3342098
home: (06) 838 7594
edit booth: (03) 963 8889
[email protected]
Comment by Peter Zohrab — Sat 3rd December 2005 @ 8:09 am
4 Comments »
I Saw the Docco also. Each segment could comfortably have been expanded to take up a half hour. I also recorded it. Admin: I have removed the remainder of Alastair’s comment – MENZ.org.nz does not support activities which breach copyright.Comment by Alastair – Thu 24th November 2005 @ 12:29 pm…………it is my understanding that , making ONE COMPLETED COPY OF ANY WORK for the purposes of private research and /or private study is lawful……to CENSOR lawful communication between people . seems to UNECESSARILY damage open communication ……….
Comment by Jay — Sun 15th January 2006 @ 4:04 pm
Sure you can make a copy for your own use Jay. You can’t, however, offer to distribute copies to others without incurring the wrath of Television New Zealand, who own the copyright.
Comment by JohnP — Mon 16th January 2006 @ 8:04 am
Hi people, I am increasingly aware of the global feminist diatribe, gathering momentum, and generally starting to become a witch hunt. After watching Reggae Yates in UK on Duke Channel this week, the first week ofJuly 2018, I was happy to see the poems have woken up too!!! 🙂 With this is mind, and wanting to open some younger male eyes, I am avidly seeking a download of “Save the Males, of 2005, and any subsequent links of similar material. Any help on this would be very much appreciated.
Comment by Gary Lee — Sat 7th July 2018 @ 5:20 pm
Hopefully someone can help you with that.
What is Reggae Yates?
Comment by Downunder — Sat 7th July 2018 @ 6:08 pm
Reggae Yates appears to be a male UK TV presenter on a programme “Insider”. YouTube offers a lot of interesting results.
Comment by Kiwi Keith — Sun 8th July 2018 @ 7:12 am
I looked at another result. Seems Reggae Yates is in a series called “Extreme UK” on the topic of male masculinity. Here is a link to a clip by Diana Davidson which gives another (non-feminist) view of Reggae Yates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnA9YYhRPtg I’m sure I have seen Diana previously under a different name. From what I recall, it would be understandable if this lady had to change her name for safety sake.
Comment by Kiwi Keith — Sun 8th July 2018 @ 7:31 am
10 Karen Straughan
Comment by Downunder — Sun 8th July 2018 @ 8:12 am