Men Don’t Matter
In case we need reminding, men’s suffering of abuse, violence and disadvantage is often covered up while for women it is highlighted. Here are a few stories in today’s papers showing this.
In this story the male gender of the OFFENDER is headlined but the gender of the VICTIM was not considered worth mentioning, so we can assume the victim was a male. If the victim had been female her gender would have been headlined and/or emphasized, but we don’t want to let the public become aware that men are most often the victims of violence in our society now do we?
Man to be deported
10:43 AM Thursday Sep 26, 2013
A kiwifruit worker, who kicked a colleague in the face while wearing steel-capped boots breaking three of the victim’s front teeth, is to be deported to the Solomon Islands.George Apong, 31, who earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of injuring with reckless disregard, was sentenced to five months’ home detention in Tauranga District Court yesterday.
Apong’s sentence has been deferred to allow Immigration time to arrange a flight to deport him.
– BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
In this story, same thing. We can assume the victim of violence at the hands of two women was male, because the victim’s gender was not mentioned. Unusually, the female gender of the violent offenders was headlined in this case; we often see news headlines that hide women’s offending and leave casual readers to assume it must be a male offender; we are certain this is sometimes deliberate. With these two women, assuming the police will bother catching them (after all, they are female so they can’t really be dangerous can they?), we await their excuses, attempts to blame their victim and of course the inevitable pussy passes.
Police hunt two women after taxi driver stabbed
By Teuila Fuatai
7:34 AM Thursday Sep 26, 2013 ✩
A taxi driver has been stabbed in Upper Hutt, leading to a search for two women whose images were caught on security camera footage in the cab.The women, thought to be aged between 20 and 25, used a sharp object to stab the driver about 3am on Queen Street, said police central communications Inspector Chris Tate.
The driver received minor injuries and did not require stitches.
The women then ran off. No one was around to see what happened and the taxi driver alerted emergency services, Mr Tate said.
One woman has been described as Caucasian, and the other is believed to be Maori, Mr Tate said.
Police would be reviewing footage from the cab.
– APNZ
And another in which the male gender of the offender was headlined but the gender of the victim shopkeeper was completely overlooked. No such overlooking would have happened if the victim had been female.
Masked man fires shot during attempted robbery in Auckland
By Heather McCracken11:27 AM Thursday Sep 26, 2013 ✩
Police say an armed, masked man fired a shot during an attempted robbery at a Dollar Dealers shop in south Auckland this morning.The incident occurred the Southmall Shopping Centre in Manurewa about 9.40am.
Police said it was believed a shot was fired by a man wearing a mask, who is thought to have fled in a silver Toyota or similar car, with a number plate similar to BTJ459.
Police are interviewing witnesses and looking for the car involved.
No one was injured.
– APNZ
And we throw in this news article in which the journalist has tried hard to avoid mentioning the gender of the victim but slipped up once deep in the body of the article by using a male pronoun. You can be very sure that if this shop owner had been female her gender would have been emphasized and some interest would have been shown in her distress and welfare following this assault. But hey, it was only a man so let’s not concern ourselves.
Whangarei business owner assaulted by thief
11:11 AM Thursday Sep 26, 2013 ✩
A Whangarei business owner has been assaulted by a thief who made off with several hundreds worth of synthetic cannabis.Police have now released a security camera picture of the man involved in the robbery of the Brew Shop in Whangarei.
A man entered the shop on Vine St, walked up to the counter and pulled out a drawer containing psychoactive substances – commonly known as synthetic cannabis, about 6pm on August 9.
The shopkeeper attempted to stop the man taking the items. However, the man assaulted him and the shopkeeper let go.
The thief then left the shop with several hundred dollars worth of the synthetic cannabis. He was seen to arrive in a white 1990 Toyota Corolla and there was at least one other person in the vehicle.
Anyone with information on this robbery or who can identify the person in the photo can contact Constable Mark Andrews at the Whangarei Police on 09 430 4500 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111 .
Oh, and we add this news story headlined “High-level review into suicide prevention likely”. As with almost all news stories and releases about suicide (which kills more people than the road toll), this story completely fails to mention the gender breakdown of the suicides it refers to or that suicide is mainly a men’s issue. The proportion of men killed through suicide is about the same as the proportion of women killed through partner violence, yet any story about partner violence will always emphasize the role of gender and will usually treat it as a women’s issue. But for a problem that harms mostly men let’s not mention this. We wouldn’t want people to get any idea that men are suffering or disadvantaged in any way, or to learn of the factors leading men to see themselves as so worthless as to kill themselves in large numbers. If this new review is anything like previous suicide reports, we look forward to the denial, obfuscation and mental gymnastics that this new report will entertain us with in its efforts to avoid addressing the gender issues involved and the need for male-focused interventions.
It is interesting that in case 2 the offender was masked and refered to as a male. Where is the evidencec? Cases 1 & 5 are caught on video, gender statements area fair comment!
Comment by Alastair — Thu 26th September 2013 @ 4:25 pm
Yes I read this article this morning and then looked at the latest stats here in NZ. The ratio is 3:to 1:male – female. It’s a F*^king mockery
Comment by ian — Thu 26th September 2013 @ 5:39 pm
Thanks again MoMA for the reminder that men do not matter. Another tale of the scant disrespect for men in New Zealand was reported in the NZ Herald today:
Serial fraudster worked as prostitute on home detention
I’ve cherry picked the salient bit:
So trying to poison and fry a guy gets you put away for only two-and-a-half years? Or was the majority of that sentence imposed on account of her other crimes; ie. theft as a servant, forgery, and arson. I suspect the latter!
And of course we can’t go without the usual excuse – she’s bipolar!! Is anyone else becoming the cynic I am and starting to think that being bipolar is actually normal in women?
Comment by Bruce S — Thu 26th September 2013 @ 7:35 pm
Yeah, 2 and a half years for two serious attempts at killing a mere male through poisoning and arson, in addition to dishonesty offending involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, is a bit harsh for one of the ROYAL gender. When this man twice punched his pregnant partner it resulted in 3 years imprisonment. 2 punches by one of the LOWER CLASS gender is of course much worse than two serious attempted murders, arson and grand theft by one of the Royal Gender. How presumptuous of the rabble to think otherwise. True, the man’s punches were aimed at murder too though not so likely to have succeeded. And if the woman had committed the murder that the man hoped to achieve it would have been called abortion and justified as ‘woman’s choice’.
Comment by blamemenforall — Thu 26th September 2013 @ 8:26 pm
Quite correct BruceS. Women Bipolar? Ever tried living with one?
Comment by Alastair — Thu 26th September 2013 @ 9:02 pm
Has anyone ever met a man with Bipolar disorder?
Comment by Downunder — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 8:10 am
@MOMA here is one for your exploitation file.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24282713
Qatar 2022 World Cup organisers say they are “appalled” by the findings of an investigation into the treatment of migrant workers in the country.
Although it says workers I think we can safely read that as men.
Comment by Downunder — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 8:15 am
@ MOMA here is another international one to look out for. Think what workers (read that as men) might be subjected to if the Tokyo Olympics goes ahead.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/26/a-letter-to-all-young-athletes-who-dream-of-coming-to-tokyo-in-2020/
Comment by Downunder — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 10:31 am
@Downunder (#6) I am nearly 60; I have never ever met a bipolar male (well not one that exhibited the symptoms outwardly). Clinically; I understand that bipolar disorder occurs approximately equally amongst men and woman. From the US National Library of Medicine I’ve taken the following statement “….that depression is approximately twice as common in women than in men. In the case of bipolar disorder, however, it is widely perceived that the reported equal rate of illness in men and women reflects no important gender distinctions”.
I’m guessing here; but I suspect men with bipolar don’t plead excuses like bipolar when they do something dumb and just get locked up and accept they were dumb. (Many) woman on the other hand, plead mitigating circumstances and refuse to accept any responsibility whatsoever for their behaviour. And the white knights at the bench accept those excuses as valid reasons for stealing, forgery, arson ….and the lesser crime of trying to fry your guy!
So I guess the reason we don’t see bipolar guys is they’ve been locked up for the crime of being a male!
Comment by Bruce S — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 6:08 pm
Interesting. Another way of looking at that could be that male bipolar children have been made to grow up and learn to deal with their condition but female bipolar adults are still just little children stamping their feet because they can’t get their own way.
Comment by Downunder — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 7:40 pm
A Very apt way of expressing the female Tanty behaviour. Campbell live tonight one of these females having a tantrum and teachng mid teen women how evil men were. There was no mention of how many men were murdered by their female partners or driven to suicide by the females tantrums and manipulative behaviour.
And what drove her to this vendetta (Crusade?) her daughter was murdered by such a person. (The females are safe from him, he is inside for a long time!)
Totally without balance, though arguably correct statistics were used they were presented in such a way to reinforce the lecturers point.
Comment by Alastair — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 7:54 pm
Bruce S, you are correct that there are many mentally ill men locked up in prison. Since “deinstitutionalisation” became fashionable in the 1970s and NZ closed its network of psychiatric hospitals, there has been little alternative.
Mental Hospitals were not without their problems, but I suspect men got much better care than they currently do ‘in the community’, or in jails.
Comment by JohnPotter — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 8:49 pm
Having been “Inside” as a prison volunteer John, you are so right. The “Officers” certainly had minimal medical training, unless an inmate was absolutely abnormal or attempting self harm, it was ignored. The Inmate had to request to see the doctor.
Comment by Alastair — Fri 27th September 2013 @ 9:23 pm
An attempt to offer an alteranitive or …
In Wanganui an organisition has recently openedcalled “Safe Haven” They are for both male and female survivors (Their word) ofsexual abuse.
A direct Quote:-
We’re dealing with males and females, children and adults. And generally 90 per cent of the sexual offending is done by people who are known to the person being offended against,” she said.
She said statistically one in four women up to the age of 16 are likely to be offended against and very conservatively one in 10 men.
Note the last phrase “Very conservatively one in 10 mem”
Aretheycatchingon? howeverI wouldpreferto talk to a maleon this topic!
Comment by Alastair — Sat 28th September 2013 @ 7:43 am
There are large numbers of men and women in the community, who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (4 million x 1% = ????. There are many more people, who don’t meet all of the criteria for enough of the time, but who have the same problems, just to a slightly less degree. Most of these people have learned to manage their problems and live relatively normal lives, perhaps a bit more limited than the “average” person. Drugs play a role, but understanding limitations and living within them is the largest contributor to having a productive life.
Think of the number of people you have known well, who have committed suicide, you are probably dealing with 10x that number of people with bipolar, that haven’t told you about it. While stigma is perceived as strong, they will prefer to keep that issue quiet from you.
Thus, there are many men and women in the community living with bipolar, that are not displaying obvious signs. When they are, they know to lay low and get support from family, friends, psychologists, drugs.
Men are usually under more pressure to manage psychiatric symptoms, for job success, success with women… These pressures no doubt play a great role in the visibility and successful management of these problems. This sure doesn’t mean that the symptoms are not there. Another name for these pressures, is stigma.
The National Study of Psychiatric Morbidity in New Zealand Prisons
Questions and Answers
Mental Health Screening Tool improves prisoners’ care 27 June 2013
New Zealand Provision of Forensic Mental Health Services
Care of mentally ill inmates ‘atrocious’, counsellor says
Suicide rate in NZ prisons 11 times higher than general population
Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in New Zealand prisons: a national study.
Provision mental-health services for prisoners NZ Auditor General
Community mental health and imprisonment of people with serious mental health problems have been swept under the carpet for a long time. When there were no effective treatments, there was little alternative. Now that effective strategies for managing these problems are readily available, we need to face these issues proactively, for the people themselves and for their children.
Bipolar disorder has been presented as a disorder, in the articles above. When managed even to only a small degree, there are positive and creative sides to it too.
Katherine Brooks, director/writer/filmmaker. “I don’t believe Bipolar holds me back as a person or a filmmaker. I actually believe it makes everything I do have more meaning, passion, and purpose. I’m thankful to be this way “¦ thankful to be born Bipolar.
Who would ever want to be described as: normal in NZ?
The man who taught me the most about legal strategy was bipolar. I greatly appreciate what he showed me. Cranky at times, but he was also very perceptive and practical.
Cheers, MurrayBacon.
Comment by MurrayBacon — Sat 28th September 2013 @ 7:59 am
Here we have it from the UN Secretary-General; it is not the century of global warming, conflicts like Syria come a sad second, no, it’s the century of women!
Comment by Downunder — Sun 29th September 2013 @ 8:26 am
Instead of putting up with being devalued, we must strengthen our self value and validate each other in the same way too.
I was quite horrified to read of the UK attitude toward allowing men prisoners to be sexually assaulted. Reading it, made NZ look civilised by comparison?
If I recall correctly, Geoffrey Archer spent a few months in jail for perjury, a Minister of the Crown. I wonder if he got to try all of the benefits of UK prisons?
So, UK has 1/4 of the men’s suicides that we drive in NZ, but it treats prisoners far worse than we treat our prisoners.
If there was wisdom in the world, why can’t we get down to their suicide figures and why doesn’t UK apply NZ policies for protection of prisoners from sexual assault?
Comment by MurrayBacon — Wed 11th June 2014 @ 9:07 pm