Religious Group Spreads Feminist Propaganda
FYI, Our letter to NVADER, a religious group that rescues women from prostitution:
Dear Nvader Organisation
We came across the following advertisement for the movie “Nefarious – Merchant of Souls”:
“Did you know?
Governments estimate there are 27 million slaves being held worldwide – more than at any point in human history
(US State department, March 2012)And, that after drug trafficking, trafficking in humans ties with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today and the fastest growing
(Department of Health & Human Services, 2011 respectively)Even New Zealand, near the bottom of the Pacific has been described as “a source country for underage girls subjected to sex trafficking within the country” in a US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report.
The Basement Cinema is holding a private screening of ‘Nefarious – Merchant of Souls’ a powerful, honest & creative documentary that provides a broad insight into modern day slavery.
Screening Time: 7.30pm Tuesday 30th July.
Tickets $10. All proceeds to NVADER a NZ NGO involved with helping rescue & restore victims of trafficking.”We are concerned that this advertisement is deliberately dishonest in implying that human trafficking mainly or largely involves forcing women into prostitution when in fact the overwhelming majority of human trafficking internationally is of men for their labour. No doubt the movie commits the same dishonesty. We believe that behaving unethically is unlikely to lead to a more moral or ethical humanity.
The advertisement also quoted “Even New Zealand, near the bottom of the Pacific has been described as “a source country for underage girls subjected to sex trafficking within the country” in a US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report.” However, the same report made it clear that investigations into NZ “trafficking’ had all involved male workers on foreign registered fishing boats or in the horticultural and building industries. Cases of underage prostitutes were said to have been referred to social services. If there had been any evidence that some person had enslaved those young prostitutes or in any way forced them to begin or maintain the work, you can be sure the NZ authorities would have prosecuted that person. There has been almost no evidence of commercial sexual slavery in NZ but clearly some would like to create a false impression that there is. Certainly, underage female prostitutes are likely to have unfortunate backgrounds and may benefit from guidance to help them understand the law and the implications of their chosen way of making money. However, there will be as many or more young males working in dangerous occupations that they are not equipped to manage, and they will generally be paid a minimum wage or less, certainly much less than the female prostitutes typically earn. Young males are allowed to choose to take up dangerous, life-threatening, body-wrecking occupations and mlaes suffer almost 100% of workplace deaths and the vast majority of workplace serious injuries, yet when young women choose to seek much bigger money through selling sex this becomes the only problem of concern and it’s assumed they are being forced; anything to avoid holding them responsible for their choices.
Does your organisation rescue men from employment under coerced, exploitative or unsafe employment situations? Do you work to rescue men from economic hardship that leads them to undertake dangerous jobs? If so we would appreciate details of such work which is something we would support.
The Ministry of Men’s Affairs is a community group because successive NZ governments have failed to respect the voice, interests or welfare of men.
Yours faithfully
Chief Executive
Ministry of Men’s Affairs
Do you have sources for the claims about male trafficking victims?
Comment by yuiuhiuh — Fri 26th July 2013 @ 1:14 am
yuiuhiuh (#1): See http://ctip.defense.gov/
The UN ‘research’ gives figures (e.g. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html#What_is_the_most_commonly_identified_form_of_trafficking) suggesting that trafficking of women and children for sex is the most common form but acknowledges this is probably due to “statistical bias”; i.e. the UN research was only interested in measuring the abuse and exploitation of women and children and didn’t bother to investigate trafficking of men for labour. The UN has long discriminated against men in its ‘research’; e.g. its methodology for researching domestic violence was to use only women to interview only women, not to ask men at all about their victimization, and using ‘semi-structured interviews’ that allow maximum opportunity for suggestion, manipulation and creative interpretation of responses, then to come up with conclusions exaggerating the extent of violence towards women and suggesting women are the only victims deserving of concern. Unfortunately, this appalling, unscientific model for ‘research’ has been eagerly adopted by feminist groups in many other countries including NZ in order to continue the manufacture of propaganda.
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Fri 26th July 2013 @ 10:58 am
The skewed Statistic is commonly used by the Fems. Beware!
Femember, There are Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics!
Comment by Alastair — Mon 29th July 2013 @ 10:32 pm
FYI, response from NVADER:
Daniel Walker
Jul 29
Hi and thanks for your email to Nvader.
Clearly you have your own mandate and agenda to promote around the rights and welfare of men and we support you in this.
However our mission and specific focus is to effectively combat sex trafficking. The huge majority of victims are women and children and the overwhelming majority of clients and those driving the demand that fuels the global rape for profit industry are men. As opposed to slavery in general, UN figures state that the majority of trafficking victims are women and children and the advertising associated with this event is not misleading..
At the end of the day though I don’t think it is of any value to argue about statistics or semantics. We are both on the same page in that we both seek to fight for the rights of the vulnerable. My first ever case of sexual exploitation/trafficking was of young men and boys and this is something we are passionate about fighting too. We do not select our victims based on gender but upon available evidence that we can use to set them free and hold the perpetrators accountable.
I invite you to read my book God in a Brothel if you would like to find out more about Nvader and the background behind it. I also talk about ‘men’ not being the enemy in a chapter in the book.
Thanks again for your work on behalf of men.
Warm regards
Daniel
DANIEL WALKER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Tue 30th July 2013 @ 8:24 pm
And our reply:
Hi Daniel
Thanks for your reply. Sure, we support your work to the extent that it truly rescues people from enslavement and suffering.
It is important though that you ensure your beliefs and the sources they are based on are reliable and accurate. While it is true that UN figures claim the majority of those ‘trafficked’ are women and children for sex, the UN admits that this is probably due to ‘statistical bias’; i.e. the UN research was only interested in measuring the abuse and exploitation of women and children and didn’t bother to investigate trafficking of men for labour. See http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html#What_is_the_most_commonly_identified_form_of_trafficking where the probable statistical inaccuracy is acknowledged. (The UN has long discriminated against men in its ‘research’; e.g. its methodology for researching domestic violence was to use only women to interview only women, not to ask men at all about their victimization, and using ‘semi-structured interviews’ that allow maximum opportunity for suggestion, manipulation and creative interpretation of responses, then to come up with conclusions exaggerating the extent of violence towards women and suggesting women are the only victims deserving of concern. Unfortunately, this appalling, unscientific model for ‘research’ has been eagerly adopted by feminist groups in many other countries including NZ in order to continue the manufacture of propaganda.)
More reliable measurement of trafficking shows the majority of victims are men for their labour. See for example the US Dept of Defense report summarizing recent studies on trafficking, http://ctip.defense.gov/ .
I would urge you to retain a commitment to honesty and accuracy in your claims. By making some general comments about slavery and trafficking, no mention whatsoever that the most frequent victims or even any victims are men for their labour but then discussing trafficking only in relation to females and children for sex, your advertisement implied that all trafficking was of women and children for sex. Although I haven’t seen the film I would bet it does the same thing. Spreading such misinformation then causes people to imagine that only women and children are victimized. There is no need for you to spread misinformation by implication or otherwise, and doing so brings disrepute to your organisation. The Ministry of Men’s Affairs would support and respect your organisation and activities if you ensured that the information you are spreading takes care to educate people accurately about ‘trafficking’ and modern enslavement, even though your choice is to focus only on trying to help the female and child victims of it.
Kind regards
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Tue 30th July 2013 @ 8:50 pm
Nice reply “Ministry of Men’s Affairs”
Comment by Kumar — Thu 8th August 2013 @ 3:19 pm
Why are you having a go at an organisation that is promoting awareness of women and children trafficked for sex (ie, they are raped) because they are not also promoting awareness about men trafficked for labour?
This organisation has chosen it’s niche and that is their right.
Comment by Tracka — Fri 30th August 2013 @ 1:36 am
Tracka (#7): Why are choosing not to read properly? If you had done so and had any interest in being honest and fair, you would not be asking your question. Our challenge was not against the work NVADER is doing but about the misinformation they are spreading, inaccurate statements that claimed ‘sex trafficking’ is the main or only type of human trafficking and implied men are not victims of it.
We stated “…we support your work to the extent that it truly rescues people from enslavement and suffering”. We respect the right of any group to decide on its own concerns and where to direct its efforts and resources, and we support efforts to protect sex workers and especially those enslaved and forced into such work. However, when any such group spreads misinformation to forward its cause and such misinformation models and encourages apathy for men, we will call them out. Especially when men are actually the most frequent victims of the problem that the group is commenting about.
There are other ethical considerations and gender issues about NVADER’s activities. To provide assistance for victims of human enslavement and trafficking except for such victims who are men, seems sexist. Would you consider it ok for a pharmaceutical company to make available a life-saving medicine only to men when women die more often from from the relevant disease and would benefit equally from that medicine? After all, you emphasize the right of a group to choose its niche, so why would you object to a business providing gender-exclusive help? But I’m sure you would object.
NVADER’s focus on the sex trade exclusively even though enslavement of men for labour is a bigger problem, suggests the moral basis of its activities is religious and against sexual liberalism more than rescuing people from enslavement or exploitation. I would be willing to bet that NVADER often targets brothels at which illegal immigrants are working with full consent to make more money than they could hope for in any other work or in their own countries. When the authorities raid their place of work, such illegal workers typically claim they were tricked or forced into it and one can expect NVADER will then ‘support’ and ‘counsel’ these ‘victims’ and notch up another ‘rescue’ or two.
Regardless, of course NVADER has the right to focus its concerns and resources as it chooses. But we have the right to comment and especially to challenge misinformation and propaganda that obscures men’s suffering.
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Fri 30th August 2013 @ 10:47 am
Men shot for protesting wages:
[This got a scant few lines in New Zealand, and it gives the impression that it isn’t really news, however that is only in New Zealand.
International media gave this a lot more attention.
It is becomming increasingly noticable – particularly with recent changes in reporting in the British media – just how much feminist thinking affects our news streams.
That’s another story.]
Doing the work and then getting shot for asking for your wages, and that’s in a member state of the European Union.
Comment by Downunder — Sun 3rd August 2014 @ 9:02 am
Hi there. I couldn’t come across this page and not leave a comment so here it is…
Firstly, a little tip on marketing: If you’re running a group that is trying to raise awareness and promote the value of men and masculinity, then the absolute LAST thing you want to do is put on your website anything that in any way implies you might be criticising an organisation that is committed to rescuing women and children (both male and female) from sexual slavery and multiple daily rapings by men.
I understand your point about being careful about the use of statistics relating to human trafficking, but I don’t see why you should be upset that an organisation is focusing on one aspect of human trafficking and not all of it. It is hardly sexist for them to focus on sex trafficking just because it mainly affects women and children. This is the area they are experts at and have the skills to get effective interventions and prosecutions. They would be risking their lives to dabble in areas they are not adequately trained in, just to avoid being criticised by organisations such as yours.
I could go on and on but what I find most offensive is the second last paragraph of your reply to Tracka where you said:
“NVADER’s focus on the sex trade exclusively even though enslavement of men for labour is a bigger problem, suggests the moral basis of its activities is religious and against sexual liberalism more than rescuing people from enslavement or exploitation.”
WOW! You’re suggesting Nvader is fighting sexual liberalisation. They are rescuing women and children, some under the age of 5, from lives of absolute misery where they are beaten and raped repeatedly every day. You call that abuse sexual liberalisation?
Please, read Daniel Walker’s book that he suggested you read if you wanted to know what they do. Until then, shut up.
Comment by Tony — Thu 7th August 2014 @ 7:04 am
Sorry, correction to my post before you give me a hard time for it: I should have said “sexual liberalism” not “sexual liberalisation”.
Comment by Tony — Thu 7th August 2014 @ 7:06 am
I’d like to apologise for the last sentence of my above post. That was unnecessary and coarse. I think I let my emotion show a tad much so sorry for any offense caused. And I guess it kind of contradicted the underlying thrust of what I was trying to say which is that we’re all on the same side here so we really should all be supporting any work being done to further the cause of ending human trafficking and slavery of all forms.
Comment by Tony — Thu 7th August 2014 @ 7:40 am
Alright, alright then, don’t get your briefs in a knot boys. Instead of harassing charity organisations and wasting precious time researching statistical “errors,” why don’t you get out from behind your computer screens and do something about the many men in slavery? Might be an idea yeah?
Comment by kayla — Mon 10th November 2014 @ 10:19 pm
Thanks for that, Kayla. Tony made an unfortunate commence over three months ago – and promptly apologised;
But so good to have a discerning woman (I presume) come in here and put the boot in three months later.
Comment by OMG! You're (*&^%$&^*! — Tue 11th November 2014 @ 4:11 pm
Yeah, thanks for the patronizing comments kayla. To both kayla and Tony we say read and understand what has been written. Again, to the extent that Nvader does rescue people who are genuinely being enslaved and/or abused, good on them. Our criticism was of the extent to which Nvader is adding to feminist propaganda by implying that human trafficking is all about women and children. The feminist fashion of ignoring the abuse and exploitation of males is taken to another level by Nvader when it quotes overall trafficking figures and suggests they are all women and children.
kayla, we are doing something about male trafficking for labour by speaking up about the real situation, largely to counteract the false picture created by groups such as Nvader. Should we ever develop a more hands-on intervention you can rest assured that we won’t try to gain public support through misrepresentation.
Tony, you have taken one sentence out of context and misrepresented its meaning. In no way did we say that we object to the rescue of young children from sexual abuse. Our posts and comments all made it clear that we applaud real rescuing of true slaves. Unfortunately, groups like Nvader often ‘rescue’ prostitutes who are working without work permits in Western countries who then claim (or go along with assumptions ) that they were doing it under force, but there is seldom any evidence of this or prosecutions. We object to the exaggeration and misrepresentation of the truth, at the expense both of men’s reputation as a group and their victimization.
To suggest that New Zealand somehow contributes significantly to sexual trafficking and enslavement is simply mischievous. Where is the evidence? Any such activity would be investigated by police, prosecuted and punished severely in this country.
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Tue 11th November 2014 @ 5:36 pm