Ms Ricky Hunter is offering workshops for those working in the domestic violence industry. Her attached flyer starts out describing domestic violence and her workshop in gender neutral terms but goes on to
describe the “major workshop topics” as follows:

Intimate partner abuse/ intimate partner sexual violence”¦ what’s the difference?
Long term health outcomes for women who suffer domestic violence
Harmful traditional practices that affect women
Let’s get real about violence and abuse in Australia and globally
Learn how to be to be less judgmental with DV clients
Why doesn’t she just leave?
Labels of disempowerment verses empowering labels
Resistance, how, when and where?
Pregnancy coercion and sabotage, and its implications in violent relationships
Why don’t doctors ask and why don’t women tell?
Hindsight bias thinking and how it can affect the road to recovery
What is the answer to “The Big Why?’ Why me?
What is the established relationship between animal abuse and domestic abuse”¦ this knowledge can and does save lives
Unique challenges faced by rural battered women
Strategies to use to empower the women we work with

And her workshop goals include:

To assist delegates to intimately understand how a survivor feels, how we can nurture and companion her on her road to recovery

(more…)

MEDIA RELEASE
29 March 2011
Significant Support for Independent Watchdog for CYF
A poll has found significant support for an independent watchdog for Child Youth and Family (CYF), and Family First
NZ believes that politicians will know from anecdotal evidence that a watchdog is warranted.
In the poll of 1,000 people undertaken by Curia Market Research this month, respondents were asked “Do you think
the Government should establish an independent Complaints Authority similar to the Independent Police Complaints
Authority to hear complaints about Child Youth and Family (CYF) from families who feel they have been unfairly
treated by Child Youth and Family?”
65% said yes, 20% said no, and the remainder (14%) were either unsure or refused to answer. Interestingly, younger
respondents were most supportive of an independent complaints authority – possibly because they were either young
parents or potential parents. Male and female support was evenly split.
“Family First is being regularly contacted by families who claim to have been unfairly treated by CYF social workers –
yet they have no independent body to appeal to,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “Their
only option is a costly court process where CYF have an unlimited pool of resources to defend its actions, courtesy of
the taxpayer. This is grossly unfair when families are being ripped apart, often based on the subjective judgment of a
social worker.”
“Social workers should not feel threatened by this poll. An independent watchdog is in the best interests of social
workers as it will provide an independent body to ensure that appropriate policy and procedures have been followed.
This will result in public confidence in their important work and accountability for actions and decisions.”
“There is a Health and Disability Commissioner, a Police Complaints Authority, even a Motor Vehicle Disputes
Tribunal. We desperately need an independent body to hear complaints about the highly sensitive nature of
intervening in families,” says Mr McCoskrie.
“The Advisory Panel adopted by the Ministry of Social Development in 2008 is not well known due to minimal public
awareness, and has the inherent flaw of not being independent.”
Family First is calling on politicians, the majority who will have received anecdotal evidence of claims of unfair
treatment by CYF, to support the urgent establishment of an independent CYF Complaint Authority.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.2%
ENDS
For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:
Bob McCoskrie – NATIONAL DIRECTOR
Mob. 027 55 555 42

link

Not a week goes by without numerous examples of institutional sexism against men, misandrist beliefs expressed and/or demonstrated by powerful people and journalists, or chivalry and special treatment towards women. So what’s the problem? Should we complain? Some feminists, like Cate J who recently visited us with trickery and lies, genuinely believe that men have nothing to complain about because they are privileged compared to women. Other feminists acknowledge some unfairness but excuse this on the basis that “it’s men’s turn now to be disadvantaged”. Most feminists prefer to live in blissful denial of the social reality, believing that everything’s going in a good direction now that women’s wisdom is influential.

In my opinion equal opportunity and rights, equal treatment under the law and equal standards of interpersonal care are desirable aims. They were the demands of feminists in the past. They were the basis on which men agreed to massive social change. But now it seems those aims were fraudulent. Feminists now show zilch interest in addressing inequality when it advantages women. They ignore, ridicule, attack and/or destroy men who draw attention to gender inequalities. They screech for greater violence against men for behaving contrary to their preference, and laugh at the suffering of men damaged by the current regime.

So here’s a sample of this week’s evidence. It’s not much different from the evidence any other week, if only I could allow myself the time each week to expose it all from the perspective of aware men. (more…)

New Zealand Bravery Awards were announced yesterday, with media attention generally to individual stories behind the awards. What no journalist has thought worth mentioning, of course, is that 94% of those heroes were men. Two women out of 31 recipients received awards, both acting in conjunction with men. Thanks to our brave men! Here is a list of the award recipients, from Stuff (more…)

We have found a number of gaps in the community sector and we’ve got the opportunity to not only put these concerns forward, but put forward groups who can fill these areas to CYF and soon government for funding. We have been told if we can fill the gap (a number of groups) it will be implemented throughout NZ.

What we are looking for is groups/individuals able to work with fathers and their children. We would like to offer weeks where fathers are monitored + helped, + given confidence and SKIP is interested in funding this. We need fathers who have walked the walk as fathers to teach new fathers through workshops as role models – all expenses paid. We would love to have fathers who have been there/done that and can give a training.

If you can help in this area, we would love to hear from you and put your costs forward as well as camp plus, plus, plus costs.

[email protected]

We need parents to come forward for a TV interview in May when the budget comes out.

One group we need to go on TV is having an income over $100,000 and how IRD family support will affect them when it is ditched.

We want second families to come forward and we want them to show how child support plus no more family support will affect them.

Also needed is second families (you don’t need to both be in 2nd marriages/separation with children for this and above) to show how the new child support payments will affect you…. when they come out.

If you are willing to be on TV and share your story as well as encourage others to share theirs, we will definitely send you flowers, lol and support you as advocates.

[email protected]

You will never get a better opportunity for advocacy – flowers are nice.,lol.

Separating Parents Sentencing Their Children To Death

Quote #1: In an eight-decade study, parental divorce in childhood was the strongest predictor of early death in adulthood.

Quote #2: The early death of a parent had no measurable effect on children’s life spans or mortality risk, but the long-term health effects of broken families were often devastating. Parental divorce during childhood emerged as the single strongest predictor of early death in adulthood. The grown children of divorced parents died almost five years earlier, on average, than children from intact families. The causes of death ranged from accidents and violence to cancer, heart attack and stroke. Parental break-ups remain, the authors say, among the most traumatic and harmful events for children.
(more…)

Men Don’t Tell 1993 TV Film

Man repeatedly assaulted by his wife TV film – based on true story
The Other Face Of Domestic Violence

On March 14, 1993, CBS aired “Men Don’t Tell,” a TV movie about domestic violence starring Peter Strauss and Judith Light. The twist: Strauss’s character, construction executive Ed MacAffrey, was abused by his wife Laura, played by Light.

The movie is now available to watch on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_gLDF2dGLY.

Based on a true story, it dramatizes the story of a loving husband, who is terrorized by the violent behavior of his wife. (more…)

Study: NZ best Commonwealth country for girls

The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) study showed there was a greater level of gender equality in New Zealand than any other country in the Commonwealth – which has 54 member countries with a total population of nearly two billion.

New Zealand’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Judy McGregor, said the research results were “wonderful” news for the country but added there was still room for improvement. “We are leaders in gender equality but we can’t sit on our laurels,” Dr McGregor said.

UPDATE 17 March

This Report was discussed on Back Benches 16 March – Note the claim of one in three women being victims of domestic violence from Green MP, Sue Kedgley.

IN all the bullsh*t of international womens day, I found a woman who identified the real issues.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/08/3158400.htm

This outrageous story is based on one unqualified opinion. Helen LaKelly Hunt claims grants should be given to women and not men because ‘women look to fix the whole problem, while men tend to reinvest in other men’ which is quite bizarre given she got her privileged start in life from her oil tycoon father.
(more…)

Child abduction laws were originally proposed and introduced based on the ideology that fathers would take their children overseas in order to prevent courts separating them from their kids. The reality is that most international child abductors are mothers. This often causes embarrassment for courts who find themselves forced by international law to return children to daddy.

However not so in Japan.

Read about it here.

If you missed out on reading the February 2011 North & South article about my wife Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith, here are the scanned pages – re-published with permission from APC Media. North & South website
(more…)

More evidence of “Market Failure” in the Marriage Contract market-
From Wall Street Journal:
Where Have The Good Men Gone?
Kay S. Hymowitz argues that too many men in their 20s are living in a new kind of extended adolescence.
“nearly seven in 10 25-year-olds were married; by 2000, only one-third had reached that milestone”
See the full article at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146321725889448.html?mod=WSJ_hp_us_mostpop_read
Now that the “Social Agencies” are starting to admit that most of the child abuse, youth crime, and domestic abuse issues all stem from the breakdown of the institution of marriage, and women everywhere are asking “where are the men?”
The question that needs to be asked is “Why would any man want to commit his life to one woman, and comit to raise a family?”
Family life has become so unattractive to men, and made into a form of legal and financial suicide, that our western civilization needs to consider if it still has a future.

Interesting.

Today a new way forward is being announced requiring solo parents to seek work when the youngest child reaches three years of age. Goff reckons it is a dumb idea, – well because he is in Opposition, and that is his job. He says the costs of childcare will offset the benefits of working. Assuming, of course, there are jobs out there.

I don’t suppose this new legislation will provide a further incentive for solo mums to go find another sucker sperm out there, and make sure that they always have a child under three, and someone else to fund it? The sucker donor, or the sucker Welfare system.

Nah, that wouldn’t happen. Would it?

Yeah Right.

An Uncle of a niece has been protesting outside ‘Child, Youth & Family Services’ (CYFS) for years, trying to find a way to bring her back to the family. His sister had hooked up with a man who had a negative past and CYFS took her child from her. The man then told the extended family it would be in the family’s interest to stay away from the first ‘Family Group Conference’ (FGC) and so they didn’t attend. From that moment on, CYFS excluded the extended family and when they pushed to see their niece, grandchild, great grandchild etc, they were place on supervised access for 7 years. (more…)

At 4.45pm, February 4th 2011, a CYFS protester was held at gunpoint by police while on a mobile phone to another police officer. He was also on his landline [home phone] at the same time, to his lawyer over his case when the police phoned and asked, “Had he phoned the hospital?” (more…)

Scotland’s DIVORCED fathers falsely accused of abusing their children during custody hearings are demanding a change in the law.

Pressure group False Allegations Action’s spokesman, Eamonn Kelly said: “There are doting dads who have been falsely accused of the worst kind of abuse against their own children. It’s calculated to destroy a father’s relationship with their child forever and to wreck his personal life too”¦”¦ We’ve noticed that when the claims are proved to be groundless, there is no investigation. The police do nothing, the courts do nothing.” (more…)

Guys we need you to hammer every news site and discussion site you can. We need to influence public opinion and shout down the DPB bludgers.

Concerns over welfare reforms

As I have said before, the frequency with which we see anti-male sexism means there are almost always good current examples handy. Take the following stories that have appeared in the news over the last week or so:

The first story was raised on MENZ by Wayne (21/01/11). It deserves fuller analysis and to be compared with similar cases involving male offenders. It was about a 17yo woman who had sexual intercourse with a 12yo boy after plying him with alcohol. Features of the case and the news article included: (more…)

This news article was interesting. It was headlined ‘Police hunt sex pest’ and described a ‘half-naked’ man aged about 20 years offering to drive a female European tourist to show her Huka Falls. (Actually, he was dressed in shorts on a very hot day”¦) He drove her instead to a nearby dam further up the Waikato River and at some stage after they both left the car he made some sexual suggestion through gesturing. According to the article, she became angry and he ‘took fright’, drove off and left her there. A nearby worker noticed her there soon thereafter and alerted police.

Now perhaps this man’s intentions were unsavoury, his behaviour dishonourable, exploitative and irresponsible. Perhaps he is a rapist-in-waiting who couldn’t quite bring himself to proceed on this occasion. But we only have her version of events that might not be entirely truthful, and even that version didn’t warrant the extreme language or jumping to conclusions that he was dangerous, a ‘sex pest’, ‘she was lucky to escape unharmed’ etc. Equally, he may have found her attractive, hoped that she was interested in a bit of nooky with him, driven her to other nearby sights to extend their time together (he may have explained this but language difficulties caused some misunderstanding), then felt so perturbed and offended by her hostile reaction to his playful sexual suggestions that he sought a quick escape. He may have been concerned for his safety if he tried to drive her back to town, and/or concerned that her unreasonable hostility predicted she might make false allegations to police when they returned to town so he’d better make himself scarce. (We all know that any such allegations will ruin a man’s life regardless of their veracity, and that nothing is needed apart from allegations to prosecute and convict a man of sexual crimes.) She may have had her own personality problems leading her to make unwise choices in the first place and affecting her subsequent interpretations and responses. He may have been aware that the power station was close by and she would easily find a ride back to town. The fact is, we simply don’t know. All we are told is he drove her near to a dam and power station, indicated he was interested in sex and quickly left when she declined in an angry manner.

The fact that police and news media alike were so quick to jump to conclusions involving male-demonizing hyperbole won’t surprise anyone here, but what was surprising were the public comments in response to this article. Nearly all were scathing of it, many recognizing accurately that the man had not committed any offence, that simply asking a woman to have sex now saw a man treated like a rapist, and that real crime was being sidelined through this manhunt for a non-offender. Several people even recognized the broader issue of feminist misandry as relevant here. Check it out; this may represent significant progress in public attitude, a refreshing intolerance towards male-bashing.

I have a half share in the house with my ex-partner. I paid for half the house and I am on the title. I separated from her and suggested she could move out and I could stay in the house and pay her half of a fair market rent or vice versa. The alternative was to put the house on the market and in the meantime rent it out to a third party.

I was stupid enough, when we were still in the relationship, to suggest that I renovate the house, the whole house, which would increase its value. She was more than happy but refused to take any loan for renovation materials. I not only put in my labour but also took a $30K loan in my name, she promised to pay me half after we sell the house. There was another loan of $20K in my name.

I moved out two and a half years ago and my ex hasn’t paid me a penny and of course I cannot evict her or force her to pay as half of the house is hers so she doesn’t need to move out of this half. She has trespassed me from the property so I cannot use my share. (more…)

Read this and note the focus on poverty rather than on fatherless children. yet we know fatherless upbringing in the main indicator for poor outcomes for children.

stuff.co.nz

After years of facing accusations that she’s an apologist for paedophiles, Professor Felicity Goodyear-Smith finally comes to her own defence.

In an exclusive interview with North & South’s Donna Chisholm, the highly respected professor of general practice at the University of Auckland discusses why she continues to be a witness for the defence in child abuse cases.

In this regard, Goodyear-Smith stands alone, ostracised by former colleagues and thrown out of DSAC (Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care) – a group that once made her a life member.

Married to the son of Centrepoint guru Bert Potter who was convicted of child sex charges, she also spent five years as the commune’s GP.

A doctor with a compromised past who’s protecting the predators? Or a champion of the falsely accused? Decide after reading Goodyear-Smith’s story in the February edition of North & South.
(more…)

I am assembling a directory of commercial films, which contain issues that are presented well enough, to offer training and perhaps teach skills. I am asking for a few people to also watch these DVDs and to confirm that they do present these issues well enough, to be usefull to others. In some cases, they contain a mixture of useful and perhaps some inaccuracies, which need to be identified, so that they do not cause problems.

I am also helping a few people (myself among them), to make their experiences with separation available to younger people, who need to know how NZ actually works. This is aimed at helping people to negotiate their separations, at lowest cost, financially and relationship-wise.

Request for help:

People willing to put in a some time watching and discussing the DVDs, please call me on (09) 638 7275 or E MAIL murray_bacon @ clear . net.nz.

People willing to help with filming and paperwork, for peoples stories, please also phone me on (09) 6387275. In particular, people with WORD and POWERPOINT skills would be very helpful.

Thanks, MurrayBacon.