walrusbear said:
this isn't about the benefit of males
it's about the issues for women
i don't see how assisting women deprives men. since there is already an imbalance...
I'm not going to touch the issue of whether women or men are more or less disadvantaged in society. But I am going to illustrate ways in which men Do face disadvantage in society. I'm rehashing some of my past research, but I think it's important that we recognise the facts.
Spending on women's health has never been higher. There is plenty of awareness on issues such as breast and cervical cancer, as well as mental health issues such as stress. Among most women I've spoken to at USYD, the biggest attraction of the Union's Women's Space is that it is a relaxing space where they can hang out, have free tea and coffee, and relax from the stresses of university life. Unfortunately, these issues affect men in the same way.
Testicular cancer, for example, is most common around men under the age of 30, and ranks as one of the biggest killers of young men. Yet our SRC does not hold, much less distribute information on how to avoid testicular cancer.
In terms of mental health, perhaps the most revealing statistic is that of suicide. Among all age groups, males are not only more likely to attempt it, they are far more successful in doing so. I'm not sure of the exact statistic, but if my memory serves me right, males commit around 70-80% of suicides, with the majority fitting squarely in the age groups dominating our university.
Or what about the simple fact that men live shorter lives than women? Surely if we have more power and privilege, we would be living longer.
Our prisons are dominated by men. And these men are on average serving much longer sentences than women - often for the same crimes.
Men are branded for crimes that feminists have told our society that we are all guilty of. When we think of terms like "rapist", "sexual harasser", we don't think of women. One reputable source described "domestic violence" as the "emotional, as well as sexual or physical abuse of
women in their homes by partners". This gender distinction is especially disturbing when we consider the research of Dr. Martin Fiebert, and his bibliography of over 150 scholarly investigations and 110000 respondents proving that women are in fact MORE likely to commit acts of domestic violence against their partners or children. So much for the assertion that 98% of domestic violence is committed by the male in the family (from an Actual National Union of Students policy statement).
This dangerous stereotype has legal ramifications too. There is a very real bias against men in our court system, especially the Family Court - in which over 94% of custody hearings are found in favour of the mother.
Men dominate the top 3% of the workforce, and on average they earn more money. But men work MUCH longer hours (to fulfill society's expectation that they act as Breadwinner) and they dominate the bottom 30% of the workforce. In addition, men make up the overwhelming majority of the unemployed. When you go to your local Centrelink, are you surrounded by women? Is gender imbalance truly as big a problem as some say it is, when we consider that gender imbalance doesn't just exist in industries like IT and Law, but also in industries such as waste disposal, long haul transport, emergency electrical repair, explosive demolitions, asbestos removal? How many women do we know who earn their keep removing asbestos?
Of course, this is a good opportunity to rehash one of my favourite Andrea Dworkin quotes - 'I want to see a man beaten to a bloody pulp with a high-heel shoved in his mouth, like an apple in the mouth of a pig.'
