The poster proclaimed that:
It was the prejudicial language that offended me first. It caught my
eye in a family centre on the edge of a government housing estate. I was
there to attend a Parental Focus Group Meeting to provide feedback on how these
people were helping (or not helping).
I was there under protest.
I had no particular interest in being near this women only stronghold.
They call it a family centre but in actual fact it is simply an expensive
women-with-children centre.
I said very little on my first few monthly visits but at last I felt that
something had to be done. There was something inherently wrong - man
bashing wrong - about that poster. It struck a chord and alarm bells rang.
I am aware that most men would not have stayed so long as to identify what
bothered them before leaving and never coming back, claiming "I felt too uncomfortable",
or "it's not my scene" and possibly quoting a general distaste for
"mothers meetings". The irony is that the staff are genuinely
confused as to why no men ever turn up, it is after all a community centre.
I returned to the poster and took notes. It claimed to get its shocking
statistic for the UK home office. There could be "no higher
authority" on the number of people effected by crime.
The poster claimed to use 1995 statistics.
I visited the home office website. I found the 1993 statistics and had
a look. The poster could not be further from the truth. less than 1
in 200 women suffering from domestic violence I guess was not sufficiently
shocking and you couldn't attack men in much the same way. I also
discovered a few other things. The home office has never published its
statistics as such figures as 1 in 4 (bookmakers odds) but as the number out of
all the people interviewed.
This means that this women's poster quotes processed statistics on the
subject of living in fear (non-specified criteria) while the home office
publishes statistics in the raw state with specified criteria.
The posters statistics are worse than untrue, they are deceptive and
meaningless quoting out of date sources.
Confident that I had gathered everything I needed I look forward to the next
Focus Group. I waited through some dull as ditchwater topics ready to say
my peace and make a change for truth, justice and human rights.
I did at last get my chance and speak up I did. I gently made my points
and asked to have my offence at the poster officially recorded. This went
down well. Next I set into the content. I made a point of saying how
the issue was important and I agreed with the need to raise awareness. I thought
I had covered my bases and began to unfold the debunking facts. The statistics
were unreliable. The source was out of date. The year was the worst
for crime on record. The real figures were tiny and the poster used prejudicial
language.
The official response was simple. It didn't matter that the figures
were out of date because the important fact was that it was raising
awareness.
The poster was to stay; man bashing sentiments and all.
They did however agree to put up another poster high-lighting that the most
at risk group was in fact men aged 18 to 21.
It was a small and hollow victory.
It would seem that women are magical and mystical and it is ok for their
support groups to tell lies as long as it raised awareness.
Perhaps these buildings should come with a warning;
1 in 1 men
live in fear
Too many women know why
Who says the truth will make you free?
This would translate as: 7,473,375 women in fear.
UK Population: 59,787,000
1:4 gives us 7,473,375 suffering domestic violence.
03/04 incidents of domestic violence was 501,000 even if we double this for 1995 crime wave we get 1,002,000 victims both male and female so how does they get 7.5 Million women in fear when the home office shows 1 Million at an imaginative push?
2,781,000 Violent crimes in 03/04 double to give benifit of the doubt to 1995 figures we get 5,562,000 total victims that is still only 5.5 Million including all forms of violence to both genders - where do they get 7.5 Million?
With a fall of just 35% from 1995 to 2003 doubleing the figures should have easily accounted for any unreported crimes.
Violent crime has fallen by 35% since its peak in 1995, and has remained relatively stable since 2000.
(http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/output/Page63.asp)