‘Sexist’ image on White Ribbon Day site causes outrage

An image on the White Ribbon Facebook page depicting a woman’s face peppered with bullet holes and the caption “Killing her softly with his words” aroused a stormy online debate about discrimination against men.

Critics accused the White Ribbon Campaign of ignoring male victims of violence and of addressing only half the problem.  They claimed that when it came to verbal and emotional violence women were as guilty as men.  White Ribbon organisers and supporters denied that the Campaign was sexist against men and suggested the critics start their own campaign on behalf of male victims.  White Ribbon Day then deleted all comments challenging their position and retained only supporters’ comments, and made a post claiming their site had "come under attack" and accusing its critics of making "hateful rants".

Kerry Bevin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Men’s Affairs, a men’s support NGO, accused campaign organizers of stifling debate and refusing to be accountable for how they spend taxpayer money.

“White Ribbon Day is coordinated by the Families Commission, an autonomous crown entity. It is unacceptable that the government should be funding a campaign against family violence that ignores a large proportion of violence victims, effectively telling them they don't matter."

“And we all know the government would never fund a campaign that only targeted (say) 'violence by Maori'. Why then should it be acceptable to fund a campaign that only blames men?"

Bevin noted that there had been a flurry of inflammatory outbursts by White Ribbon Day against men's support organisations in recent days, suggesting the group was running scared.

“And who can blame them? There are thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars being spent on this misinformation.  Maybe it’s time the Minister cancelled the funding for this campaign", Bevin concluded. 

ENDS

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