Men Stopping Rape, 1996.
Violence
Marc Dubin responds to a series of articles addressing the alleged failure to recognize men as victims of intimate violence.
Australians this week have grieved over the death of cricketer David Hookes, assaulted outside a Melbourne pub. This tragedy should bring into relief the fact that violent assaults occur outside pubs and clubs around Australia every weekend. As long as a culture of aggression and male honour persists, violence will continue to happen, and men (and women) will be injured and killed.
Michael Flood presents an overview of key insights in feminist scholarship regarding violence against women.
"Why didn't she go to the police?" It's one of the most commonly asked questions about sexual assault, and on the surface, it makes sense. Fewer than five percent of college women who are raped ever report it to the policeIf someone truly feels like a victim of crime, shouldn't they report it? And really, how will we ever stop rape if women refuse to go to the police?
It's the question that comes up at almost every rape awareness presentation I've ever done. It's almost always a man who asks, though I've had women ask as well: "What about when a girl lies about rape to get back at a man?"
There has been much talk at this conference about the need for men to love each other and be willing to speak openly about that love. That is important; we need to be able to get beyond the all-too-common male tendency to mute or deform our emotions. But it’s also crucial to remember that loving one another means challenging ourselves as well. That’s what I would like to do today, to challenge us -- in harsh language -- on men’s use of pornography. In an unjust world, those of us with privilege must be harsh on ourselves, out of love.
Pornography and prostitution are overwhelmingly not 'choices.' They are vast, exploitative, patriarchal-capitalist industries, largely violent, very lucrative, controlled by women-hating men, and destructive of the women (and children) who are victimized by them.
A gender lens helps us to make sense of acts of terrorism by men, both domestic and international.
A sexist, violent culture exists in some sports, writes Michael Flood.
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 2004