If you’d like email notifications of our new blog pieces, please enter your email address in the box near the top of the right-hand column and click ‘Subscribe’.
We shall shortly be posting this piece on our X channel.
Our YouTube channel is here.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Justice for Men & Boys 
A note on VAWA in the US: In the UK the equivalent is the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. It is a Government strategy that has been endorsed and developed by each Government since the Blair Labour gov. It is of course the one that counts male victims as if they were women or girls. It directs the work of all Government departments. In a sense it should be easier to get rid of or change because it is not Law and doesn’t require Parliament to repeal it. However it also makes it very powerful because it guides the work of Government and is not subject to the scrutiny of Parliament in the same way as legislation. Government Strategies or “Guidance” need not even be lawful and often it isn’t, though this has to be shown by Judicial Review or cases taken to Tribunals or civil cases against Gov. A Government dropping the VAW&G strategy would stop a huge range of discrimination against men. From Legal aid for women merely accusing estranged spouses of Domestic Abuse to funding for research that only includes female victims to differential sentencing for crime to “consent” training in relationship education in schools and on and on. Doing this one thing would have a massive effect on billions in funding and direct discrimination against men and boys. So much is linked to VAW&G.
A note on male spaces . Though people seem not to know this there is nothing in law that prevents any “private” body from being single sex. The Cubs and Scouts decided to end their single sex status. As have many Clubs. But they simply bowed to pressure. For instance there remains the “Boys Brigade” and “Girls Brigade”. This particular thing really requires the men in charge to stick to their guns. Though if they take public money they may get threatened (through the VAW&G strategy) by having funds withdrawn.
Routine non medically required Circumcision is really not a thing here except for Cultural/Religious reasons. The authorities go to great lengths to avoid testing this in Law. The two statutes against FGM have produced 5 prosecutions in 30 years with 3 being “successful”. So it is either not actually a problem here or no one looks very hard to find it. The NHS does keep data on suspected FGM which suggests that actually no one is looking hard to find and prosecute.
The real “Gaps” in health are well documented and these are far more than just sex specific conditions. Almost every disease you care to name you will find males are diagnosed less frequently, later and have worse prognoses. The excuse for not improving access to health care for men is usually that its just men’s fault. Years ago David Cameron told the NHS to increase GP surgery opening in the evenings and weekends specifically to address one simple problem for men, attending health appointments in the working day! Needless to say the reverse actually happened (I worked in the NHS at the time and in that year the practices in my area offering some evenings and Saturday appointments went from 5 to 3!)
As are the “Gaps”. What a shame Mary Curnock-Cook retired from UCAS when she did because she was a strong voice of concern in this widening gap. Again her successor has busily tried to obscure this gap, one has to hunt through the data now. But it remains.
The accuracy and simplicity in DNA testing these days means it can be done with any “invasive” procedure. It should become the norm.
Generally in the UK a Political Party would actually have to do almost nothing Legislative to make a vast difference to men and boys in the UK. Most of the discriminatory stuff is in fact in Departmental Strategies and Guidance. Even the Equality Act “Equality Duty” for publicly funded bodies should be good for men because as written it requires reports on differences by “sex” . Whereas in fact it is interpreted as “women” and so the data on male disadvantages is either ignored or not collected (often because research funding is linked to VAW&G Strategy goals). Simply reading Guidance and Strategies and telling Civil servants to change them would enact a revolution.
LikeLike
Some interesting data about the suicide gender gap. Changes in Washington’s Suicide Gender Gap 1960 to 2020
LikeLike