The Men’s Hour Programme Mar 2002
(Transcript)
Barry Worrall of the UK Men's Movement about the destruction of marriage
Rape trials
Events in London on Tuesday March 19th
Women's History Month
The transcript - website addresses further down the page
Introduction
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On the Men’s Hour, we have news of an event in London on Tuesday 19th of
March, Barry Worrall on the destruction of marriage and items on rape trials
and women’s history month.
Barry Worrall of the UK Men's Movement about the
destruction of marriage
TO BE ADDED
Rape trials
An article in the Edinburgh News by Brian Monteith calls for legal balance
in rape trials. The Scottish parliament has recently passed a bill that
alleged rape victims will not be personally cross-examined by the alleged
rapist. Brian supports this, but laments the lack of support for the idea
of anonymity for alleged rapists. There have been a number of cases of men
committing suicide after being falsely accused. Others who are falsely accused
have their lives completely ruined even when they are later cleared. Brian
Monteith suggests one reason why women would make false accusations. The
Criminal Injuries Board pays £11000, about $16000, to a rape victim,
and it doesn’t matter too much if she gets found out when making a false
allegation. John McLaughlin committed suicide after being accused of rape.
A few months later his alleged victim admitted making it up. Her punishment
– a whole 100 hours of “community service”. – a few hours out of her personal
time for what almost amounts to murder. The address for this article is
on the website.
There is also another article from the same newspaper. This says that
the previous convictions of the alleged rapists may be brought up in court,
particularly if the alleged victim’s integrity is attacked. This seems to
suggest that anyone who has been convicted for rape, and in some cases that
may be falsely convicted, would then fall into the category of ‘likely lad’.
In effect, guilty until proved innocent. If the uncorroborated word of
a woman is accepted for the first conviction, then when he gets out of prison,
this named man is a target for any unscrupulous woman who has got it in for
men and wants the £11000, $16000, compensation. All she has to do
is make up a plausible story, and then his conviction will be read out in
court and he’s back in jail and she’s richer. What jury would believe he
had not done it?
I would add that this might also suggest that there may be too many women
are coming forward with allegations of rape. It may be possible that anonymity
for the alleged victim along with little or no punishment for a false allegation
and money for a successful allegation is actually counter-productive to the
claimed real purpose, which is getting the rapists. If you have no morals
about lying in court, why it’s almost like playing the lottery, there’s very
little to lose and a lot to gain, and you’re free to play again later. Those
women who have genuinely been raped may be put off by the stream of stories
about false allegations. The only solution is to tackle the issue of the
false allegations, not to pretend they don’t exist.
There is one other area where these feminist calls for justice for rape
victims completely ignore. That is male victims. An Australian site about
rape has a section on male rape. There’s quite a lot of news and information
there. In particular under the heading of myths versus reality, it seeks
to rectify a number of myths. Men can’t be sexually assaulted, only gay men
are attacked and only gay men attack are all challenged, as is the idea that
women can’t do it to men, as well as the idea if the victim involuntarily
responds in any way that the victim really wanted it. It also has a section
on male rape on the news. The only thing that concerns me about this site
is that in covering both men and women victims it has links to both men’s
and women’s organisations. This includes the American National Organisation
of Women. A number of women’s organisations listed deny there is any such
thing as false accusations or that male victims matter. The V-Day organisation
is one that thinks only in terms of women victims of men. There’s a link
to a map of 800 V-Day events around the world. This map looks to me like
a map of the cancer of feminism around the world. One other aspect of rape
that the V-Day people overlook is a group of women who are victims but who
don’t fit in the feminist’s scheme of manhating.
If rape is defined in a non-sexist, non-feminist way, it would presumably
be defined as a non-consensual sex act by one person upon another. We know
of male on female rapes, male on male rapes and female on males. The remaining
sexual combination, female on female, is somehow disregarded. All the other
combinations include a penis. It seems to me that a full non-consensual lesbian
sex act could and should be defined as rape, as opposed to a sexual assault.
Unfortunately this doesn’t fit well with the feminists, especially ones
like the V-Day ones who like to think that excluding men, excludes rapes.
In any case they would have to look at themselves as less than perfect and
capable of being bad, not unlike men in some ways, and that wouldn’t do, would
it?
Events
Now details on an event. The Equal Parenting Coalition invite you to gather
in LONDON for a day of peaceful but vocal demonstration and solidarity outside
The Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand on Tuesday 19th March 2002 from 09:30
onwards for the occasion of Kip Miller's Appeal Hearing at The Principal Registry
of the Family Division. Please note that appeal hearings take place in "open"
Court so maximum numbers requested for greatest effect ! Also, on the same
date, please don't forget the EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING of FAMILIES NEED
FATHERS at The Regency Room, Thistle Hotel, Charing Cross Strand, London,
WC2 (above Charing Cross Station)
at 8:00 pm
For details see www.equalparenting.org and www.fnf.org.uk or phone Matthew
Mudge.
Women's History Month
Well, it’s women’s history month. Microsoft Encarta, the encyclopaedia,
feel that’s important enough to merit some pages on their website. One
woman on the site, Martha Brockenbrough, says, “What is so special about
women's history? And when is men's history month?" She adds that the smarty-pants
answer to that is that every month is men's history month, but this is not
a satisfactory answer and women’s history deserves more. She is trying
to be fair, but doesn’t really have an answer to the questions. More of
her later. The women’s history pages include all sorts of artists, scientists,
military and political women, many of them from the time when women where
supposedly oppressed. The Trung sisters led a Vietnamese rebellion against
the Chinese in AD 39. Catherine the Great waged two great wars against the
Ottoman Empire in 1768 and 1787 each lasting over five years and extended
Russia to the shores of the Black Sea. They mention a number of famous and
important women and Hilary Clinton.
They talk also about women’s suffrage. They get full marks for mentioning
that in the early history of the United States women from families that
owned property could sometimes vote. By implication, since most men did
not own property, most men could not vote, while some women could. They
also talk about the British Suffrage movement. The suffragettes using bombs
is mentioned in passing. The two laws that gave women the vote in Britain
in 1918 and 1928 are mentioned. They talk about women getting the right
to vote in 1918 and getting it made equal to men’s rights in 1928. The fact
that the majority of men couldn’t vote until 1918 seems to have been lost.
Indeed I defy to search the Encarta encyclopaedia for anything about male
suffrage. I think you’ll find very little about men getting the vote anywhere.
Now back to Martha Brockenbrough. She says that in the name of equality--and
the right of women to be just as wicked as men—she presents the stories
of 13 women, 8 good and 5 bad. The right to be just as wicked as men?
How come we never hear about that and Catherine the Great, when we argue
about domestic violence or sexual assault by women against men? The right
to be just as wicked as men? Does that mean the rights to be as wicked as
me? Why, only the other day I overstayed at a parking meter for more than
hour and got away with it. Anyway, her five bad women are Mary Reade and
Anne Bonney (two women pirates who escaped being hung by claiming pregnancy
and then absconded), Mary Mallon (typhoid Mary who knowingly handled food
even though her food gave people typhoid), Ilse Koch (the Nazi concentration
camp guard who made lampshades out of human skin) and Countess Nadasdy.
Countess Nasdasdy is also known as Elizabeth Bathory and lived in the late
1500s. She is credited with the most individual murders in the history of
the human race. Some put her total at 650, although this of course is disputed,
after all who would believe a woman could murder so many. Even the most
conservative estimate puts her total at several times the combined total
of Jack the Ripper, The Boston Strangler and the Yorkshire Ripper. You may
think you have never heard of her, but you have. Her castle was in a part
of Hungary that was immortalised in a fictional work. Her castle was in
Transylvania. She in fact is said to be the legend that inspired Brad Stoker’s
Dracula. You’ll notice however that the sex of the villain was changed.
One man, apparently a distant relative, is hoping to write an opera about
her. He says “I don't glorify her. However, I do find her among the most
ambiguous and complex individuals imaginable: a mother, a Countess, a brilliant
woman, a wife, polyglot, perhaps bisexual, Pagan, Christian, Muslim as the
occasion demanded, political, beautiful, shrewd, ruthless, engaging -- and
the murderer of hundreds by her own hand.”. Apparently he doesn’t have enough
money to finish the opera. Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.
Anyway, that’s just a hint at what’s on the Encarta website about women’s
history month. Apparently when it suits women they can find all sorts of
famous and infamous women, perhaps less than men, but still there. Somehow
we still hear how oppressed they were and how good they are so they can’t
commit anything like violence or lie about men committing violence. Personally,
I’m still waiting for men’s history month.
End
That concludes the Men’s Hour. You can write to us at [email protected].
We are always on the lookout for news of events and stories. If you think
you have a story drop us a line. The Men’s Hour is sponsored by cyberManbooks.com,
the world’s first men’s publishers, bringing you ebooks, fact and fiction,
written by men and women, that is by, about or relates to men. cyberManbooks.com
has men’s movement books and links including some items that are free, and
is on the lookout for additional material. If you have a story or book idea,
let us know. The Men’s Hour is copyright 2002.
Websites
The Cheltenham Group
UK Men's Movement
BRIAN MONTEITH:
Rape case trials need legal balance
Record clause
sparks rape law fears
Male Rape
Myth Vs. Reality
Male Rape:
In the News
V-Day is Spreading eVerywhere
www.equalparenting.org
www.fnf.org.uk
Matthew Mudge
Microsoft Encarta- Women's History
Month
Eight Great Women,
Five Awful One
Woman Suffrage
www.cyberManbooks.com
Email
[email protected]
[email protected]
