In Australia today, very little is written by men opposing feminism, the gender agenda and the “end of men.” Even in the “Freedom Movement” many of the major players are female, and the issues associated with the implosion of masculinity, are not their concern. They may, indeed, support some aspects of the agenda, in an unthinking way.
Hence it is good that manhood has one interesting advocate, Bettina Arndt, whose article, first in a planned series of articles, seeks to restore balance and rationality. A recent piece “Always Beating Up on Men,” (The Weekend Australia, August 20–21, 2016, p. 17), points out that “domestic violence groups have built an industry on skewed figures.” She quotes Swedish politician Eva Solberg, who last year lashed out at the ideology that it is men, misogynist men, who are the cause of domestic violence. The Partner Abuse State of Knowledge Project database indicated that at least half of domestic violence is carried out by women.
The domestic violence television campaign in Australia cost $30 million, and was based on the “tired gender analysis” that domestic violence arises from disrespect for women. This ignores the inconvenient truth that domestic violence against fathers, or stepfathers, by mothers or stepmothers, is about the same level. And ABS statistics show that violence against women in the general population has actually decreased over the last 20 years. That, however, does not include various “hotspots” of domestic violence, such as in outback indigenous communities, a tragic issue that is too racially charged for the chattering class to address or even discuss.
See: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/domestic-and-family-violence.
The moral panic about an epidemic of domestic violence is part of the cultural wars, and the “domestic violence industry” has now become, as Arndt puts it, a “huge cash cow,” or at least supported by such a staggering cow.
Bettina Arndt homepage: http://www.bettinaarndt.com.au/