By Belinda Brown: One day, I hope, feminism, which has been described by Erin Pizzey as “The most fraudulent movement the world has ever seen”, will be relegated to the annals of history. The second International Conference on Men’s Issues, held a few weeks ago in London, will be regarded as one of the significant events which helped to bring this about.The three days of the conference were richly packed with information, knowledge sharing, insights and ideas: the untold damage of male circumcision, the impact of pornography on the male brain (Martin Daubney), the subversion of due process (Martin Evison), the unequal treatment of women and men in prison, strategies for educating younger generations about men’s issues (Josh O’Brien), how we build up the Men’s Movement (Anil Kumar). These were just some of the issues covered which I hope, in the coming weeks, to be able to touch upon here. Also to the delight of many there was nearly a full deck of American Honey Badgers with Janet Bloomfield, Janice Fiamengo and Karen Straughan. Seeing men (and women) coming together to address issues affecting men, is significant because, as Pizzey explained, while men will die for their country, their families or their children they don’t come together to fight for themselves. I would argue that this is still true.
By Kathy Gyngell: OMG! I do not normally utter these words – believe me I am uttering them in some distress. I am truly appalled that Saatchi and Saatchi chairman Kevin Roberts has been pressured into resigning following his gender ‘faux pas'. Who cares you might ask about a well off, successful man hitting retirement a few years early? I do and so should you. He should not have resigned. He should have faced down his boss, the oppressive Publicis Group that owns S&S, who deemed his comment that ‘the gender diversity debate in advertising is over’ to be unacceptable. Unacceptable maybe to the feminists who now seem to control public discourse but not to anyone concerned about freedom of speech or thought oppression. So shame on Kate Stanners, global chief creative officer at Saatchi and Saatchi, who yesterday on the Today programme said that Mr Roberts's comments had upset a "huge" number of employees. Tough, Justin Webb, should have replied, and how stupid these women are to be upset, if they are, they don’t deserve to be directors. He did not and Roberts stood condemned for speaking the truth. “Women do want the top jobs”, Stanners asserted incorrectly. Sorry, most don’t. She is wrong and the man she was trying to shame is right. His ‘error’ was to admit he spent no time on such gender issues at his agencies at all and why should he when 65 per cent of Saatchi’s staff is female?
Raging Golden Eagle: Don't blame men for walking away from relationships in greater and greater numbers, blame the environment that is getting more and more hostile towards us, ironically as more men are proven innocent and victims of false accusations. We are living in a society where even having walked near a woman months ago can come back to ruin our lives, how do you expect guys to react when they see this?
By Tim Patten: A recent episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher featured an interview with Rebecca Traister, feminist and author of All the Single Ladies, who sang praises for the book’s themes of the rise of independent women and gender equality. Among other things, she noted that more than 50 million unmarried women are now working, escaping male oppression. That total has been rising fast, with females now representing about half of the U.S. labor force. Indeed, the progress seen so far has inspired the National Organization for Women (NOW) to lessen its emphasis on workplace equality and focus instead on helping females to “appreciate their bodies.” One fact that Ms. Traister failed to mention, however, was that this evolving landscape has also liberated us men from the deeply ingrained and longstanding belief that women should have unfettered access to our wallets, resources, capabilities, and vitality. While she and others with a narrow-minded lens focus almost exclusively on how women are benefitting from gender equality, we men have been liberated, empowered and enabled to express our masculinity more freely and become unshackled from traditional marital penitentiaries and financial oppression. Masculinity Unchained For the first time in our history, perhaps, a large and growing number of us men can pull our shoulders back, thrust chests out, stand tall and inhale deep, satisfying breaths of fresh air.
The most important goal for any organisation shouldn't be it's output or efficiency - it should be ensuring an equal amount of penises and vaginas amongst their staff. - Because its penises and vaginas (in equal numbers) that make an organisation truly successful.
Peter Lloyd AKA The Suffragent: Peter Lloyd and Dawn Foster debate the 'controversy' surrounding Saatchi & Saatchi boss Kevin Roberts, who was dismissed for speaking the truth on gender in the workplace.
The three days of the conference were richly packed with information, knowledge sharing, insights and ideas: the untold damage of male circumcision, the impact of pornography on the male brain (Martin Daubney), the subversion of due process (Martin Evison), the unequal treatment of women and men in prison, strategies for educating younger generations about men’s issues (Josh O’Brien), how we build up the Men’s Movement (Anil Kumar). These were just some of the issues covered which I hope, in the coming weeks, to be able to touch upon here.
The three days of the conference were richly packed with information, knowledge sharing, insights and ideas: the untold damage of male circumcision, the impact of pornography on the male brain (Martin Daubney), the subversion of due process (Martin Evison), the unequal treatment of women and men in prison, strategies for educating younger generations about men’s issues (Josh O’Brien), how we build up the Men’s Movement (Anil Kumar). These were just some of the issues covered which I hope, in the coming weeks, to be able to touch upon here.
