Local MP Lynne Featherstone last week joined Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as he signed Women’s Aid ‘Real Man’ pledge, backing a campaign fighting violence against women.
The Hornsey and Wood Green MP joined the Liberal Democrat leader in her role as International Champion on Violence against Women, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Women’s Aid is running a national campaign asking both men and women to help send out the message that ‘Real Men’ do not abuse and control women – physically, emotionally, sexually or financially. The campaign asks supporters to sign the ‘Real Man’ pledge, which is:
• A ‘Real Man’ doesn’t hit, abuse or control
• A ‘Real Man’ doesn’t hurt the ones he loves
• A ‘Real Man’ makes a difference
• I’m supporting the ‘Real Man’ Campaign for Women’s Aid, standing up to end violence against women and children.
Hornsey and Wood Green MP and Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said:
“I am happy to support the Woman’s Aid Real Man Campaign because tackling violence against women and girls is not a task for central Government alone. Men and women across society should feel able to speak out and challenge violent behaviour.
“But the Government also has a job to do, and by developing an ‘action plan’ to deliver practical steps we have helped reduce the risk to women and girls of being victims of these horrendous crimes. This has included the introduction of Domestic Violence Protection Orders to help keep abusive partners from being able to contact their victims.”
Lynne Featherstone 
The UK is meant to be a country of equality, ie: equal pay and equal rights.
We cannot described the UK as a country of equality when there is so much disrespect shown to various sectors of society.
How sexist can you get? Yet another campaign totally ignoring and therefore basically harming 40% of vicitms of domestic violence.
I find the whole “real man” language highly sexist and the campaign is dishonest anyway. A real man doesn’t attack anyone – male or female. Nor does a real woman. Why the special treatment for women and the attempt to shame men? And why infantalise women by lumping them in with children – most decent women I know find that sexist tactic to be very offensive.
Also what about cases of self defence? A man is perfectly entitled to hit a woman repeatedly if she’s stabbing him with a knife. And given that a huge number of domestic violence incidents are initiated by an attack by the woman, that’s far, far more likely then you’d think (especially as women are significantly more likely to use weapons than men).
Anyway I’m thinking of launching a “real woman” campaign, where women pledge not to abuse children (afterall women commit the majority of child abuse), stab their partners, or deny their children a relationship with their father. No doubt you’ll be keen to support this Lynne. Will you be happy to sign up or are we only allowed to shame and belittle men using these methods?
I’m a man and I fully support this campaign.
@Harriet Harms Man
It’s not just about domestic violence (and of course domestic violence against men is a serious problem), but other forms of violence too. My personal awareness of young people through the education sector shows that rape and violence against girls, a lot of it unreported and almost all perpetrated by boys and young men, occurs with astonishing and terrifying frequency. This isn’t the only problem in gender relations, but it is a huge problem which is causing long-term trauma and harming male-female relations across an entire generation. A lot of this stems from ignorance, a misguided perception of the masculine ideal, and some outright misogyny and sexism. That is a specific problem that this campaign is trying to address, and it’s long overdue.
The issues you mention – violence against men and child abuse perpetrated by women for example – are also important. But the target of those campaigns would be different. This specific campaign is aimed at men and men’s attitudes. It’s not the only cause a modern man should support, but it’s an important cause.
If you want to redefine masculinity then that’s fine, but lets not have sexist and negative shaming campaigns nor constantly ignore male vicitms of domestic violence. Domestic violence charities were hijacked by man hating feminists many years ago for political purposes (just ask Erin Pizzey if you don’t believe me) and we shouldn’t be playing politics with these hugely important issues.
You say child abuse is an important issue but every campaign pertaining to that inaccurately shows almost all the abuse committed by males (the mostly guilty party being the NSPCC). Whatever the issue is we demonise men and ignore the abuse by females, regardless of the statistics, and at the end of the day this harms victims further and stops them getting help.
When did anyone ever use the term “real woman” in this fashion, or tell women to “women-up”? They’re very sexist terms when used like this and the implication that I should need to sign a pledge because somehow my gender means I’m almost certain to be a violent bastard is despicable.
I’ll tell you what real men are. Real men stand up against sexism of all forms (including this). Real men are 40% of domestic violence victims. And if we’re redefining masculinity then we need men to have a stronger and more meaningful relationship with their kids, that’s what’s really important. Yet it’s organisations such as Women’s Aid who are doing perhaps more than anyone other to stop this from happening. Nick Clegg should be ashamed of himself.
(Also I’m still waiting for an answer from Lynne on whether or not she’d sign up to a parallel campaign for women).
When can we expect the ‘Real Women’ campaign which educates girls and women on their hypergamous nature and teaches them not to enter relationships with violent men?
The elephant in the room is that a significant number of women are ATTRACTED to violent men who display the dark triad of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. How else do you account for the phenomenem of women sending letters to violent prisoners?
Women = good and men = bad is just too simple I’m afraid, a deeper understanding of hypergamous selectivity and womens choices must be acquired and integrated into future policy.
The continuous misandrist rhetoric and shaming language well used by feminists is not going to solve this issue and ever increasing numbers of decent men are waking up to how they are viewed as a collective and pushing back or opting out accordingly.
You cannot continue to alienate, disincentivise and shame all men as a collective on the basis of the behaviour of some deviants and the women who continue to choose them.
A “Real Man” DOES hit.
He hits in self-defence. He hits in defence of others. Real men do not stand by and let anyone, of any gender or age, be attacked. To promote otherwise is to increase the damage done already to men – who are a far larger target of personal violence than women.
A “Real Man” does indeed make a difference. He has self-respect and respects ALL of those around him, regardless of gender or age, and does not permit people implying that just because he is a male, he is therefore to be suspected of violence against anyone when the truth is that the majority of peace-enforcers are male.
A “Real Man” thinks about the fact that he has been brought up in a society that brought in sexual equality laws forty years ago. He is already considered less than equal to women: has less life, less health benefits, longer working life, higher chance of working injury or death, lower average earnings per hour, poorer education, almost no parental rights. The real man wonders why in a world that claims the sexes are to be treated equally there is no International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Men, even though most violence is against men.
A “Real Man” realises that as someone who has inherited a society built upon the sweat and toil of men, he should protect his society – men, women and children – and not allow politicians to imply that women need protection more than anyone else nor that women do not need to be told not to be violent towards children, men and other women.
It really is not hard to come up with an “end violence against everyone” campaign aimed at everyone, instead of spewing divisive propaganda that will leave society damaged by ignoring most victims and blaming only half the perpetrators.
I’m sure we can trust Nick on this one – but the last time you lot signed a pledge it proved to be nothing more than an empty, vote-seeking gesture; remember tuition fees Lynne?
Hilarious in retrospect to see a picture of Nick holding a placard saying “I’m a real man”.
Real “people” i.e. those who possess principles and who stick to them do not sit by whilst their so called mates unilaterally tear up everything they profess to believe in. How can he sit in a cabinet with a party that doesnt just take issue with some of the things he thinks but that is fundamentally opposed to them. The whole idea that Lib Dems are holding back the worst Tory madness by being in government is in shreds.
Show some real backbone. Get out of it now.
Shame Lynne you are backing the Legal Aid bill with its limited definition of domestic violence that will increase the risk of domestic violence to women at the same time and destroy the voluntary legal advice sector and take large numbers of Haringey residents out of the scope of legal aid
Blimey, it’s always the gargoyles who are filled with the most hate! Yeah I am talking about you!