White Ribbon the anti Domestic Violence (DV) organisation in Australia has gone into liquidation and I am happy. I may add that I am at the same time sad, as violence against one section of the community is unacceptable and, like I believe all Australians, violence against any sector of our community, including the one they claimed to represent (women) is repulsive and needed to be raised.
So why am I happy?
- They promoted “you must believe the woman” rather than you must fully and quickly investigate the claims made by a woman (or what would have been more appropriately any person) subjected to violence and largely reduced the principle of presumption of innocence.
- White Ribbon premised themselves that all DV was perpetrated by men against women to the exclusion of all other victims, driven by an ideological belief system of the discredited Duluth model.
- They ran relentless campaigns, aided by the Australian media, that shut down discussions of violence by women against men and children (i.e. infanticide).
- With the help of the media they actively deplatformed people having a voice that did not align with their ideology effectively denying them their rights to speak.
- They took over the phrase “women and their children” in Australia to the exclusion of any protective parent that was not a woman to the detriment of too many children.
Their message was pervasive and insidious impacting police practices and the courts. If you read my book The Pinball Machine The Family Separation Industry and Parental Alienation you can get some insight as into how police services varied on their treatment of domestic violence depending on gender, often leaving children with the abusive parent to suffer physical and psychological violence often perpetrated through parental alienation.
Their message also impacted academic freedom as I have personally met two people that were effectively removed from their postdoctoral studies because their thesis was DV against men. Their message effectively silenced research perspectives that were non-compliant with the White Ribbon ideology so that facts could not be produced and rigorous discussion curtailed as they recited their mantra.
By suppressing the rights of all others, they divided our nation rather than tackling DV in a rigorous manner based upon facts. Based upon a false ideology they may have raised awareness but put back addressing DV for a decade and I believe made it far worse for men and more importantly the women they claimed to help. The diversion of resources in accordance with their ideology prevented investment in other areas. Hopefully the various branches of the public service that follow this ideology will also disappear all Australians can now unite to address DV constructively. News report of 3 October 2019 include:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/white-ribbon-goes-into-liquidation-20191003-p52x9m.html
https://www.9news.com.au/national/white-ribbon-anti-violence-organisation-goes-into-liquidation-australia-news/c7783f77-20be-42ea-877b-eeb490241cbe
https://www.news.com.au/national/anti-domestic-violence-white-ribbon-australia-enters-liquidation/news-story/6e4ab89878ca68fb0c1afe0f7a552a98
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-03/white-ribbon-australia-closes-its-doors/11571140