Iam sure by now you’ve all heard of the rather strange ‘White Ribbon Campaign’, which is also known as the ‘International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women.’ This campaign asks that men and boys take an oath in front of others that goes something like “I swear never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.”[1] In many cases, on college campuses around the world, groups of White Ribbon activists walk around with a basket of white pins, seeking out any man that passes their way, confronting them and then demand that they take this pledge.
Of course women are not expected to take a similar oath, even though in the Western world women are just as likely as men to commit domestic violence towards their partner, and women are three times more likely then men to physically abuse, neglect or murder children in their care.[2][3][4] Furthermore, men are almost six times more likely to be the victim of a violent assault and almost four times as likely to be the victim of a homicide.[5][6]
Since feminists seem to be pushing this campaign rather hard, and receiving so much media attention, I have a few questions that never seem to get answered. Why are men who are the victim of violence viewed as less as important than women who are the victim of violence? Why don’t we also have another ribbon campaign where women pledge not to abuse, neglect or murder their children? Why not also have them take a pledge to not commit domestic violence against men?
In an even more bizarre twist, a new organization has appeared that bills itself as ‘A Call to Men: Committed to Ending Violence Against Women’. On the front page of their professional website is what I can only describe as a bizarre picture, where a group of men, all wearing white shirts, stare blankly into the camera. Underneath this picture that is ‘straight out of a John Waters movie, is their mission and purpose statement:

To galvanize a national movement of men committed to ending violence and discrimination against women and girls.
To influence change in men’s behavior through a re-education and training process that promotes healthy manhood.
To shift social norms defining manhood in our culture
A CALL TO MEN believes that preventing domestic and sexual violence is primarily the responsibility of men. Although historically it has been almost entirely women who have been at the forefront addressing this issue, we think it is essential that men play a primary role in the solution. To do that, well-meaning men…men who, for the most part don’t see themselves as part of the problem…need to get involved.[8]

A Call to Men’s 10 Step Program[7]

Wait, what? Shouldn’t ending violence be the responsibility of both sexes; I mean isn’t violence a human problem? Furthermore, why should some organization take it upon themselves to tell me that I need to redefine my manhood in order to stop harming women? I’ve never abused a man nor a woman in my life,  and indeed most men in our society haven’t abused anyone either. Not only am I supposed to take an oath to not commit a criminal act just because I am a man, they think I need to be “re-educated” about how I define myself as a man, and go through a “training process” to show me what a “healthy manhood” is like. If this isn’t some radical misandric garbage, then I don’t know what is.
Here is what I think about all this. First, these groups, the White Ribbon Campaign and A Call to Men, should go to the grave sides of the 12,000 men who are murdered in the US each year, and give an oath to remember that their lives were just as precious and just as valuable as any other life. Next, since they insist on making this issue about sex, rather than the criminals that perpetrate the violence, I’d ask these groups, as well as the people who passed the various Violence Against Women’s Acts around the world, to go to the grave sides of all the children murdered by their mothers and make an oath to remember that women can be just as violent and deadly as men.
Furthermore, they should track down the endless numbers of men who were, or are, being abused in a relationship by a women, but are too afraid to come forward because society doesn’t think men are as valuable as women, and take an oath to them that their physical and emotional pain is just as imp0rtant as the pain of women. Oh, and don’t forget the tens of thousands of men who are raped in prison each year, but receive neither justice nor physical or emotional support.
I don’t need any organization, government nor university to attempt to define who I am as a man, and I certainly don’t need to be guilted into taking an oath to NOT become a criminal. All human life is valuable, and one sex is NOT more expendable than the other sex.  Men are human beings for God’s sake, not some problem that needs to be solved.
***A Call to Men is run by an organization calling itself the ‘National Association of Men and Women Committed to Ending Violence Against Women’ and is part of a larger group called ‘Tides’. Tides is a very large and well funded foundation that considers itself a group that works toward “positive social change.”[9]


[1]http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2011/white-ribbon-day-my-oath/
[2]http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm08/table4_5.htm
[3]http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm08/table5_1.htm
[4]http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/natl_incid/reports/natl_incid/nis4_report_congress_full_pdf_jan2010.pdf
[5]http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/homicide/gender.cfm
[6]http://www.infoplease.com/us/statistics/murder-victims.html
[7]http://www.acalltomen.com/page.php?id=51
[8]http://www.acalltomen.com/index.php
[9]http://www.tides.org/about/board/