Michael Flood – political indoctrination or education?
A student who knows I have an interest in domestic violence research recently forwarded me an email invitation she (and presumably all students on the James Cook University mailing list) had received, inviting her to a seminar “He hits, she hits: Assessing debates regarding men’s and women’s experiences of domestic violence.” An initial small glimmer of hope that the title might have implied the seminar would present an unbiased gender neutral approach to a controversial topic quickly dissolved upon reading the flyer. A major component of the stated aim of the seminar was to “assesses the political character and agendas of those groups involved in advocating for a gender-equal approach to domestic violence.” The presenter of the seminar Michael Flood, a purported expert in the field, appears to be locked in the seventies and still cites the discredited Duluth model as the preferred theoretical basis for addressing family violence.
A quick check of Flood’s CV revealed a recent article published in a journal called “Violence Against Women” http://vaw.sagepub.com, nope you wont find any non gendered view of reality there, the journal title conveys the ideology within.
Not unexpectedly feminist ideologues posing as academics choose such forums to expound on their male hatred and it would be hard to find a better example than this 2010 article “ ‘Fathers’ Rights’ and the Defense of Paternal Authority in Australia” . The central tenant of this opinion piece long on dogma and short on evidence is that men should be denied their democratic right to express opinions on issues such as false allegations of domestic violence, residency and contact with their children, and bias within the family court because by doing so, they are increasing “violence against women” and turning back the “significant advances of feminism.”
Implicit throughout the article is the false and unsubstantiated linkage of “violence against women” and “child abuse” as if they are one in the same thing, implying that any “fear” contrived by a mother automatically translates to a “risk” for the child. It beggars belief that one credentialed as a sociologist could be so illiterate of human nature. The overwhelming desire most fathers is to protect their children, they are expected to and would gladly if needed sacrifice their own lives to protect their children, and many have done so in the past. Such protective instincts come acutely into focus when a malicious and vindictive mother wants to enlist the states power to remove children from the safest environment, an intact family, to the environment that is well known to pose the highest risk for children of abuse, the mother headed household.
Flood insists that these evil fathers rights groups groups use typical rhetorical devices such as “an appeal to formal equality, a language of rights and entitlement, claims to victim status (and) the conflation of children’s and fathers’ interests.” The implication being that somehow none of these well abused feminist tactics should be used to counter the ideology who pioneered them. Kinda reminds me of the “fight fair” idea espoused to “perpetrators” of DV, which essentially says don’t ague with a women, thats domestic abuse!
Although Flood is dismayed that men’s rights groups have achieved such visibility, he accepts that “Painful experiences of divorce and separation, as well as experiences of family law, produce a steady stream of men who can be recruited into fathers’ rights groups.” But rather then offering any concern for the steady stream of dispossessed men or addressing the cause of their pain, or acknowledging the consequent suicide rates for men, he laments that such increased numbers of recruits may increase the political influence of mens groups.
In Floods’ words it is quite acceptable that “Women’s movements in Australia have had a distinctively high level of direct involvement in government policy making, with feminist bureaucrats or “femocrats” playing key roles,” but quite unacceptable that “ Fathers’ rights groups have become vocal opponents of feminist perspectives.” His sexist agenda clearly being that women’s voices should not only be heard but acted upon, while mens groups should not even have the right to speak.
Amongst the supposed achievements of feminism he notes, is making “violence in the home a criminal offence.” No mention is made that criminal assault and battery has always been an offence no matter where it takes place, rather the achievement of feminism was creating a new class of criminal out of men who dared disagree with women, at a time disagreement is most likely to occur, after a women unilaterally decides to end a relationship. The women then uses control and power tactics to enlist the abuse industries considerable resources to achieve their often stated threat to financially ruin their spouse and alienate him from their children. This is the real state sanctioned and aided domestic violence and if it was, as it should be, acknowledged as such men would account for the majority of victims of domestic abuse.

More on this article from AVfM..