…around here, or at least it has been recently. This is mainly because, much as I’d love to be able to spend all my time writing and blogging, some times real life gets in the way.
So last week for instance, I gritted my teeth, tried to forget about my fear of flying, and went over to Belfast for a few days as part of a small delegation from Unison’s National Women’s Committee. We were invited over to learn about the work the Northern Ireland Women’s Committee have been doing around domestic abuse and workplace domestic abuse policies, but while we were there we also managed to take some time out to do a bit of sightseeing.
Here’s the Belfast Peace Wall for example. The wall is over 20 feet high and separates unionists and nationalists in West Belfast. I was surprised to hear that despite the peace agreement, gates in the wall are still locked every night.
And here’s some hooligan graffitiing on the wall:
Here’s just one of the amazing murals on the Falls Road:
The inscription at the top reads: Everyone has the right to live free from sectarian/racist harassment
And here’s a memorial from the Falls Garden of Remembrance:
The inscription reads: The fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see everything I’d have liked to see, so I’m looking forward to going back there again one day when I’ve got time to take in all the sights.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
If you’re interested in analysis of DV statistics…
Ally Fogg CiF Thread
Don’t you mean if I’m interested in some kind of academic pissing contest?
I’m not.
I’m interested in real people in the real world who are actually trying to do something to help improve the situation for victims. Not in self-appointed intellectuals sitting in their ivory towers pontificating on the latest piece of research.
Am I interested in someone tortuously extracting an entirely unsubstantiated and unfounded conclusion from a set of data that says the exact opposite of what they’re claiming?
Well it’s certainly interesting in terms of lack of reasoning……
It’s interesting how the great feminist heroine Ally F is so keen to deny that domestic violence happens though. FACT, the only men I have ever personally known who have been the subject of domestic violence are gay. FACT two members of my family (female) have been very nearly killed by male partners. And I have more male relatives than female ones.
i started reading that ally f blog. i don’t understand this investment people have in “disproving”m2f DV or saying that it isn’t as prevalent as feminists think it is, and the “what about men” argument.
if we took DV against women more seriously, if we found ways to properly and effectively tackle it, then we would simultaneously be able to tackle the issue of male victims of DV. the two causes are interlinked!
i also noticed the complete heteronormative aspect of the article, with little analysis of whether the male victims were in gay or straight relationships. what makes me laugh (well, cry) is that if a feminist writer quoted stats that had any room for misinterpretation, CIF community is coming down on you with sarky comments about your accuracy!!
as i say i don’t understand or comprehend this insane denial of the utter seriousness of DV against women and how prevalent it is. even when most women think about their group of close friends, the stats add up. we need to stop debating on CIF the whys and wherefores and whether it’s true, and give all our love and support to women’s aid, caada, etc etc and lobby the govt to do something!
anyway, this thread isn’t about DV – cath the pics are beautiful, very poignant images.
The article is about male victims, and at no point seeks to deny the existence of female victims or to downplay the problem.
WHERE?
To women.
i also noticed the complete heteronormative aspect of the article, with little analysis of whether the male victims were in gay or straight relationships.
Yup.
Ok Ally F’s ‘argument’ as far as I can follow it is this.
In most DV situations where police are called an arrest does not take place.
In situations where the perpetrator is female there is an arrest in 1 in 3 reported incidents.
In situations where the perpetrator is male, there is an arrest in 1 in 10 reported incidents.
This therefore PROVES that the police are biased and assume (falsely) in a situation where no one makes a complaint that the victim is female.
Eh?
a)Ally is ASSUMING that all the couples involved are heterosexual.
b)he is ASSUMING that the police are biased
c)he is ASSUMING that when no arrest is made it is because the identity of the perpetrator is ‘ambiguous’.
I don’t know where he draws any of these conclusions from. He has no evidence whatsoever to support them. Yet he is determined to argue that in fact they show that more men are victims of domestic violence than is generally acknowledged when they PROVE nothing of the sort.
And this isn’t a thread about domestic violence.
What Ally ignores is that usually the ‘evidence’ police will require to make an arrest is some kind of statement from the victim. There may well be sufficient evidence to suggest one party is the primary aggressor on the balance of probabilities – eg who made the call, but not enough to make an arrest which would mean a probable criminal case. Because the standard of proof is much higher in a criminal case. Someone may well have injuries which suggest they are the victim, but if they’re not going to make a complaint, there is little point in making an arrest.
Brilliant analysis Polly. Brilliant.
Next time read the article first, you’ll look a little less thtoopid. 😉
“The fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”
That’s a God thing, at the funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa on 1 August 1915.
Eight months later, on 24 April 1916, Patrick Pearse stood in the portico of the General Post Office in Dublin and read the Proclamation of the Republic.
On the 25th April a diversionary German naval raid was made on Lowestoft
The manuscript of the speech is held in the Pearse Museum, Rathfarnham, Dublin.