I have a message for some feminists, and for the authorities of the Halifax Police Department. It is one to which it would be beneficial to listen.
There was a recent Tweetstorm and some mainstream media contacts to AVFM regarding a poster campaign out of Men’s Rights Halifax, one of the growing number of men’s rights organizations in Canada.
Here is one of the posters alleged to have been placed by that group:
There was a lot of hostile reaction to the poster. Some of the dissenters were also reaching into the area of alleging copyright infringement. Here is a sample from the some of the convulsive tweets that sprang up from it.
Noting the ridiculous claims of copyright infringement by those having fits over the poster, allow me to give a little info on their intent, and this funny little thing we call “The Law.”
Regarding the “Don’t be THAT Girl Posters,” AVFM regards these as parody, which protects them from claims of copyright infringement. They are a reaction to the “Don’t be THAT Guy” posters, which quite seriously carry the implication that all men are potential rapists, likely to commit rape if not told otherwise in public campaigns.
Here is just one example of “Don’t be THAT Guy.”
We find this message not only offensive, but bigoted and misleading. The posters AVFM issues, and we assume those done by other men’s rights groups like the one in Halifax, are done to highlight the reprehensible nature of the “Don’t be THAT Guy,” campaign through the use of parody.
And it is very effective. Plenty of hypocrites are highly offended when “Don’t be THAT Girl” posters put a spotlight on how bigoted their approved approach is.
For example, consider the poster included in this post. We do not believe that the appropriate way to deal with child abuse is to tell all women not to abuse children. Child abusers come in both sexes, even though the majority are women. Targeting the sex of the abusers rather than the abuse itself is about as credible as targeting theft and drug use with a “Don’t be THAT Black Person” campaign, or trying to address banking corruption by advising people not to be “THAT Jew.”
Or targeting sexual assault with “Don’t be THAT Guy”.
For the simpler minded in society, the ones who think all men need to be targeted as potential rapists, this might help with some perspective.
We are not holding our breath around here, though.
For those of you screaming, “It’s not the same!” Well, yes it is. It is exactly the same, whether you choose to deal with it or not. Either way, the posters will continue, and I dare say accelerate the more you caterwaul. Turnabout is fair play in a fair world. You don’t deserve the right to rig the game.
We are not quitting. None of us.
If you want the poster campaigns to stop, END the “Don’t be THAT Guy” campaign of bigotry, and do it now. While you are at it, quit demonizing men. As long as you are spreading hate and lies, we are going to use parody and other methods to point it out.
And this brings us to the Halifax Police Department, from which the following tweet was taken from the interwebz:
And what, precisely, does the Halifax Police think they are going to do? Do they intend to arrest, harass or use brutality to enforce the feminist narrative?
It is not normally my style to be chippy with police departments. They have a rough, often under-appreciated job. This tweet, however crosses a line.
Be it known that if anyone legally placing posters is arrested or harassed by police selectively “enforcing law” in a way that discriminates based on ideology, A Voice for Men will fund legal action against them without hesitation. We will dedicate every resource we have to it. And we will not quit, ever.
I will not say any more than that at this time, except to say this is fair warning, and that I am tweeting this to Halifax Police Department.
Update: From the Twitter feed of another person in Halifax who purports to be outraged, we have discovered three other posters. We take the same position on these as we do those above, and reprint them here for reporting purposes. –DE
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