A domestic violence campaign has been labelled as ‘offensive to men’ after carrying the slogan ‘Dads, have the strength to change’.

The poster, put up by Greenwich Council in south-east London as part of their campaign to combat domestic violence, is one of several different posters used in the campaign over the past year.

A spokesman from the New Fathers 4 Justice decried the posters as ‘sexist and discriminatory’, and said the group, which are not affiliated with Fathers 4 Justice, have made a complaint to Greenwich and even threatened ‘guerrilla-style protests’ at stations which display the posters.

‘The ManKind Initiative, a national charity that provides help and support for male victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence, has said that 40 per cent of domestic violence is against men in the UK,’ the spokesman added.


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‘Violence is violence, no matter who it’s aimed at and assaults by wives and girlfriends are often ignored by police and media.’



The council have defended the posters, and pointed out that they are part of a larger campaign which featured many different posters and slogans.

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Another poster featured in the campaign (Picture: Greenwich Council)

(Picture: Greenwich Council)

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A council spokesperson said: ‘We also recognise that the overwhelming majority of men are good fathers and role models to their children and this campaign is not meant to detract from that.

‘This is our third set of posters designed to help victims – both men and women – to come forward and seek help and they also show the impact it can have on young children.’

However the council refused to ignore the fact that whilst women ‘can also be the cause of domestic violence, the majority of incidents are committed by men’.

‘The Council is committed to tackling the cause of the issue with our partners and has funded a dedicated police Domestic Violence Intervention Team to ensure victims of domestic violence do not feel helpless or suffer in silence,’ the spokesperson added.

‘We therefore welcome the debate about our campaign so that these important issues can be brought out in to the open and discussed. It will help the Council to get across our message that local residents can do something if they are worried a friend, relative, neighbour or stranger may be suffering domestic violence or abuse behind closed doors.’