Feminism went into global meltdown today after one of its male supporters defied feminist logic and revealed he was a man with a mind of his own.

Tanveer Ahmed, a psychiatrist and comedian, is one of 2,000 male celebrities and community leaders who have been selected by the feminist White Ribbon campaign to tackle violence against women in Australia.

Now operating in 70 countries worldwide, the White Ribbon movement is committed to “the advancement of gender equality and the dismantling of patriarchy”---and they would have got away with if it wasn’t for that pesky psychiatrist!

When we said never remain silent....

Ahmed has been involved in the White Ribbon campaign since at least 2008 and appears to have been obeying the White Ribbon oath to never “remain silent about violence against women and girls” ever since.

In November 2014, he told guests at the Blacktown White Ribbon Day meeting in Sydney that it takes courage to speak out, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

But then Ahmed got a little too courageous for feminism’s liking and dared to tell the world what he really thinks about the feminist approach to tackling violence in an article for The Australian newspaper entitled “men forgotten in violence debates”---whoops!

Did nobody tell Ahmed that when the feminists behind the White Ribbon campaign asked him to take an oath to “never remain silent about violence against women and girls” that what they actually meant was they wanted him to ALWAYS remain silent about any views he has that might contradict mainstream feminist thinking---and that rule number one is that in the name of gender equality you never, Never, NEVER ask “what about the men?”

Obviously not!

Feminism was so mightily displeased with Ahmed that it supplied spokeswoman, Clementine Ford, with a pram full of toys to chuck everywhere in one of her self-styled “man-hating screeds” for Daily Life , a news, opinion and lifestyle website for women.

Ford’s primary complaint about Ahmed was that he didn’t present himself like an “aggressively delusional…men's rights activists” but used one of the most devious and oppressive tools of the patriarchy, “reason”----what a sneaky, privileged bastard! If only he sounded like one of those evil anti-feminists that the charitable and peace loving White Ribbon campaign describes as “nasty woman-haters”, it would have so much easier to discredit him.

Not that this stopped feminism ripping into Ahmed, a man who having campaigned to end violence against women and girls for at least six years, dared to formulate a view of his own on how best to tackle the issue, like the entitled patriarch he obviously is!

He said, she said

Here are some of the highlights of Ahmed’s comment piece in The Australian and Ford’s reply, on behalf of feminists everywhere, from Daily Life:

Ahmed said: “Men are forgotten in the violence debate.”

Ford said: “I don't have time for men's woe-betide-me feelings

Ahmed said: “Women are now more likely than ever…. to commit family violence against partners, children or relatives

Ford said: “It does significant harm to have one of [White Ribbon’s] ambassadors touting a message which prioritises men's power over women's safety.

Ahmed said: “Discussions about family violence are stuck in the mindset of 1970s radical feminism."

Ford said: “Radical feminists didn't endure the wrath and measurably violent pushback of people opposed to women's liberation so that their activism could be scoffed at by a man.”

Ahmed said: "There is too little acknowledgment of the importance of male disempowerment in debates surrounding domestic violence The focus on female disempowerment alone will not achieve an improved existence, since they are often surrounded by disempowered men."

Ford said: “The question isn't how we can accommodate men's feelings of disempowerment.”

Ahmed said: “Despite the cries of domestic violence being an epidemic, we should also consider that fatherlessness could fit such a category, with 40 per cent of Australian teenagers living without their biological fathers…. we are downplaying the notion that fathers are even desirable.”

Ford said: “Not all arguments positing men's disenfranchisement are presented in the aggressively delusional manner. Some come with a veneer of reason that belies the falsehoods presented within. These are the ones we need to be especially wary of.”

Ahmed said: “It is true one woman a week dies at the hands of a partner, current or former. As part of a broadbased strategy, it is critical that improving arrest and prosecution rates, establishing shelters and abuse hotlines, pushing for state provisions against stalking, and creating protections for immigrants all have the goal of getting victims out of abusive ­relationships.”

Ford said: “Ahmed insults the expertise of service workers by making their work invisible just so he can execute a boring and passe critique of the kind of feminism that makes him and numerous other men uncomfortable.”

Ahmed said: “The broader movement that has long fought against violence towards women remains stuck in a view of gender relations from decades past, which will limit its effectiveness in stemming the problem in an inclusive way."

Ford said: “The 'inclusivity' he speaks of is already in action.”

And then to prove just how inclusive feminism is, feminists all over twitter began bombarding the @WhiteRibbonAust campaign with social media requests to remove Ahmed as one of their ambassadors.

I guess the moral of the story is this, be careful what you wish for and if you're going to ask men to speak out on gender issues, be prepared for them to have a view of the world that’s different from yours. Radical huh?

---Photo: White Ribbon Day

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Article by Glen Poole author of the book Equality For Men

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