Selective sex abortions and male-preference has been viciously twisted by feminists to unleash male-hatred and piggyback their sinister agenda onto it. As a result boys and men have to live a life without “FREEDOM of CHOICES” and they are forced to don the role of a PROTECTOR and a PROVIDER popularly known as the FREE ATM MACHINE and the UNPAID BODYGUARD.

At the same time, the most risky, menial and dangerous jobs are heaped on to men and the burden of responsibilities of maintaining the family – parents, siblings, wife, children, in-laws, etc. has also been thrust onto men leading to ever increasing and skyrocketing expectations from them and nose-diving acceptance levels for their shortcomings and weaknesses.

And it is because of this skewed balance of responsibilities between men and women, that the society prefers male children over female children. After all, everyone wants someone to take care of in the dusky days and why to have an offspring that cannot be imposed upon with responsibilities. It is not because of some over-flowing extra love for men that male children are preferred.

The situation can be very well explained in terms of economics. Because of preference and because of natural birth ratio of 950 females for every 1000 males, there is an over-supply of men and under-supply of women. As a result, obviously, women have become the prized asset enjoying aggravated levels of protection, pampering and concessions whilst men have become the surplus asset presumed to require no protection and something that can be disposed off with. This phenomenon, which is worldwide and irrelevant of culture or country, has led to the establishment of the Male Disposability as defined below,

Male Disposability is a psychological behavioral and attitudinal syndrome that considers Men as “Disposable and Expendable” and invests very low emotional resources with males which ultimately leads to an environment insensitive to the problems of the male world or one that automatically eliminates weak men (or men finished off with their utility) viewing them as liability,

An explanation of the above definition with statistics is also available at Male Disposability – Myth or Reality.

From a pure economical point of view, the dynamics between returns and risks is a direct function of the investments. Higher the investment, higher the returns and higher the risks involved as well. Big Corporate Houses have a lot of corpus fund to put into business, commerce and trade and as a result they make a lot of money as well but at the same time they do carry heavy risks and the needed potential to absorb huge losses as well.

Similarly since the society invests heavily in women (in terms of social, legal, emotional, economic and academic resources), the returns as well as the risks are extremely high. The returns are available in form of a very balanced and strong emotional health of women that gives many a positive results and the risks are in the form of extra precautions and laws needed for them and the negative results of strong emotional health of women and enhanced expression abilities.

Similarly, for men, as the investment is low (actually very close to zero), both the returns and risks are low. The low returns are manifested in the form of lack of expression from men, reduced capability of emotional confrontation, deformed and mutilated psycho-emotional health and low risks are obviously visible in the various instances of “Male Disposability” and expectation of high risk appetite from men.

However, society is facing a lot of problems. And each problem seems to stem from a string of such problems and also leads to multiple such strings and the whole situation looks like an entangled mesh of problems where each thread is stuck. And if things continue in this way, then it won’t be longer before societal structures crumble and societal power equations dissolve for all time to come with little or no scope of repair.

But as the old adage goes, “World lives on hope”, so is the case here. Still the choice lies with the society to “LIBERATE MEN from RESPONSIBILITIES”, increase its investment in men – socially, legally, emotionally, economically, and academically – and in turn get high returns.

However, one may argue that when things are running, what is the need to take higher risks? It is pertinent to mention here that things are definitely running, but where are they heading to? Are we to wait seeing things run to end? Or take a stand now and alter the future forever, because, nothing in life comes for free. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH AVAILABLE. Everything comes associated with a price tag and many a times the price can be way costlier and precious than money or financial price; a loss that may not be recoverable at all if we do not prevent it now by LIBERATING MEN FROM RESPONSIBILITIES.

How will it help?

Liberating men from responsibilities and dissolving the freedom of choice of responsibilities across both the genders has many advantages.

First and foremost, it will provide men with the much needed space and time that they need for them to do something in life that interests them rather than just donning the humdrum role of a PROTECTING and PROVIDING male. This role often requires men to enter into a rat race and makes the male world extremely competitive, insensitive and violent and in such a case the possibility of the violence and aggression spilling over to other areas of life cannot be ruled out.

In other words, liberating men from responsibilities and giving them the freedom of choice will actually reduce the violent behavior of men to a large extent as opposed to the current style of punishing men. It is but obvious that the methodology is not working because rather than improving the lives of men and the society in general, it is reducing the quality of life. This is clearly evident from the enormously high stress levels in the life of men corroborated by an extremely high and exponentially growing suicide rate of men, reduced life expectancy and mostly men becoming victims of diseases like cardiac arrest, high blood pressure, diabetes – all of which are the direct consequence of abnormally high stress levels.

Lack of expressional capabilities, is a serious and known problem with men; a problem with which even the most renowned psychological counselors are grappling but unable to solve. Liberating men from responsibilities will give men the emotional space needed to develop expressional capabilities as they will move closer to their experiential domain. This will improve the life-quality of men in general and society at large. And this is something that needs to be implemented with our current generation of boys for they are the MEN of the FUTURE.

Liberating men from responsibilities will also mean giving an equal opportunity to women to take upon the same. This will be true empowerment of women as opposed to current and proposed ones which specifically target at punishing men – and it has already been shown above that it is not working.

Entrusting someone with responsibility is a true recognition of capabilities and an undisputed sign of empowerment. This will also lead to increased preference of female children and will solve the problem of gender ratio as well.

Hence, as we see, with a slight change in our attitudes and social perceptions of gender, we can solve some of the most difficult problems the current society is plagued with as opposed to the current way of formulating a new law for every social problem faced.

So do we agree to LIBERATE MEN FROM RESPONSIBILITIES?

Sub: AIMWA files complaint with ASCI against Gillette’s W.A.L.S. campaign

All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is the first ever organization formed to protect the rights and interests of men and to fight against all kinds of discrimination against men and boys in all arenas – social, legal, economic, etc.

AIMWA has launched a massive online protest against the “Women against Lazy Stubble (W.A.L.S.)” campaign started by the Gillette brand of Procter and Gamble India Ltd. (P&G) wherein P&G openly declared the campaign as “Women on the warpath” and has called men, who sport stubble or prefer to remain unshaven, as lazy in order to boost their sales of products of the shaving range.

The demands made by AIMWA are as follows

1. Procter and Gamble should stop the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign immediately.
2. They should publish a 10 cm. X 12 cm. apology for insulting men, in all leading national dailies, on either the front page or back page.
3. Actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse should tender apologies to all men for calling them lazy and urging women to detest unshaven men.
4. Procter and Gamble should also tender an apology for making a Gender Hate Speech, and
5. They should give an undertaking that they will never design sexist anti-male ad campaigns in future under any circumstances.

However, as there has been no official response from P&G on this issue of withdrawing the ad campaign or complying with the above demands, AIMWA is constrained to make an official complaint in this matter with the Advertizing Standards Council of India (ASCI) for designing a sexist anti-male ad-campaign offending the sentiments of men’s rights organization by calling all men lazy just to boost their sales and in turn also creating an environment that promotes Domestic Violence against Men.

As such AIMWA has launched an official complaint with the Council so that it can take necessary action against Gillette and P&G as per its policies.

Additionally, Katherine Albrecht’s “Talk Radio with Freedom” from the United States interviewed Mr. Parthasarthy, member of All India Men’s Welfare Association on AIMWA’s protest against the W.A.L.S. campaign of Gillette.

Details about “Talk Radio with Freedom” can be found at,

http://www.katherinealbrecht.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=20&Itemid=129

Details about the radio program can be found at,

http://aimwa.in/gillettes-mischievous-lazy-stub-ad-falls-flat

AIMWA will continue the protest against P&G and Gillette till all the demands are met. AIMWA further urges the people to boycott all brands under the Procter and Gamble India Ltd. Company like, Braun coffeemaker, Duracell, Old Spice, Pantene, Vicks, Oral-B, Head and Shoulders, Gillette, Tide, Pampers, Pringle potato chips, Ariel detergent, etc. and use alternate brands for the same products.

Date: 04 Jan 2010                          Thanks and Regards

Place: Bangalore                                                 Virag
President
All India Men’s Welfare Association

Press Release issued on January 2, 2010

NRI father’s legal battle for 30 months fails to secure his son Aditya (US Citizen) despite landmark Supreme Court judgment.  Gets life threatening calls.  Prays for justice. Seeks Public and Media support to trace his 7 years old son (AGAIN!) and safely take him back to USA.

Hyderabad, January 02… Justice delivered but enforcement flouted. The legal battle for custody of his seven years old son Aditya continues for Dr. V. Ravi Chandran for the past 30 months.  A NRI father residing now in Hyderabad is an internationally reputed scientist has been waging a legal battle (www.rescueaditya.org) to rescue his son Master Aditya from his ex wife Vijayasree Voora.  Supreme Court of India (SC) ordered 5 different state polices (TN, AP, UP, KA and Chandigarh) to trace Aditya and his mother Vijayasree Voora. When police failed, the apex court ordered CBI in August 2009 to trace and produce Aditya in the court. On Oct 24, Aditya was ultimately traced in Chennai near his grandparent’s house by the CBI and produced in Honorable Supreme Court of India. After hearing both side, the SC on November 17, 2009 SC ordered Aditya’s mother Vijayasree Voora to take Aditya back to USA within 15 days.

Chronology of events staring November 17, 2009 since Supreme Court Order:

Supreme Court of India (SC) ordered vide WPCRL No. 112/2007 on November 17, 2009 that Vijayasree Voora must take Aditya back to USA on her own within 15 days. On or about December 1, 2009, Vijayasree requested additional time, and the time to take Aditya back to USA on her own was extended by additional 15 days.

As per the above SC order, petitioner had to comply with certain requirements. These requirements were fully complied by the Petitioner, Dr. V. Ravi Chandran. He purchased flight tickets, accommodation temporarily in a hotel in Albany NY, request by his US attorney to vacate arrest warrant pending in NY police, admission letter from Martha Hunt Elementary School for Aditya , A check for the amount of USD 2000 payable to Vijayasree Voora for her immediate expenses.

Furthermore, petitioner Dr. V. Ravi Chandran had also convinced Judge Maney of NY family court to drop charges and vacate the arrest warrant. A certified copy of the cancelled arrest warrant was also sent to Vijayasree Voora.

However, it turned out the two Chennai addresses given by Vijayasree Voora to CBI were bogus, and Vijayasree was never found there. Two registered mail sent to both address were returned by the post office for addressed party not found. It seems, that Vijayasree had absolutely no intention of complying with any court order, let alone Supreme court order.

It is also to be noted that Aditya’s behaviour pattern towards his father Dr V Ravi Chandran was very positive in the absence of his mother, and was excited in the prospect of coming to USA. He enquired about his old friends (Simon and Ashley) and  about his favourite horse George.  However, it was clear he was very afraid of his mother. In spite of his mother’s poisoning of his tender mind, he was very affectionate towards the father.  When father showed him pictures of his grandmother he was very happy and recognized her immediately.

Vijayasree must have been disappointed that her false allegations of child abuse against Aditya’s father were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India after thorough scrutiny of documents submitted by Vijayasree, and deemed false.

As per the Supreme Court of India (SC) order, the time limit for Vijayasree Voora to take Aditya back to USA ended on December 17, 2009. When the petitioner Dr. V. Ravi Chandran reached Chennai to pick up Aditya, he found nobody there, and Vijayasree had once again abducted Aditya , and I was told that Aditya is separated from his mother and kept in isolation. Tragic story of Aditya continues, with no respect for his life and liberty.

Furthermore, in Pondy Bazar police station in Chennai to file FIR for re-abduction of Aditya, on Dec 21^st, Mr. Sriman Narayana Voora, father of Vijayasree threatened me in front of Assistant commission of police, with dire consequences if I continue to pursue the custody of Aditya.

Brief Background of the Case

The couple Dr. V. Ravi Chandran and Vijayasree Voora got separated in 2005 and since then waging legal battle for the shared custody of his son as per original consent order from NY family court.

Dr. V. Ravi Chandran is Ph.D. & M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, and University of Florida. He has got the world patents for several important medicines… Liquid formulations of metformin, US patents 6890957, 6559187, Novel compounds with High Therapeutic Index, US & worldwide patents pending in USA, Canada etc., and various others, to name a few. He is also the recipient of 2004 distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Florida in May 2004 for his lifetime contribution to Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has also performed as a consultant to Medical staff at Harvard Medical School. He has sacrificed his flourishing career to rescue Aditya from several years of abuse by his own mother.

His ex-wife Vijayasree Voora had meticulously planned for illegal kidnapping of Aditya. She moved Aditya from place to place to avoid tracing after bringing him to India for a vacation. Past 30 months she subjected to Aditya to live in substandard seedy motels which she changed often. She did not admit him to any school for a period of more than 2 years preventing him from having any social contacts, schooling, or any stability in his life and deprived him of father’s love and affection. Currently all her efforts are directed to poison the mind of Aditya against his father. All Aditya knows is cruelty from his mother. Aditya was treated to mediocre schooling or no schooling, despicable apartment life, nomadic existence, and being moved all over India with his fugitive mother. Vijayasree Voora, with her reckless behavior due to severe mental illness is endangering the welfare of a child, with total contempt of even SC orders, continues to abuse Aditya by holding him hostage. This behavior is highly condemnable as the child’s rights are far superior to that of parental rights.

This high profile case has over a period of time generated lot of media and public attention as it raised many issues such as Legal Terrorism, how one can easily flout even the apex orders, equal rights for child custody and access for both parents, shared parenting, domestic violence, international child abduction and gender bias laws etc many others all concerning society at large.

Addressing a press conference jointly by Kumar V. Jahgirdar, President of Children’s Rights Initiatives for Shared Parenting (CRISP) and Dr. V. Ravi Chandran, Father and Natural Guardian of Aditya both expressed shock how Vijayasree Voora, a resident of Chennai Police is flouting Supreme Court orders.  Now how can one get justice, they questioned. Children like Aditya are ultimate sufferers if the parent turns to criminal behavior.

Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) is a first of its kind all India body (NGO) dealing with parents claim for children’s custody disputes ongoing/over divorce battle today urged Government of India and all the concerned state governments to amend/make fresh laws to grant equal access to both parents. Further they appealed to make shared parenting mandatory in India.  Requested Law Ministry to set up special courts to deal with Child Custody cases in order to speedily dispose pending cases. In any eventuality, the matters must be deposed within three months of filing the custody/visitation petition. The members of CRISP observed. They also demanded to punish persons who misuse IPC 498A and Domestic Violence Law and remove parents from guardianship rights if such accusations are false or if they disobey court orders. Non-compliance of court orders, even if committed by the mother, should be dealt seriously, and in a non-gender biased fashion.

CRISP has over 2000 active members across India and abroad. It has chapters all over India.  Addressing a press conference, Mr. Kumar V. Jahgirdar, Founder and President of CRISP who himself is fighting a legal battle for equal access to his daughter from his wife Chetana (currently married to Indian leg spinner and former captain of Indian Cricket team, Anil Kumble) along with some members said misuse of anti-dowry laws and other woman-protection laws has now become a well recognized problem in India. Increasing number of aged parents, sisters and children in the husband’s family are falsely accused and arrested under these inhumane laws, and find them defenseless against the harassment unleashed thereafter and multiple litigations for the same offence/allegations with violations of Article 20 and 21 of Indian constitution.

Dr. V. Ravi Chandran demands Government, Home Ministry, Chief Justice of India to act on granting equal rights to both the parents who have been fighting for the custody of their children. In many cases despite of the court orders, Fathers are not allowed to see children. Children should have equal access to both the parents in order to help the child lead a normal life. We must make shared parenting mandatory.  Approximately Five Lakh parents, vast majority of them being fathers, are suffering with this kind of abuse where they don’t even have access to their own children.  The mothers, in order to take revenge on the husband and his family members, don’t allow fathers to access the child. They have been violating many court orders routinely as is the case with Vijayasree Voora by taking undue advantage of the gender biased laws and the mindset of the society favouring mothers. The poor fathers can’t do anything. They have been suffering in silence, and in some cases even committing suicide (Syed Maktoom case in point).  Now the time has come. Government must understand the pain of the father. It is not that just mothers alone who have love and affection for the child. The fathers too love their children and have equal feelings towards their offspring.  It is unfortunate that the laws are gender biased more towards women.   According the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All are equal before the law, and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law as per Indian Constitution”. Hence, men should also be accorded protection from physical, verbal, emotional, sexual and financial abuse by women as the cases of this nature are increasing.

Gender Biased LAW should immediately be made crime based instead of any assumption that all women never lie and all the men are born as Criminals. “MEN/WOMEN” word to be replaced by word “PERSON” and word “wife/husband” to be replaced with the word “SPOUSE” in the domestic violence act, so that husband can also file complaints with the police under this act..

Dr. Ravi Chandran who has wide exposure to child custody laws in various parts of the world, believes in the concept of shared parenting as practiced in developed countries. The child should have access to both its natural parents, the father and the mother in the best interest of the child when both the parents are otherwise not disqualified. We take pride in the fact that National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a Government of India undertaking recently has appreciated our initiative on child welfare and significance of love and care of both the parents in a child’s life.

In our society unfortunately many marriages are ending up in divorce and more so in the Metros and the educated classes of the society, especially the upper middle class and affluent class. CRISP receives various complaints in matters related to parental alienation including that of NRI’s pertaining to parental abduction of children. We are presenting to our media friends a typical case of an unfortunate father Dr. V. Ravi Chandran, a world renowned scientist who is deprived of the care and custody of his son Master Aditya aged about 6 years, from more than 910 days. Please also refer www.rescueaditya.org for further details.

The press conference was addressed by many members of the CRISP .  To put pressure on the government for child rights, CRISP is planning to have roadshow across India, to mobilize public opinion on the same. It also urged media to highlight Dr Ravi Chandran’s plight and also  rightful requests of its members.  While 40% of the population comprised of children, they voices are silent without any representation.

We appeal to media and public to help trace and restore safe custody of  Master Aditya to his father and his natural guardian Dr. V. Ravi Chandran on his mobile: 9704362000.

The parents suffering with similar problems may reach CRISP (Flat No. 3, Natasha Penta, Infantry Road Cross, Bangalore – 560001. Tel: 080 – 25593848, Fax: 080-41238847 www.crisp-india.org) to fight for the common cause to save our children to lead normal life.

###

Issued for and on behalf of CRISP India by: D. Ramchandram, Solus Media, 98480-42020.

Further clarification, please contact Kumar Jahgirdhar (0 98452 64488) or Dr. V. Ravi Chandran (97043 62000)

Visit www.rescueaditya.org

Visit www.crisp-india.org

Thank you and God bless Aditya!

Male Disposability is a psychological behavioral and attitudinal syndrome that considers Men as “Disposable and Expendable” and invests very low emotional resources with males which ultimately leads to an environment insensitive to the problems of the male world or one that automatically eliminates weak men (or men finished off with their utility) viewing them as liability.

Since time immemorial, be it the life-endangering activity of hunting or saving the country-land or guarding the parameters of geographical boundary or maintaining law and order situation in the society – the latter two correlate to hunting human life – this role has always been attributed to men who have donned the same willingly boosted by their testosterone and chivalry. In a nutshell men have been hunters primarily and that is a defunct role in today’s era of pacification and intellectual progress.

However, the traits of history are hard to remove and the hunter’s traits have continued into today’s men as well who are actually a misfit in the society with their hunting background and their genetic and evolutionary affiliation to a hunting tribe. No wonders problems of men have skyrocketed and courtesy the Male Disposability Syndrome, no one is bothered about it.

Before talking more on Male Disposability, I would talk a bit on its genesis, taking cue from the article, Paradigm Shift in Male Identity: Freedom from Being a Hunter. During the hunting days, when men used to go on long hunting expeditions, any hunter talking of a minor leg pain or a slight backache was detrimental to the morale of the hunters and was silenced, trivializing his pain.

Even today the society has been pretty much the same for men. Earlier it was hunting, in today’s world its taking huge risks – financial, intellectual, emotional, physical, political – to name a few, that men are expected of and in such a situation, talking of small problems like an emotional turmoil in a relationship or facing lack of freedom of choices will bring down the morale of other risk-taking hunters and thus men are discouraged from expressing their pain.

This leads to a lot of psycho-emotional suffocation within men which has a direct bearing on their lifestyle, life-expectancy, health and suicide rate as visible from the following data collected from various sources of the Government.

Interestingly, in this so called MALE DOMINATED WORLD, the DOMINATED MALES never get a voice as corroborated by the following figures.

Life Expectancy Data:

Plotted as a Graph looks something like,

The data about suicides is also not very welcoming but a true and sad reality to which currently the society is insensitive and cold.

Plotted as a Graph, looks something like

The above data clearly points to the stress in men’s lives due to which they not only commit suicide in large numbers (approaching double that of women) but who survive the turmoil, live shorter. That being the reality, there is also another grim reality and that is

NO SOCIAL / LEGAL / PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT STRUCTURE AVAILABLE FOR MEN.

Quintessentially the problems of the male world are oblivious to the society and as long as men are discharging their duties no one really needs to bother about them and can readily dispose them off, after all even Mother Nature produces them in abundance; what with the normal gender birth ratio being 950 females : 1000 males.

Choice is left with readers to decide whether Male Disposability is a Myth or a Reality?

About AIMWA:

All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is the first ever organization formed in India to fight against all kinds of discrimination against men and boys. AIMWA was launched in Hyderabad on 11^th October 2009 and has expanded to Bangalore and Chennai within two months of its launch with around 1000 members.

Background:

Gillette, the manufacturer of branded shaving products for men has come up with the idea of “Women against Lazy Stubble” wherein men not shaving, or men sporting stubble have been tagged as “lazy” and their women have every right to detest and demean them. And Gillette also tags this campaign as “Women on the warpath”. This ad campaign was launched on November 7, 2009 and includes campaigns on various media channels as well.

Objections:

AIMWA perceives this campaign as outright against men and is protesting against,

1. Violation of fundamental rights of men.
2. Negative portrayal of men by calling them lazy.
3. Infringement of choices by men.
4. Unnecessary financial burden on men, and
5. Imposing of conditions on men.

Additionally the views expressed in the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign and endorsed by Bollywood actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse about women’s preference of shaven/stubbled men does not represent the views of the average Indian Woman. As the campaign is being promoted by Procter and Gamble and it has a commercial interest in it, there is every reason to believe the views are bought off, especially when a group of women called “Women Against Male-bashing (W.A.M)” have started the campaign called “Stop the War against Men and Boys”.

The views expressed by W.A.M in their press release aptly represent the views of the average Indian woman as there is no commercial interest involved in it and is a pure expression of thoughts by the Indian women about men and their right to CHOICE. Also, the campaign ignores the umpteen researches that have been done proving it’s actually the stubble in a man that attracts the woman.

A stubble is a man’s right and no one has any right whatsoever to dictate when he should shave or whether he should shave even. It is completely a man’s discretion whether he should remain clean-shaven or stubbled or bearded or unshaven.

By calling men who sport stubble as lazy, Gillette and its parent company Procter and Gamble have issued a Communal Hate Speech as there are enough religious minorities in India who have religious reservations against shaving and also a Gender Hate Speech against men. AIMWA strongly protests it and condemns it outright. AIMWA views the campaign as downright sexist, anti-male and one that can have many disastrous consequences for men like,

1. This campaign will lead to more men facing more domestic violence from their wives in the form of verbal abuse, economic abuse and emotional abuse. The campaign treats MEN as FREE ATM MACHINES and promotes domestic violence against men. Domestic violence is the numero uno killer for men as corroborated by suicide statistics from the National Crime Record Bureau. Every year more than 57000 married men are ending their lives.
2. This campaign adds to the never ending expectations, of the society in general and women in particular, from men.
3. This campaign ignores the countless contributions that men make to the society. It disrespects the fact that the most dangerous, precarious, menial and risky jobs are not only undertaken by men but it is also de-facto expected that they would do so. And if men stop doing those dangerous and risky jobs, the society would cease to run. Rather the campaign designers have chosen an optional activity as shaving as a benchmark to measure activeness of men. It cannot get any more pathetic.
4. This campaign encourages women to command men, which is a violation of fundamental rights of liberty granted under the Constitution of India.
5. The campaign commoditizes men for commercial purpose which is not acceptable. Today it’s shaving, tomorrow some other company might come up with some more such sexist campaigns spreading Gender Hatred in order to boost sales and it can be against anyone, men or women. This campaign is being protested against to pass a message to the Corporate World that they too have limits and they need to learn to respect them.

Why National Stubble Day:

Because stubble is a man’s right and since Procter and Gamble is spreading hatred against men with stubble, AIMWA has come up with the idea of celebrating December 7 as the National Stubble Day. The members of AIMWA have decided not to shave on December 7 this year and the following years as well and urges other men to join us and strengthen the movement.

National Stubble Day is being marked to,

1. Register AIMWA’s protest against the sexist anti-male ad campaign, “Women against Lazy Stubble”.
2. Protest against commoditization of men to boost consumerism.
3. Protest against rampant anti-male quotient in the society and unchallenged insults thrown at men treating them as second class citizens while ignoring the reality that men make some wonderful and indispensible contributions to societies and civilizations.
4. Raising voice against promoting Domestic Violence against Men using commercially motivated sexist anti male ad campaigns.
5. Assert a man’s rights and prevent infringement of the same.

Additionally, on the occasion of National Stubble Day, AIMWA presents the following demands,

1. Procter and Gamble to stop the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign immediately.
2. They should publish a 10 cm. X 12 cm. apology for insulting men, in all leading national dailies, on either the front page or back page.
3. Actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse should tender apologies to all men for calling them lazy and urging women to detest unshaven men.
4. Procter and Gamble should also tender an apology for making a Gender Hate Speech, and
5. They should give an undertaking that they will never design sexist anti-male ad campaigns in future under any circumstances.

If the above demands are not met, then AIMWA will be constrained to agitate the protest and intensify it and for that Procter and Gamble will be held responsible.

Thanks and Regards

President
All India Men’s Welfare Association

Section 498A of the IPC:

This is the most controversial Section of the Indian Penal Code and one that receives the highest media attention these days. It reads as follows:

“498A – Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty:

Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation-For the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means-

(a) Any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health whether mental or physical) of the woman; or

(b) Harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her meet such demand.”

The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961:

The DP Act is a related law which defines giving, abetting and taking of dowry as criminal acts, and it also prescribes many rules as to the exchange of gifts, expenditure at the time of marriage and declaration of the same to the Government.

The purported aim of the DP Act is to curb the practice of dowry and to prevent extravagant marriages.

Anti-dowry laws ineffective:

Together, IPC Section 498A and the DP Act are promoted under the label of women-protection laws.

Law enforcement officials, judiciary, general public and even feminists criticize these laws for being ineffective in curbing dowry or dowry harassment.

This factsheet highlights the magnitude and intensity of harm caused by Section 498A and the current implementation of the DP Act. The information presented below sheds light on the reasons why anti-dowry laws are ineffective.

Number of cases filed:

Number of Persons arrested in Section 498A:

Note: The total number of persons arrested under Section 498A is 421,152 in just 3 years!

Low conviction rate:

Ad-hoc studies have hinted at a very low rate of conviction – 2% or even less – under section 498A.

There are several instances where convictions by lower courts have been reversed by the Higher Judiciary.

Taking the conviction rate to be 2%, out of the 421,152 people arrested, 8423 people could not prove their innocence while 412,279 people were successful in proving their innocence.

Unfortunately, proving one’s innocence is an extremely expensive and time consuming affair, costing an individual lakhs of rupees and 4-10 years of one’s life.

Voices of reason ignored:

Numerous authorities including Her Excellency the President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of India Shri K G Balakrishan, various High Courts, eminent lawyers, and several NGOs under the aegis of the Save Indian Family movement have raised concerns over the misuse of Section 498A and the arrest of innocent people under false cases filed by greedy, disgruntled women.

So far, no measures have been taken to curb the arrests of innocent citizens or to prevent misuse of the law.

Constitutional and Human Rights violated:

IPC Section 498A and DP Act consider the accused as guilty until proven innocent, and under these laws, the accused are punished even before investigation or trial.

The criminal justice system, which has been thoroughly “sensitized” by radical feminists, is jeopardizing the life and liberty of everyone in the accused husband’s family (including minor children, pregnant sisters and senior citizens) just to satisfy the greed and ego of one ‘woman’ – the wife/daughter-in-law.

These laws violate a citizen’s basic right to life and liberty, right to due process, and right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The Paradox:

Radical feminists vehemently reject all proposals to amend Section 498A claiming that its enactment was the result of years of tireless campaigning to provide protection to the married woman.

Radical feminists ignore the fact that over 123,000 innocent women (mothers and sisters of men who were implicated in 498A cases) were arrested under Section 498A over a span of just 4 years (2004 – 2007) without evidence or investigation.

Radical feminists ignore the fact that for every woman who files a false case under Section 498A and DP Act, at least TWO women in the husband’s family suffer unnecessary arrest and legal harassment.

Radical feminists ignore the fact that due to a spate of false cases, timely justice is denied to genuinely abused women.

This is the most deplorable fact about Section 498A – the law claiming to protect women is their worst abuser.

DP Act not implemented, only misused:

The DP Act came into effect 48 years ago, and yet women’s rights activists claim that the problem of dowry is only getting worse every day.

Basing their claim on the rising number of dowry cases, they constantly urge the Government to introduce more stringent provisions against the husband and his family.

The current DP Act is sufficient to contain the dowry menace if it is implemented in its true spirit i.e. penalizing BOTH dowry givers AND dowry takers.

To date, not a single woman or her family has been punished for either “giving dowry” or “admitting to giving dowry”, whereas scores of husbands and their relatives have been arrested upon mere allegations every day.

Section 498A and DP Act destroy families:

Once a case if filed under IPC Section 498A and DP Act, the marriage invariably ends in divorce.

Section 498A and DP Act have not only converted marriage into a crime, but also serve as weapons that break marriages and destroy families.

Section 498A and DP Act are two examples which illustrate the success of the radical feminist campaign of hatred against men and disdain for the family.

Domestic Violence Data:

Save Family Foundation and My Nation Foundation conducted an online survey between April 2005 and March 2006 and found that out of 100,000 men surveyed during that one year, 98% of men faced severe domestic violence at the hands of their wives and in-laws in the form verbal, physical, emotional, mental and financial abuse.

1. Economic violence was the commonest, faced by 32.8% of participants.
2. Physical Violence was the closest second at 25.2%.
3. Emotional Violence followed suit at 22.2%.
4. While sexual violence contended fourth with 17.7%.
5. Verbal abuse was a problem faced by all men in the above categories

The organizations that conducted the survey were also confronted with the gruesome reality that most abused men suffer in silence for fear of being discredited or ridiculed by the society. This resulted in a lot of psychological, sometimes irreparable, trauma to the abused male.

Further investigation into the problem revealed that many such men who are unable to withstand domestic abuse, withdraw from the society, fell prey to addictions or in extreme cases end their own lives.

Suicide Data of men:

The total number of suicides by married men compared to married women:

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of suicides in the country has increased by 40% during the decade 1996 – 2006. While 26.1 % of the total number of suicides is attributed to domestic violence, 16.6% of the suicides are due to causes unknown.
Taking these percentages into account, an estimated

• 11,882 married men committed suicide in 1996 due to domestic violence;
• 16,635 married men committed suicide in 2006 due to domestic violence;
• 14258 married men (on average) commit suicide due to domestic violence every year, and
• 156, 843 married men have ended their lives due to domestic violence between the years 1996 – 2007.

In the category comprising of individuals with a living spouse (married and/or separated), the number of suicides is always higher for males.

In other categories, the number of suicides is either equal to that of women or even slightly lesser for males (see figure below), indicating that intimate partner violence a major reason for Indian men committing suicide.

Lack of social support or legal protection for men:

Domestic violence against men, albeit a universal problem, is completely ignored by the society and the Government.

There are no laws to protect men from any form of domestic abuse.

On the other hand, legal protections given to women have been designed to serve as weapons for legal harassment of men.

The reason for the growing apathy and hatred against men in the society is the spread of radical feminist thinking in every sphere of public life, including the drafting of policies and laws.