Man's Voice Launched: Counseling helpline for Men in distress

"Man's Voice" is a helpline for men in distress for counseling from an emotional point of view. Man's Voice has been launched today, on International Men's Day, 19th November, 2010.

Many a times after undergoing trauma one gets so depressed and demotivated that the person does not even have the will to fight and solve impending problems, its from this perspective that "Man's Voice" would offer a helping hand to Men in distress.

Once mind is clear and soul picks itself up, the sky is the limit for anyone's potential,  and this exactly is Man's Voice's endeavour; to liberate people from "dis"stress and facilitating the use of inherent and infinite potential  in them.

Pls join Man's Voice' fanpage in Facebook (http://groups.to/mansvoice) or refer the GURU's section for Man's voice to know the details of this new counseling helpline for Men.

Do spread the good word among your contacts and social circles.
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Man's Voice is a helpline for men
(For help/counselling and enquiries: Please send an email to mansvoice@siftimes.com)

Why Man's Voice? 
Men in general are conditioned or socialised such that they are unable to share their sorrows with another in their family or in their social circuit. If they cry, they are considered to be weak in most societies including the Indian community. Hence, they tend to withold, suppress or repress their feelings even when faced with traumatic situations, break-ups, victimisation due to lop-sided laws concerning their families, which can result in depression. This depression can result in problems in the family and at workplace.

A team of professional counsellors will provide guidance to men, who need a listening ear and direct them to the proper channels if and when needed.

How do I contact a Man's Voice Counsellor?
You can contact them through smses/calls to their mobile phones or through emails(Helpline email: mansvoice@siftimes.com).

The first two sessions will be free. The fees for the follow up sessions will depend on the counsellor. The callers are free to continue with the counsellors or find their own counsellors after the free sessions.

Read https://www.facebook.com/groups/mansvoice/doc/198515726851503 for contact details of counselors associated with "Man's Voice".

LEGAL HELP


If anyone needs legal help for family or men's rights related matters, you all can refer/send them the information quoted below or mention the short weblink "http://bit.ly/faqsif" to them over phone, which will be enough to satisfy their queries in this regard

Information which can be given for callers needing legal help:

For all your family and/or men's rights/legal issues, you can contact the nearest helpline of SIF (http://www.saveindianfamily.org/con...) and attend weekly meetings, which will help you solve your issues.

Please read the following blog post to know about what you can do in your situation:http://at498a.blogspot.com/2008/10/... (or short URL: http://bit.ly/faqsif

International Men's Day- 2010, 19th November

Six pillars and guiding principles of International Men's Day 



1. Promoting positive male role models.
2. Celebrating men’s positive contributions.
3. Focusing on men’s health and wellbeing.
4. Highlighting discrimination.
5. Improving gender relations and promoting equality.
6. Creating a safer, better world.

The literature below is available as a Flyer in PDF file, and can be downloaded here. IMD signage(Australia) can be downloaded here. A sticker for IMD, download here

There may be more ‘stay-at-home’ mums than dads, but equal numbers of working fathers who posses natural care instincts and contribute much to the nurture and protection of children and dependent family members even when they work full time.

Many men who hold down well-paying jobs to provide financially defer the role of primary carer to their female partners, by mutual choice.

Society does not readily accommodate men in the role of full-time homemaker and the often negative portrayal of men in the news and entertainment media discourages more fathers from taking on the primary care responsibilities for young children.

Most dads endeavor to provide the right balance of financial and emotional support and personal involvement in activities for the benefit of their families; and men’s role in providing direct or indirect care for children and family members is worthy of acknowledgment.

Global website: www.international-mens-day.com

November 19

celebrating men’s

contributions to childcare

Discrimination

Discrimination and gender inequitable outcomes also affect men and boys in countries around the world, including:

• Under-representation in areas of education and employment.

• Higher rates of death and disability through suicide and hazardous work.

• In many countries, men experience inequitable outcomes in child custody disputes and disproportionate emotional and financial burdens following divorce.

• Double standards in the sexist and negative portrayal of males in the entertainment media; and product advertising which portray simulated violence by the opposite sex against men as trivial and acceptable.

• No ‘whole-of-government’ advocacy for male gender inequity issues.

• The plight of male victims of abuse is often ignored in government-sponsored anti-domestic violence education campaigns.

• General lack of government recognition and annual observance of “International Men’s Day” to acknowledge existing inequitable outcomes and honour the equally valuable financial and social contributions that men and boys make to the global community.

Many governments have lost sight of these facts and the need for advocacy and affirmative action to correct gender discrimination and inequitable outcomes that impact negatively on the lives of men and boys also.

Global website: www.international-mens-day.com

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence takes the form of physical, verbal and emotional abuse to intimidate and control. Without diminishing the responsibility of men to treat women with respect, International Men’s Day recognises that males too are victims; and face unique problems in dealing with violence by the opposite sex.

In many countries, statistics on domestic violence are sourced only from surveys of women and the male perspective on reported cases is often not known. Statistics acknowledge that women also assault men but excuse it on the basis of provocation or self-defence.

Government sponsored anti-violence education campaigns tend to focus solely on the responsibility of men.

Few men report abuse by the opposite sex for fear of being ridiculed or having the blame turned back on them because of the flawed mindset in many communities that ‘men can look after themselves’.

Popular culture in many countries tolerates women striking men for offending female sensitivities and accepts casual female violence against men in films, product advertising and TV sitcoms as light-hearted entertainment.

Physical size and strength does not protect a passive male against a determined female aggressor who fears no recrimination on the excuse that ‘a man should never hit a women under any circumstances.’

The plight of male victims of domestic violence is a serious issue that receives little or no empathy and government and media have obligations in addressing it.

Global website: www.international-mens-day.com

Men’s Health

Men fall victim to various serious illnesses including cancers, heart disease and stroke. Some men’s health issues are genetic and others are linked to lifestyle factors and risk-taking behaviour.

Alarmingly, the male suicide rate is up to 4 times higher; and up to 90% of work-related deaths are males, due to the greater tendency for men to work in hazardous occupations.

So far as it depends on the individual, men must take control of looking after themselves. Occupation and life-style safety matter as does good diet, exercise and mental health.

Low self-esteem and depression also affect men and boys and various factors can trigger it. There are things men can do to avoid preventable illness.

• Choose a GP and have at least one general physical medical check-up annually.

• Don’t ignore negative feelings about your self worth or suffer on with depression.

• Seek help from your doctor early about significant health problems.

• Investigate ‘Men’s Health’ services and websites about male-specific illness and concerns.

Men’s health matters - take the time to address it!

Global website: www.international-mens-day.com

Topnews article post International Men's Day, Mumbai, 2009

‘Harassed’ husbands rally for equal laws on International Men’s Day

Courtsey Top News, Submitted by Sarthak Gupta on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 06:50

Over 100 “harassed”husbands sporting stickers on their shirts with one-liners like ‘My wife gifted me a law suit’ and ‘Hen-pecked or hand-cuffed’, raced their cars from Mulund to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to demand gender equality on the occasion of International Men’s Day on Thursday.

The men, who identify themselves as “victims of wife-centric laws”, are members of various non-governmental organisations united under the Save Indian Family Movement. They later held a demonstration at Azad Maidan to highlight that husbands have become a “vulnerable section” due to the misuse of the domestic violenceand dowry harassment laws.

“We want the law to be gender-neutral. Husbands should also be able to file cases if they are harassed,” said Bunty Jain, one of the participants. He pointed out that the laws were being misused by educated and empowered women in cities while the unlettered women living in villages, who were truly victims of domestic violence, did not even know about it.

The men’s demands include the setting up of a ministry and commission for men. “When there can be ministries for women’s welfare and animal welfare, why isn’t there anything for men who pay 82 per cent of India’s taxes,” said Dr Sandeep Padwade.

The men also want people to understand a father’s emotions and allow joint custody of children during marital disputes. Tejender Singh, whose children live with his wife, was carrying a placard that read: ‘Jasleen, Goldie, Papa loves you’. Another father held up a placard saying, “Children need a father, not visitor.”

Manish Katira from non-governmental organization, Child’s Rights and Family Welfare, said that they had come across many cases where women seeking divorce were threatening to slapdomestic violence cases against their husbands if they did not give up the demand for child custody.

The participants also wanted to use the occasion of Men’s Day to shed their typical manly inhibitions and admit that that they experience pain and cry just like women. Each one had a heart- rending story to tell.

Goregaon resident Purshotam Mahajan recounted how his wife used to beat him every time they got into an argument. “She was having an affair. Every time I confronted her she would start hitting me. I was shocked when she slapped a case of domestic violence on me,” he said. Compact discs with a video of Mahajan’s wife thrashing him were distributed to prove that men need support.

DNA article post International Men's Day events, Mumbai, 2009

'Harassed' husbands take up cudgels

Courtsey DNA , by Surekha S / DNA

Mumbai: "Indian male - hapless animal"; "women empowered men unpowered"; "husband not an ATM machine", "options for Indian male - be henpecked or handcuffed"... these are some of the messages flashed on placards by members of various organisations who had gathered at Azad Maidan on the occasion of International Men's Day on Thursday, to raise their voice against the perceived harassment of men at the hands of the Indian judicial system.

Members of the Indian Family Foundation (IFF), Protect Indian Family Foundation, Child’s Right and Family welfare and the Save Indian Family Movement held a dharna to create awareness about the problems faced by men. A bike rally was also held, with many members from Pune participating.

The men particularly targeted section 498A, which they said is often misused by women to get husbands arrested for harassment. They shouted slogans against the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the misuse of the Domestic Violence Act, and demanded a separate ministry for men.

According to Bunty Jain, founder member, IFF, “Most cases where section 498A is invoked turn out to be false. Baseless allegations are made against men to extort money from them, and the law and the police support women, without making complete inquiries. The laws are wife-centric, not even woman-centric, because the husband’s mother or sister is not taken into account,” he said.

Jain, who calls himself a victim, had to pay a large sum of money to his wife as alimony and is now fighting the domestic violence case that his wife filed against him. “The Domestic Violence Act should be made gender-neutral,” he said.

Rakesh Jaiswal, who was also part of the dharna, feels that the time has now come for men to fight for gender parity. His wife, who left him two years ago, slapped a section 498A dowry harassment case against him and demanded a huge sum as alimony.” She earns about Rs2.5 lakh per annum, but I still have to pay her alimony. How is this fair?” he asked.

Another major concern is child custody, as the men feel it is always tougher for the father to be able to get custody of children. Many women were also part of dharna, most of them the mothers of “harassed” husbands. Borivli resident Kamal Kapadia, 59, claimed that her daughter-in-law made 23 allegations against her, all of them false.

(read the original article at http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_harassed-husbands-take-up-cudgels_1313960)

International Mens Day... for real men

You are Invited on Men’s Day 19th Nov 2009

PIFF (Protect Indian Family Foundation) and IFF (Indian Family Foundation) are celebrating International Mens Day on 19th November 2009 at Azad Maidan(11 A.M to 4 P.M). An awareness vehicle rally, consisting of about 50 motorcycles and four wheelers, starting from Mulund will be converging at Azad Maidan by 12.30 pm.

We are part of the Save Indian Family Movement. This movement was initiated by victims of law who were falsely accused or threatened of law misuse, done with a view to take undue advantage, when a male family member’s marriage fails due to some other reason other than the false criminal accusation.

Male plight have always been the butt of jokes or cartoons and have never been taken seriously as their suffering is taken for granted or ignored. On this mens day we would like to pay tribute to the undisputable hard working taxpayer, Men, who pays approximately 82% taxes to the Government of India. Legal atrocities on us has been termed as “Legal Terrorism” by Supreme Court and recently the government has advised not to rush for Arrests of the Innocent Family of the Groom, as gross misuse of cruel Marriage laws has been observed for years together.

We would like to call for your Unconditional and Overwhelming support in demanding a basic constitutional infrastructure and machinery for Men and his family members.

- Calling the government attention for Introducing a Ministry for Men regarding welfare of mens and related issues.
- Introducing a suo motu (By Default) punishment in the IPC for misuse of any law(especially laws concerned with families) irrespective of gender.
- Creating Machinery for Men to get his serious grievances recorded as crime against men and thus allow generating statistics for men to help understand his plight better.
- Identify his emotional needs as a father and allow a shared parenting during marital dispute.
- Protect the Mother and Sister and other relatives of Husband during marital dispute.

We are only against the misuse of any law on any innocent. We are not against any strata of the society. We are for protection of a vulnerable section in the society. We believe that law should treat everyone equal without blindly favoring / opposing any group.

We look forward for your support and participation in making this International Men’s day a great success.

RSVP.
Public Relations Officer: 9930889008 / 9769770498 / 9224335577
info@protectindianfamily.org , help@iff-ngo.org
Indian Family Foundation and Protect Indian Family Foundation (Mumbai)

Supported by: Save Indian Family Foundation Bangaluru, Chattisgarh, Save Family Foundation Delhi, Hridaya Kolkatta, Pati Parivar Kalyan Samiti Lucknow, Save Family Welfare System Indore, All India Forgotten Women Hyderabad, Mothers And Sisters Initiative Delhi, All India Mother In Law Protection Forum Nagpur. Gender Human Rights Society Delhi, Child Rights and Famliy Welfare Mumbai, Bhavya Foundation Moradabad, Childs Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting Bangaluru. Sahana Hyderabad, Rakshak Foundation USA, 498a.org USA, Mynation.net (Middle East), Indiya Kudumba Pathukappu Iyakkam Chennai, Family India Lifeline Kochi, All India Men’s Welfare Association Bangaluru.

www.protectindianfamily.org www.iff-ngo.org www.savefamily.org www.498a.org www.saveindianfamily.org www.ghrs.in www.crisp-india.org www.bhavyafoundation.org www.aifw.info www.sahanaindia.org www.mynation.net www.aimpf.org http://www.antidowry.org

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We got a lot of media coverage for IMD events(Vehicel Rally and Dharna), as follows:

1) A two part series of articles by Alisha Coelho, Mid Day, who did articles about IMD on 2 days(on the eve(18th) and post IMD on 20th November).

The Mid-Day article on 18th nov was a photo feature: "Mard ko bhi dard hota hai "( http://at498a.blogspot.com/2009/12/mid-day-photo-feature-on-international.html ).

2) Mid-day article post IMD on 20th "We don't need dowry, cry harassed husbands" -( http://at498a.blogspot.com/2009/12/mid-day-article-post-international-mens.html) which also had the following News video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKtueosbuVI

Mid_day News Video:

3) Hindustan Times Article: ‘Harassed’ husbands rally for equal laws on International Men’s Day (http://at498a.blogspot.com/2009/12/ht-article-post-international-mens-day.html)

4) DNA Article: 'Harassed' husbands take up cudgels (http://at498a.blogspot.com/2009/12/dna-article-post-international-mens-day.html)

5) Top News Article: ‘Harassed’ husbands rally for equal laws on International Men’s Day (http://at498a.blogspot.com/2009/12/topnews-article-post-international-mens.html)

IMD Videos

Rally Part-1:

IMD Rally Part-2:

IMD Dharna-Protest:

Rally and Dharna Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/send2jaspreet/BikeRallyMensDay2009

For more details on events across the world: http://internationalmensday-india.blogspot.com

Last years Mumbai IMD rally news reports: http://at498a.blogspot.com/2008/11/mens-day-vehicle-rally-mumbai-media.html

Men's Day Vehicle Rally, Mumbai-Media Coverage

More Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/send2jaspreet/MumbaiBikeRally?authkey=ke61qSX3oT8