Pubs push to fight violence over a friendly beer
Vikki Campion: Daily Telegraph | November 12, 2008
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24638588-5001021,00.html
MALE drinkers in pubs will be warned over a beer not to beat their wife and children in a new offensive against domestic violence.
Bar staff also will be trained to help spread the warnings as data shows domestic violence increases on Sydney’s boozy summer nights.
The State Government-supported push will run in pubs and clubs across Sydney’s outer west, Port Macquarie, Griffith and Tumut.
Schooners will be served on more than 60,000 coasters saying “Shout at the pub, not at home”; “Put your glass down, not your missus” and pubs will hang “Expect Respect” posters in bars.
Men will be targeted at the bottle shop as “Expect Respect’ stickers are slapped on slabs of beer.
Minister for Women Verity Firth, whose office helps fund the 16 Days of Activism to Stop Violence Against Women campaign, said the Government knows the “terrible damage” violence wreaks on families.
“We are committed to tackling domestic violence and providing appropriate, sensitive and effective support to victims,” she said.
And women will be targeted at the shops with “Expect Respect” shop-a-dockets printed on 1.5 million supermarket receipts.
Women Activities and Self Help House (WASHHouse) teamed with police and publicans to get men in Blacktown, which has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in NSW, to peer pressure each other to stop bad behaviour.
“There is a high correlation between alcohol and domestic violence incidents, particularly during the warmer summer months,” WASHhouse manager Catherine White said yesterday.
“Most men aren’t violent and can help by promoting healthy relationships and speaking out against violence towards women.”
At lunch with friends at the Royal Cricketers Arms Prospect, Castle Hill’s Joanne Ceh said she preferred the gentle message of the coasters over confronting TV ads “of a woman getting her head bashed in”.
Comment:
Left the following comment on the above article’s comment’s page (comment #9 of 15). I’m surprised it was accepted as it flies in the face of those that follow the politicially correct, feminist dogma that all men are violent and all women are victims.
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