About the Film: When feminist filmmaker Cassie Jaye sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Jaye had only heard about the Men’s Rights Movement as being a misogynist hate-group aiming to turn back the clock on women’s rights, but when she spends a year filming the leaders and followers within the movement, she learns the various ways men are disadvantaged and discriminated against. The Red Pill challenges the audience to pull back the veil, question societal norms, and expose themselves to an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.
Learn more about Cassie Jaye & The Red Pill Moviehere.
Males are victims of crimes and perpetrators of crimes
Males are victims of exploitation, sexual abuse, domestic violence, attempted homicide, homicide, physical assault, hazing and bullying
Males are the perpetrators of most crimes committed in the military
What percentage of males has post traumatic stress?
What percentage of males is considered a domestic abuser?
Need to differentiate between disassociation/abuse & escalation in violence
More then half of victims of sexual assault are male, they are not reporting.
1 Active Duty suicide a day, most cases not attributed to serving in combat zone.
High rates of domestic abuse, alcohol use, assault, & getting into trouble.
Males guilty of domestic violence, child abuse, physical assault, sexual assault
Majority of perpetrators are males, although women are perpetrators too
Both male & female perpetrators exhibit signs of narcissism, sociopathy
Perpetrators do not discriminate, they target the most vulnerable male or female
Perpetrators are targeting males because male dominated career, opportunist
Male on male crime tends to be more violent, victim may have been threatened
The stereotype that perpetrators are always male is false, female perpetrators tend to be more sociopathic, manufacture evidence, create narrative, and elicit the help of others to commit the crimes usually because of financial motive
Financial benefits, medical benefits, & life insurance make solders vulnerable, targeted by sociopaths for financial gain, mostly males in Army targeted
Domestic abuse perpetrated by female spouses minimized, false accusations common
Fear of losing security of steady paycheck if anyone reports abuse to command
Red flags missed because the abused do not want to report, violence escalates to a point of no return (careers ended, someone gets hurt or dies)
Males fear reporting to command, perpetrators may be higher ranking, exploitation
Commanders are single investigators, may not realize being manipulated by sociopath who is out to get revenge because the other party rejected them
Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance is a common motive for murder, mostly males targeted, soldiers motivated to get married quickly for financial benefits
Males think they can’t become a victim of crime, anyone can whether violent criminal or manipulative spouse exploiting soldier financially, target when alone
If abusive spouse lives on federal military base, no one has jurisdiction over them, can’t court martial or NJP, soldier held responsible for behavior of family
Where can soldiers turn to for help to safely end a marriage? Are they provided with an attorney? Do they have to pay out of pocket? Command’s involvement?
Who is tracking behaviors/red flags of both perpetrators & those with PTSD?
What services are offered to assist a soldier with PTSD? Is it a career ender?
Is toxic leadership responsible for soldiers choosing suicide? Betrayal?
How do Commander’s hold military spouse accountable for domestic abuse?
How do Commander’s hold soldier accountable for escalating domestic abuse?
Is it possible that male soldiers do not report because don’t want to be seen as weak?
We hear a lot about #weinstein and the latest, but Jennifer Norris, who served in the US Air Force, has been talking about sexual assault for years. And in the military, reporting rape means endangering yourself. Watch this brave woman speak here https://t.co/1ipeI3SWP6pic.twitter.com/TAjiVjmdDS
Today U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David J. Shulkin announced that VA has begun publicly posting information on opioids dispensed from VA pharmacies, along with VA’s strategies to prescribe these pain medications appropriately and safely.
With this announcement, VA becomes the only health-care system in the country to post information on its opioid-prescribing rates.
The disclosure is part of VA’s promise of transparency to Veterans and the American people, and builds on VA’s strong record of transparency disclosures — including on wait times, accountability actions, employee settlements and the Secretary’s travel — under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump over the past year.
“Many Veterans enrolled in the VA health-care system suffer from high rates of chronic pain and the prescribing of opioids may be necessary medically,” Secretary Shulkin said. “And while VA offers other pain-management options to reduce the need for opioids, it is important that we are transparent on how we prescribe opioids, so Veterans and the public can see what we are doing in our facilities and the progress we have made over time.”
Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said, “Declaring the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency was a call to action by the president. His administration is exploring all tools and authorities within their agencies to address this complex challenge costing lives. Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. Shulkin is heeding that call; the VA is now the first hospital system in the country to post information on its opioid prescribing rates. This is an innovative way to raise awareness, increase transparency and mitigate the dangers of over-prescribing.”
The interactive map shows data over a five-year period (2012-2017) and does not include Veterans’ personal information. The posted information shows opioid-dispensing rates for each facility and how much those rates have changed over time.
It is important to note that because the needs and conditions of Veterans may be different at each facility, rates may also be different for that reason, and cannot be compared directly.
The prescribing rate information will be updated semi-annually, on January 15 and July 15 of each year.
As a learning health system using the current best evidence to learn and improve, VA continually develops and refines best practices for the care of Veterans. Releasing this data will facilitate the sharing of best practices in pain management and opioid prescribing among doctors and medical center directors.
Highlights from the data include:
A 41-percent drop in opioid-prescribing rates across VA between 2012 and 2017
Ninety-nine percent of facilities decreased their prescribing rates.
San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Cleveland, Ohio, top the list of medical centers with the lowest prescribing rates, at 3 percent.
El Paso, Texas, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, are most improved, and decreased prescribing rates by more than 60 percent since 2012. El Paso’s prescribing rate decreased by 66 percent, and Fayetteville’s decreased by 65 percent.
VA currently uses a multifaceted approach to reduce the need for the use of opioids among Veterans. Since 2012, the Opioid Safety Initiative has focused on the safe use and slow and steady decrease in VA opioid dispensing. VA also uses other therapies, including physical therapy and complementary and integrative health alternatives, such as meditation, yoga and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Information about the VA Opioid Safety Initiative may be found here. A link to the interactive map on VA’s opioid use across the nation may be found here.
This post was inspired by International Men’s Day and a quest to find the truth on the internet. Are men in the US the majority of the victims of crimes?
This research was inspired by the above graphic. My initial research so far for the military backs these numbers so I feel that it is fair to say more men in the military are victims of crimes than women. We have more military men than women so that only makes sense. By the numbers we have roughly 85% males and 15% females. We know more military men have died by suicide or “non combat death” while in service than military women. We know male veterans make up the majority of the homeless mostly due to mental health and substance abuse issues. We don’t know the percentage of men in the military who have been murdered versus the number of female service members. But we do know that the research so far reveals more men are murdered than military women while serving. The number that may throw this off is how many military men are murdering their spouses and significant others and/or members of their family. So more research has to be done.
The Department of Defense hasn’t included the military spouses in the data thus far nor have they included civilians who have been victims of crime by military members. But we know they exist because we try to track all victims of crime perpetrated by a military member on this website in an effort to honor them. Today we featured 30 cases of domestic abuse that led to the homicide of a female spouse or soldier. We have concerns about domestic violence in general especially since we learned that upwards of 40% of males are victims of domestic violence in the United States. We believe it. Since the majority of members in the military are males, we have found multiple cases of men getting targeted by mostly female civilians and then abused and murdered for their benefits and life insurance. In some cases they reported the domestic violence but in most cases they don’t. Why are men less likely to report when they are a victim of domestic violence? Are they being threatened? For example, “I will ruin your career” comes to mind. This is something that needs to be explored further.
Our new concern is that military men are being falsely accused of sex crimes in an effort to make divorce go in the spouses favor or they have been exploited by a service member looking for a new assignment, to get out of a financial obligation, to get an early retirement, and also the Department of Veterans Affairs financial monthly benefits, about $3,000 a month for someone who is 100% disabled. Although sexual assault isn’t specifically mentioned in the above graphic, we also know that the majority of military men are victims of sexual assault and rape but are the least likely to report. We’ve also learned that about a 1/3 of female victims of crime in the military report and 60% of those females report they experienced both perceived personal and professional retaliation as a result of that report, in a lot of cases the report eventually ends the career. And this may be why so many victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape in the military do not report, specifically men. The military career is an investment that most of us don’t want meddled with.
The military career is our retirement plan, it’s a financial asset. We don’t want to risk losing our careers in the long run because we know a report of a crime or a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder will make us “unfit for service.”
Our number one goal was to find out if more males are victims of violent crime than females, not that it matters because all people are important. But if you try to find the statistics out there, you will find that they are buried by media reports of how many women are murdered by intimate partner violence, pregnant women are especially at risk. Whereas males are more likely to be the victim of a crime perpetrated by a stranger. Make sure and check out The Red Pill trailer below to find out why Men’s Rights Advocates are fighting for their fellow males. Women do it all the time and there’s no reason they can’t either but they are getting judged, villianized, and demonized for their very important and necessary work. It’s time to step it up for men who die by homicide and suicide; and it’s time we teach them it’s okay to reach out for help whether they have combat PTSD or were a victim of crime.
Broad studies have revealed certain trends within crime and victimization patterns. Adolescents are most likely to be victimized. Men become crime victims more often than women do, and blacks experience more crime than other racial groups. –National Institute of Justice
More men are murdered than women, mostly gun violence
Men are more likely to be murdered by a stranger than a women
Women are more likely to be murdered by an intimate partner
Pregnant women are at most risk of homicide by an intimate partner
More men than women are raped and sexually assaulted in the military
More men than women in the US are raped if you include prisons
Men make up 40% of domestic violence cases in the US
Fort Hood Army Master Sergeant Alva ‘Joe’ Gwinn, 39, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on October 12, 2017 near the Williamson-Bell County line in Texas. Although the exact set of circumstances that led to MSG Gwinn taking his own life are unknown, the media reported that MSG Gwinn took his own life during an exchange of gunfire after leading the Killeen Police Department (KPD) on a high speed car chase. Prior to the incident, a concerned family member contacted the Fort Hood chain of command to report that Joe was experiencing a mental health breakdown and may be suicidal. The command contacted the military police who then asked the Killeen Police Department to do a ‘welfare check’ on MSG Gwinn. According to the KPD, MSG Gwinn was located in his car but took off when approached; they said MSG Gwinn then led police on a high speed car chase. According to reports, Alva fled on foot after pulling over, there was an exchange of gunfire with the KPD, and MSG Gwinn ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. An officer involved shooting investigation was launched because gunfire was exchanged. Joe left behind two sons from a previous marriage and a wife and family who loved him very much. He is missed dearly.
On March 21, 2018, the media reported that a “Bell County Grand Jury reviewed the completed investigation done by the Texas Rangers and decided no indictment should be returned to the deputy in connection with the events leading to the death of a Fort Hood soldier.” MSG Gwinn’s home of record was listed as Richwood, West Virginia. MSG Gwinn served in the Army National Guard from 1996-1999 and then enlisted in the active-duty Army in September 1999 as a combat engineer. At the time of his death, MSG Gwinn was assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade at Fort Hood since April 2012. MSG Gwinn served in the military for over twenty years and was eligible for retirement. When the media reported on the death of MSG Gwinn, they also mentioned a sexual assault accusation lodged against him in June 2016. They reported MSG Gwinn was scheduled to go to court in November 2017 as if they were implying there was a connection between the suicide and the court date scheduled the following month. One media source reported MSG Gwinn was a highly decorated combat veteran who was known for being a perfectionist and respected by his peers. MSG Gwinn deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan a total of five times while he served with the U.S. Army.
Editor’s Note: The circumstances that led to MSG Gwinn’s suicide inspired us to include him in a Fort Hood status of forces presentation we prepared for congressional representatives in Washington D.C. We believe things could have been handled better and we hope authorities learn from this experience in an effort to prevent it from happening again. We also found it in poor taste that the media mired MSG Gwinn’s reputation at the time of his death with an accusation of which he had not been found guilty of.
Areas of Concern:
On October 12, 2017, family informed the chain of command that MSG Gwinn was experiencing a mental health breakdown & may be suicidal; at the request of the chain of command, the military police asked the Killeen Police Department to do a ‘welfare check’ on MSG Gwinn; according to the KPD, they located MSG Gwinn in his car but he took off when approached and then led them on a high speed car chase that ended with an exchange of gunfire and MSG Gwinn taking his own life
How can we prevent a ‘welfare check’ from turning into an officer involved shooting, suicide by cop or suicide? Why was the high speed car chase necessary?
According to media reports, in June 2016, MSG Gwinn was arrested, indicted and charged by civilian authorities with “aggravated sexual assault” of a 12-year-old girl in 2012; the accusations surfaced in the midst of a child support and child custody case; MSG Gwinn maintained his innocence but a potential trial loomed and his military career and child visitation rights were on hold; Joe loved his family
The accusations negatively impacted MSG Gwinn’s military career and ability to spend time with his two sons; this in turn negatively impacted his mental health; the stress of the child custody case & accusations took their toll; up until this point, MSG Gwinn had a stellar military career and had never been accused of any crimes
According to local media, Alva was facing a trial in November 2017 and they made a loose connection between a pending trial date and MSG Gwinn’s suicide
What prompted the media to mire MSG Gwinn’s memory with an accusation when they reported on his death? Is that fair when the accused can’t defend themselves?
Whether guilty or innocent, this is a tragic end for a man accused of a crime
What does the Army do with the accused who are awaiting criminal trial?
Is Fort Hood responsible for the mental health of those accused of crimes?
What is the military’s policy on child visitation when a military member is accused of a crime against a child other than their own?
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 