Why the ‘not all men’ argument misses the point on violence against women

THERE has been a fair amount of discussion this week after some push-back against the idea that men, or society more broadly, should feel any sense of shame in response to the number of women killed in Northern Ireland in recent years.

The argument rests on a familiar line - that responsibility lies with a small number of violent, “exceptional” individuals, not with men as a group.

It is a reassuring position but also an incomplete one.

No-one wants to be told they should feel ashamed for something they did not do, but that is not what this conversation is asking.

David Adams: I’m a former loyalist who supports a ‘New Ireland’, but why won’t anyone tell me what it will be like?

Since 2020, 30 women have died violently in Northern Ireland. In all but one of these cases, a man has been charged or convicted. That is not a coincidence and it is not explained away by describing perpetrators as outliers. Patterns of this scale demand a wider lens.

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