Madam, - In her letter of March 10th, Margaret Martin states that "Women's Aid is indeed a feminist organisation" and that "men can and do use our service". She goes on to say that "the two are not mutually exclusive", as my letter of 7th March implied. Perhaps they are not mutually exclusive, but one has to ask if it is appropriate for a charitable, State-funded support group to align itself with and promote any particular political philosophy or ideology. Describing itself as a feminist organisation would not encourage men to avail of its services and indeed many women who may need such support would not necessarily support feminism.
Ms Martin does not respond to the points in my letter that Women's Aid's literature and website deal exclusively with violence against women as if violence against men did not exist and that the name of the organisation implies a gender-specific service. Nor does she give any details of the services provided for men.
It is, however, refreshing to see that Women's Aid now accepts that men are also victims of domestic violence. Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, we will reach the stage where services are inclusive of all victims without any gender-specific connotations and free from the constraints of political ideologies. - Yours, etc.,
MARY T CLEARY, Amen, St Anne's Resource Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co Meath