One of the now famous screenshots from the Blokes Advice Facebook page.
THE closed Facebook group Blokes Advice, once again, has people furious.
It’s been criticised for being sexist, misogynistic and even “cultish”. It’s been slammed for being “disrespectful”, “unacceptable”, “manipulative” and “outrageous”.
But in the midst of all the fury, not everyone is spitting rage.
Sophie*, the partner of one of Blokes Advice founders tells news.com.au why she’s glad her beloved boyfriend runs the page.
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THERE seems to be this bizarre idea floating around that all women are offended by everything — they’re not.
I’ve known my partner for six years. We met through a dating app and stayed friends. During the time we’ve been friends, he’s seen me go through other relationships. Horrible relationships. He has always been incredibly supportive.
We’ve been a couple for three years; he’s loyal, caring and amazing. I wouldn’t be marrying him if I had any doubt about him whatsoever.
I’ve copped a lot of abuse being his partner. People go out of their way to stalk him, they find he has a partner and a child and they come for me. I’ve had messages on my phone saying, “How could you do this? You’re a disgrace” “Your son deserves a better father” or “We hope you lose your son.”
They don’t know me; they certainly don’t know my partner. You can’t argue with feminists, they just want to push their own narrative, even if we all know it’s rubbish.
He gets up at 4am and gets home at 7pm six days a week. He works hard to provide for his family so I don’t have to work. I can focus on our son. He’s our absolute priority — he’s our world. He’s our little miracle because we were told we couldn’t have children. We both adore him, he wants for nothing. That’s because my partner works so hard to provide for us.
The boys are doing so much good with this new page. People who are trying to raise money through GoFundMe pages get in touch, the guys will post it and it helps them raise awareness for their cause. They’ve helped people pay medical costs and bills running into thousands of dollars.
I don’t look at the page. Why would I? It’s not my place. The conversations they have there are just the same as blokes would have in a pub. What’s the difference between having them in a pub or online?
Some people try to pretend girls don’t have conversations about those kinds of things, sex and guys. We all know that’s not true.
Critics put together screen shot images from different pages and, of course, only take the worst that slip through. There are nearly half a million people on the Blokes Advice page, what do they expect?
It’s easy to criticise screenshots like this, but there are nearly half a million people on the page, and this doesn’t represent them, says Sophie.Source:Supplied
But, it’s hurting my family. I’m a mother. They say I should lose my son. That’s not fair. Do they think about what they’re saying from behind their keyboards? It’s not fair to come after someone who’s a mum and who stays out of their partner’s business. They come playing the victim card, saying I don’t understand what they’re going through.
I know this; I have a partner who adores me, provides for me, his child and support his mates.
These critics know nothing about him. Can they just hop off the bandwagon and let boys be boys? All this harassment is affecting my family.
There are thousands of pages all over the world we don’t even know about doing exactly the same thing.
Some Facebook pages based in Australia pretend to be for good causes. They’re not. They delete all comments that try to tell the truth.
Blokes Advice is about supporting other guys — leave them to it. I’m not offended, why should you be? Why are some people so threatened by a brotherhood?
People say they hope my son doesn’t grow up to be like his father. They don’t know him — and they’re wrong. I hope he does.”
* Name has been changed to protect identity.