conf17

The Men’s Voices Ireland 2017 Annual Conference was a great success. It exceeded our expectations and demonstrated a need and a market for such events. We timed the conference to coincide with International Men’s Day, which is now an established fixture that attracts increasing public interest. It was a day of engaging talks and discussion sessions on the theme of Misandry, defined as the ‘Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against men.’

The success of the 2017 Annual Conference was all the more welcome given the planning difficulties encountered and the apprehension leading up to the event. Our original intention was to put on a screening of The Red Pill, a documentary film directed by Cassie Jaye, as a focus for debate and discussion. Despite a determined effort, this did not work out, and an alternative event format and theme needed to be put in place at short notice.

Our chosen theme of Challenging Misandry drew a lot of negative attention. Ironically, one distinctly hostile article in a Sunday newspaper only served to confirm that misandry exists, and is alive and well and present in the media. Two leading speakers pulled out in mid-October. But figures of the calibre of Matt and Nadine O’Connor and John Waters stepped up to fill the vacancies. Thank you to all our speakers and attendees for making the event such a great success.

Presentations

The speakers and presentations made to the Men’s Voices Ireland 2017 were:

David Walsh

Chairman, Men’s Voices Ireland Opening address with a review of the events of the past year.

Matt O’Connor

Founder, Fathers4Justice How has the state and the media been so indoctrinated against men and masculinity?. Matt shared his knowledge and experience gained over 16 years of campaigning.

John Waters

Fathers’ rights campaigner, journalist and author John spoke on The attack on fathers, the attack on family, a subject on which he has written for two decades.