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LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2022
SO IT’S 20 May. That means it’s World Bee Day again when many turn their attention to bees at least for a few moments.
It’s the day allocated to celebrate these fascinating vital creatures. These creatures have buzzed about this planet for around 130,000,000 years. These creatures flew at the feet of dinosaurs.
Did you have any idea that there are approximately 20,000 recorded species of bee throughout the world and the majority of these bee species are Solitary Bees? That’s right, around 90% of bee species are solitary bees that build individual nests, don’t have a queen, don’t produce honey and don’t swarm.
There are over 250 species of bumblebees – the fat ‘furry’ ones that establish nests every spring containing anything from 50 to a couple of hundred bees over the summer months.
So why then when the word bee is mentioned do most people immediately think of honey bees, hives, honey, swarms and people in dodgy space suits? Why indeed given that there are in fact only eight species of honey bee on the planet?
A clue to this apparent blinkered understanding of bees lies in the origins of World Bee Day itself.
Bees and beekeeping
The first World Bee Day was celebrated in 2018. Slovenia had proposed the concept of a World Bee Day and after three years of International effort, UN Member States unanimously approved the proposal just before Christmas 2017.
World Bee Day had arrived.A great day for all bees.Or was it?A great day for all bees?All 20,000 species of them?
You see the devil is always in the detail and in this case the detail is the date – 20 May. This date was chosen as it was the birthday of Anton Janša.
Who’s Anton Janša when he’s at home I hear you ask. Janša, when he was at home, in Slovenia, in the 18th century, was a pioneer of modern apiculture. Apiculture being “the care and management of honey bees for the production of honey and wax.”
So World Bee Day was advocated for and established by beekeepers, who only keep honey bees, on the date of the birth date of a pioneer of modern beekeeping. Do you see where I’m going with this? No? I’ll spell it out then as plain as I can.
Honey bees are a kept creature. They are not endangered. Our focus needs to be on native wild bees – bumblebees and solitary bees – so this constant placing of honeybees in the spotlight either knowingly or in a lot of cases unwittingly is not helpful. In fact, it’s a hindrance to the messaging and work around saving native wild bees.
So to then have World Bee Day specifically on a date that celebrates a keeper of honeybees, despite the good intentions, does not set out on the right foot and could be seen as missing the point when these beautiful wild creatures are already down – or almost 20,000 species of said creature.
You see native wild bees are in all sorts of trouble – 40% of bee species worldwide are threatened — four out of every ten. A study in Argentina last year found that one-quarter of bee species are no longer showing up on sighting records and this is despite an increase in data collection and citizen scientists out looking for them.
In Ireland, we now have one hundred and one species of bee. Seventy-nine of these are solitary bees, 21 are bumblebees and yes, you’ve guessed it and your maths is spot on, one species is the honey bee. One-third of our 101 bees are in trouble here with some estimates that we are losing them at a rate of between four and five per cent per year.
So basic maths, which I believe we still teach in school, and a little bit of cop on should lead us to the conclusion that we need to act and act fast to help our little friends. And they are our little friends.
Humans – no friends to bees
I haven’t the space here to get into all the good things, all the vital things bees do for us but trust me they do only good for us and even beyond all this goodness the fundamental fact is that they have a right to exist, to be(e) regardless of their benefit to us. All creatures do.
So their place on this planet, their home too, should not and ought not to be spoken about in terms of economic benefit to us.
They’re stunning wonderful creatures and they were here first – way first – that should hold weight and it brings us sweet as honey to the point that needs to be considered first when we have notions of saving them – given bees have thrived for so long – 130 million years remember – (whereas us, well we’ve only been around for a couple of hundred thousand years): why are they so suddenly and so drastically in trouble?
The clue is in the previous sentence and the answer has two letters the first being U and the last being S. Bees are in trouble because of – us. And in order to truly help them, to make amends, we need to own that fact. We have within the last 100 years destroyed and taken their habitat – where they live and shelter and breed. We have absolutely diminished their forage sources – what they eat.
We have poisoned them directly, poisoned their food and poisoned their habitat. A real full on triple threat – with chemicals borne of the horrors and depravities of war and then subsequently marketed for profit as solutions to non-existent problems to the masses.
We have helped spread disease among them far and wide in our use of them as a commodity. And now we’ve thrown in the mother of all RKOs to finish them off – climate breakdown – which yes we are 100% taking the credit for.
Industrialisation of nature
So we’ve done this to them. (To the entire natural world but we’ll focus on bees given the day that’s in it). And still, these wonderful docile creatures keep giving to us. So what can we do to help? What ought we do? What will we do?
Let’s start with the can. We can stop kicking it down the road! It’s our responsibility to action this and action it honestly and bravely and not leave it to future generations – it will be too late. No might be. Will be.
We can realise, we can wake up – that is the first step to recovery here. We need to actually realise the following:
We need to realise that keeping hives of honey bees is in no way and by no stretch of the imagination any part of the solution. In fact, many including myself would argue that keeping hives of honey bees is actually now part of the problem. Honey bees compete for ever scarcer resources with native wild bees.
Back to the maths: at the upper end of the scale one well-managed hive of honeybees with 60,000 bees with even just one-third of the workers making 1000 flower visits per day requires how many visits to flowers? 20 million flower visits per day. This has an impact.
Moving honey bees from place to place for pollination services and to access forage also has the potential to spread disease to native wild bees. So installing a hive in your garden, on your business premises or rooftop or even on your wildlife sanctuary is not about saving bees and nature it’s about keeping bees.
An engaging hobby. Extracting honey. Sure it might make you aware of nature. Closer to nature. But it is not about nature conservation. It’s not about saving bees. This isn’t a swipe at beekeepers and beekeeping, I have met many and they love nature and love their bees, but really it’s rather a nod to the truth.
We need to realise that the poisonous chemicals in insecticides, herbicides and fungicides are exactly that – poison. A recent study in Germany found pesticides and glyphosate in air samples taken in the darkest depths of their largest forests and at the top of their highest mountains.
These chemicals are now like whichever Gods you may believe in – ubiquitous. Everywhere. They’re flowing through your veins. They’re in your urine. They’re in your breast milk. We need to stop worshipping these false gods. Fast. Some scientists are warning that a teaspoon of a neonicotinoid pesticide is sufficient to deliver a lethal dose to 1.25 billion bees – and your pet’s spot on flea treatment possibly is full of it.
We need to realise that the choices we make about our diet not only affect our own health but the health of the planet. The health of bees. The food we choose to eat and the way we choose to produce it is up there with the biggest factors in the demise of nature. The demise of bees. And it is a choice. Never forget that.
We should also know that there are alternatives to the mass land use for beef and dairy products over generations that have seen nature and bees pushed to the edge. To the hedgerows which they’re now coming for too. There are alternatives to the chemical annihilation of nature, soil, water, air and bees. It’s not a debate as to whether we can feed the world without all this. We can. The debate is the distraction. The delay. Don’t get bogged down in it. We don’t have the time.
We also need to realise that when we walk into our friendly garden centre, local store or DIY on a Saturday morning and purchase some plants to put in our gardens that those plants, even the ones labelled as bee-friendly are often treated with a cocktail of chemicals which could actually be harmful to bees and the natural world. Little trojan horses of chemicals which we welcome with joy into our gardens and homes.
So these are just some of the realisations we need to come to. Not a pretty picture really is it on this day of the bees? So do we just accept this? Carry on regardless? Sorry little guys we love you today, yay bees, but..it’s..just..too..much.
What can be done?
No, we do not. We cannot. We ought not. What we ought to do is take both personal and collective responsibility. Take it square on the chin and get up and do it again and again and again. We need to change things for the bees. For us.
So here are six things we, you and everyone ought to do right now:
1 – Start demanding and making better food choices. Better food systems. It’s uncomfortable. It’s unpalatable. It’s a pain in the posterior but we’re literally eating the future. Let’s demand more honesty and transparency about what is actually in our food and how it is really produced. Let’s look at the hidden costs, the unaccounted for costs of what we produce. A UK based study suggests that if just 2% of farmland was returned to organic traditionally managed meadows with wild corridors joining them up the bees could start recovering within five years. That’s just one in every fifty acres. That’s doable. Very doable.
2 – Stop using poisons in your garden, on your street, along your ditch, on the curbside, around trees, in parks, on golf courses, at sports grounds, in car parks, on school grounds, on farms and by rivers. They are not necessary. They harm. They are so last century. We’re better than this now. They are symbols of our complacency in a bottle labelled with a skull. We’re better than that.
3 – Start demanding plants that are not treated with chemicals at your Garden Centre, supermarket and DIY store. Ask questions and if they don’t have an answer, ask the question again. Create the demand for chemical-free plants and they will fill it. Realise your power here. There is huge potential for locally grown plant micro businesses throughout the country to step in and up here. In the meantime – plant swap from trusted local sources and grow your own from untreated seed.
4 – Embrace wild in your garden. Nature is gloriously messy. Don’t leave a strip for nature but take a strip for yourself and leave the rest for nature. She needs it, you don’t.
Don’t just do ‘No Mow May’ but also ‘Too Soon June” and ‘Keep It High July’ when it comes to grass in your back yard. Throw in a small pile of sand/soil/rubble in sheltered south facing spots and watch the solitary bees arrive. Leave the weeds – they’re beautiful and vital. They’re wildflowers supplied by nature to feed nature. Dandelions, thistle, nettles and all the others…get to know them a bit better.
5 – If you can’t bring yourself to embrace the wild don’t hassle others who do. We hear this all time here. It’s so sad especially in this great age of diversity, when somebody does the right thing for nature in their own garden – in their own garden – that their community and neighbours often deride them for it. Instead, champion them for doing the right thing. We have a lot more to worry about on this planet at the moment than Imelda next door letting her grass grow long and her dandelions flourish. We should praise these wild pioneers not push them into plastic grass submission. And please, no plastic grass, it does no one any good, anywhere and is of no use to nature whatsoever.
6 – Don’t keep hives, keep flowers. If you really want to help native wild bees encourage, grow and keep flowers everywhere you can. Wildflowers. Chemical free flowers. How awful would that be? A world full of flowers. Full of colour. Full of goodness. Full of bees.
Will we do these things? The answer to that one lies with you. Each and every one of you.
The bees await the answer in ever decreasing numbers. They have no power in this. They are fully dependent on our benevolence. On our ability and willingness to go gently with the world.
Let’s not keep them waiting. Let’s not let them down. Let’s go gentle and honest and brave. We should celebrate bees today, for sure, but maybe given the place it sprang from we should rename it World Honey Bee Day and celebrate Honey Bees for the wonderful amazing creatures they are – but separate that sentiment out from our native wild bees that are in so much trouble so as to break the cycle of misunderstanding.
Every bee is vital. Not just honey bees. And every day should be Bee Day. Not just 20 May.
Happy Birthday, Anton Janśa.
Paul Handrick, known as The Bee Guy runs The Bee Sanctuary in County Wicklow.
Save the bees with us by becoming an Official Friend of the Bees via the website - www.thebeesanctuaryofireland.com.
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I heard Louise O’Neil interviewed by Anton Savage on this issue. When Anton put it to her that it was just as wrong and insidious for such photos of males to be taken and circulated she strongly denied that it was so, that it was somehow less serious and less upsetting for males.
As a woman I found this outrageous, surely it’s just as invasive and inappropriate.
Why does it matter in this circumstance if it has also happened to males? Yes, it does, and is terrible, but this is exclusively a question of revenge porn against women on a mass scale. Why can’t you focus on the circumstances instead of whataboutery?
Whataboutery is not a good argument. Feminists groups are painting this as a gender issue to divide men and women because they are pathetic and small people. Don’t be fooled by them.
Feminists have gone from fighting a cause to being a complete joke in the space of about 15 years.
They are now like a Monty Python sketch when ever interviewed or included in a debate.
That’s myopic Jack! I believe there’s no reason that respect for both men and women should coexist and be equal. Personally I can’t get my head round how women or men would send photos of themselves in the altogether to someone that they may be only in the early days of a relationship with.
Revenge porn on both sides should be taken equally seriously! However I know that a man would find it more embarrassing to admit it happened to them and write an article about it.
Men and women are already divided, that’s why this happened. For any true feminist the goal is for young men and women to have more compassion and respect for each other than this. If you feel that being separated from women is preferable to treating them as equals I doubt the female population will lament your loss for too long.
When can we expect feminists(sexists) to pick up the mantle and fight the system where men and boys are discriminated against? Like the fact that 55% of people who finish their leaving cert are girls(shocking disparity). I won’t hold my breath. Women are turning their backs on feminism because they see it as clearly sexist against the men in their lives.
Anyone who doesn’t care about or acknowledge sexism against boys and men is not a feminist. But if you are worried about that particular issue, why are you waiting for a group that you clearly distrust to fix it? Start a campaign yourself. I would help that cause if I was asked.
Obviously you have never heard of Caitlin Moran
i hate feminists, i put them in the same league as islamists, complete s*um, nothing more. i don’t care what these fanatics think, i have zero respect for them. They need a good punch to the head, equal rights, equal fights.
As for the sc*um of UCD, they need the same. they should be publicly shamed. this is the lowest of the low.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the convention issue here? That those who share intimate pictures of exs are A-holes? That’s a given. But as the author points out: most pics are selfies, and once you send it to someone else you lose control over who sees it.
Exactly. You’d think that students attaining high levels of points to gain entry into UCD would have a basic level of cop on…. Obviously not! Maybe common sense and street smarts should be on any new reformed/revised school curriculums. That being said, it’s still classless to be sharing these photos.
From the red green balance above, it seems a worrying number of people operate under the illusion that after you send someone a nudie selfie that you somehow maintain control of it ? – well, I’ve got bad news for you, son..
Have to agree and if you are going to allow somebody to take a pic of you naked or while having sex then you are a idiot
Well personally I would rather spend time with an idiot or personally I would say a naive person, than a creepy weasel who would publish said picture amongst 200 people.
If a photo is taken of someone while their asleep, without their consent, or even just to make them feel good about themselves, then making fun of that person by sharing the photos with your mates is at the very least cyber bullying. Your comment stinks of victim blaming. I’d imagine fewer people are disillusioned about controlling a photo than you think. I’d imagine they just understand how not-to-be an @sshole, or grasp the concept of having some common decency.
They are sent with implied trust and in confidence. If you give your credit card over the phone to an insurance company is it fair game if they distribute that over the internet?
Has it ever occurred to you that it’s because that attitude exists that men think it’s okay to share the images? How would you like it if it happened to you? If you like your body and you want to take those kind of pictures then you should be entitled to do so without the fear that everybody will see them. It’s the same way if you sent illicit messages to your partner, you wouldn’t expect someone to screenshot those messages and post them on Facebook for your entire family to see, you wouldn’t like that, would you? Ironically, the group contains pictures of women, and YET it doesn’t show the screen shots of the men begging for the nudes in the first place.
It’s worth pointing out here that for all this talk of how the students should know better, a lot of these people are still first and second years and as such, at that age, we were all naive. This is a new breed of problem for society, how many parents have sat down and had a talk with their kids about not sha re in intimate pics? Very few would be my expectation. The villains of this piece are the lads who received these pics and were ignorant enough to think they had a right to share them. The victims of this piece may have been naive but that doesn’t make it their fault.
Nicola it happened to me. By a woman. Ignore the fact what ever sex it happened to. But when you got send it’s public domain. I learned the hard way
Did you report it to the police Micheal because a few poster here don’t think it happens to men on a meaningful scale. Rosy below even put up some UK police stats.
at least you admit to being ignorant
Nicola, you should probably rephrase your comment as it implies test all men think that this sort of activity is ok. The reality is that the majority of men and women feel that this is wholly inappropriate and that only a small group of men and women partake in revenge porn.
I absolutely do not think that all men think this activity is okay. I was just making a comment on the article in general. And unfortunately a large proportion of men commenting on this article seem to think that the women involved were naive and that they should have known better. Well you could say that that people sharing the images should have known better too. Age isn’t an excuse and if you’re going to be receiving private images from anyone then you should be grown up enough to know not to share them.
I agree Jason but some of the commentators on here, for instance Oran, believe it’s not a big deal. You are also right that nothing has been proven but should it be proven the victim blaming and watering down of how malicious a thing it is to do to either man or woman is a little unnerving.
Dell, I don’t know exactly what happened in UCD. I don;t know who the 200 people are, whether they were all male, whether ther was anything graphic in the pictures used or any of that stuff.
I do know, that 200 students are being trialled here and I’ve seen nothing substantive as of yet to justify it except hearsay to date.
Spot on Nimchimpsky. Trial by media is more and more common these days. Disgraceful.
Fair point nimchimpsky, my point is however, that if nude pictures of women were shared to a group of 200 people without their consent it was a malicious act and is a big deal unlike what some of the other commentators believe and though the victims were naive, should not be blamed.
nimchimpsky spot on. These young adults are old enough and responsible enough to get married, have children, drink, vote, go to war, teach and look after children, and travel the world without a guardian. But besides that they have no personal responsibility. The reaction to this you’d think it happened in a primary school and not in an institution for ADULTS. Let the university discipline any person who broke their rules and the Garda deal with anyone who broke the law. It’s the various organisations, you know who they are, doing their level best to make this a gender issue and a national catastrophe in order to push their newest product, consent classes, into every third level in Ireland. Then it will be onwards for these warriors to conquer the secondary schools.
These photos were most likely requested by their partners while in a relationship and the women trusted them. The photos were only shared after the relationship broke up which is disgraceful and should be taken highly seriously. NOBODY should have this happen to them.
Nicola, are people who leave door open when they leave house blameless when they’re burgled? Are people who leave mobile phone on bar counter when they go to toilet blameless when it’s taken? Are people who get drunk blameless when they do stupid things? Are people blameless when they don’t obey speed limits and get fined? People should be responsible for their own actions. Unfortunately lessons in life are sometimes learnt the hard way. Of course it’s despicable, spiteful and pathetic to be sharing these pictures but would it have happened if these photos weren’t sent in first place? No, of course it wouldn’t.
Completely agree Seamus. In a perfect world we should be able to leave ourselves wide open to anything without someone betraying our trust, but that simply isn’t the world we live in.
It’s stupid to take a chance by putting nude photos of yourself out there. You take a huge chance and sometimes, such as this, you lose. Of course anyone who distributes them without your permission should be held accountable, but you must take responsibility for putting them out there in the first place. Learn from it. It’s not the end of the world as the article makes it out to be.
And Friday the university dismissed the allegations completely. False allegations made and then spread by articles like this. There should be some kind of accountability on the media to make sure they have facts before ruining reputations. Unfortunately in this case, the damage has been done.
Bet you feel like a complete tit now, author. The investigation has found the college tribune had no evidence, no-one came forward, and you’ve just written an article pointing the finger at 200 male students.
I’ll be using your article in my complaint t UCD. And if I get on the airwaves about it, expect a call to defend your position.
I;d start writing up my defence right about now if I were you. You’re a disgrace that you couldn’t even wait a few days for an investigation to take place. You too are responsible for making 200 male students in UCD in fear of their futures based on nothing but a witchunt.
Anyone that sends compromising images of themselves to any other person is a moron. I would go so far as to say they deserve whatever befalls them. if some dirty moranic fool requests a woman to send compromising images of themselves…to add to their ‘Wank Bank’ and the woman oblige’s…well take some personal responsibility and cop on, Got it? what the hell do you think they will do with these images? they will probably end up on a porn site somewhere…. so many variables, if your account is hacked, service providers, etc etc etc, share images at your pearl.
Turns out all this UCD
While I agree with the author, revenge porn is degrading and reprehensible – for both men and women. I would also have to agree with David Brown, the allegations were made by the university newspaper and are now being investigated but as of yet neither UCD or anyone else has actually confirmed the existence of this thread. Perhaps we should withhold judgment of the Ag science department until their guilt is proven.
Irish students want the american scandal-ridden / activist college experience so bad it hurts. Blowing things like this out of proportion is part of it.
Exactly, people should remember that an entire fraternity’s reputation was completely destroyed in the US over allegations which proved to be completely falsified. It’s always wise to take these things with a grain of salt until it is proven without doubt.
That’s fair enough, but it does need investigating, by the guards. For the sake of all involved at this stage. i thought it was confirmed. god knows what sort of yoke with an axe to grind with the world runs that college newspaper. and if the allegations are false, we need to hear about that too.
Wow. The comments so far are basically victim-blaming, side-stepping the issue or making light of the issue. Well done lads, you’re doing us proud. How about acknowledging that revenge porn is harrowing for the victims, like the author points out.
Yup.. You get that a lot on here. While the girls were naive to share these photos with partners, what the lads did by sharing them on a 200 person group was demeaning and nasty. I hope this gets investigated properly and at a minimum every guy that shared images be named and shamed as the creepy piece of fecal matter that he is.
The attempt to paint this as a gender issue will hamper any steps to prevent it. People who do this need to know they will pay a high price. I think any one who does it should be put on the sex offenders register.
Ron that won’t happen, it’ll be swept under the carpet as UCD don’t want the bad publicity and because as you can see from some of the comments here some people think its not that big a deal and it has been blown out of proportion. I think anyone who would do something like this, man or woman, should at a minimum be named.
‘Fecal matter’
Jesus H Christ they’re kids on their first foray away from home experimenting with life.
You sound a proper man hating feminist chomping at the bit to get your claws into these guys to rip them to shreds and ruin their lives before they’ve even begun.
Get some perspective in your life and stop being so vindictive.
Never had a life did you? Never made a mistake in your youth? No?
What the fcuk is wrong with society nowadays that seeks to target young men and turn them into evil pariahs at every turn.
Sure, let’s make them all outcasts in this new feminist puritanical dystopia poisoning society.
Hahahahahah says anti choice catholic Oran. so you think that sharing images of naked girls who have trusted you is not that big a deal? you have no problem with the fact that these guys publicised the girls pictures without their consent but have an issue with them being named? You are a complete and utter hypocrite and a nasty one at that.
Oh and Oran, I didn’t see you saying anything about Rons suggestion of putting them on a sex offenders list? Personally I think that’s actually a step too far and is much more extreme than my suggestion to name them.
Sure, I’ve made plenty of mistakes when I was young, but the person who was most affected was me. I was the one who paid the consequences. I would never have betrayed a trust like that – it’s a choice to hurt and betray someone, not a mistake.
Sorry, Oran, but if they violated the UCD code of conduct (which UCD is investigating), particularly if the girls involved were under 18, then they should face the consequences for violating rules they agreed to.
You can label it victim blaming, but there is no denying that if “A” (someone sending a nude photo of themselves) hadn’t taken place, then “B” (someone sending it to others without their permission) never could have happened. The “victim” needs to take responsibility for sending that photo in the first place.
It’s akin to driving 100 down an icy road and crashing. You took a risk but crashed, and, sure, you’re a victim of a car crash, but your actions brought it on. You took a stupid chance, and this time, you lost.
The ice doesn’t actually have will of its own, it is not actively causing the accident. Yes these girls are partially responsible for being gullible and naive but the majority of the blame falls on the degenerates they trusted., wouldn’t worry about it though as I’d imagine if it does come to light that all of this is definitely true, nothing will happen or be done about it. I suppose if nothing else maybe people will be somewhat more wary about how much of themselves they share. well here’s hoping.
ALLEGATIONS DISMISSED BY THE COLLEGE FRIDAY EVENING.
I agree Dell. Mr Hoffman, that’s the same thing as saying ‘she was asking for it because she was wearing that short skirt’. That’s what I mean by victim-blaming. Yes of course people have to take responsibility for their own actions, but that’s not an excuse for abusive or irresponsible behaviour by another party. https://youtu.be/pZwvrxVavnQ
Actually it’s not at all the same, Paddy.
A nude photo of yourself is like a secret. You should keep it to yourself because if you share it with someone, chances are they won’t keep it to themself. You shouldn’t have let it out. That in no way is the same as rape.
But again, the victims in this case are the young men who were accused because the university dismissed ALL allegations on this – they were FALSE!
Never get their privacy back. When will I get my taxes back for their grants haha. But the moral of the story is never share sh*te online that you don’t want your dear old mum to see. It happened to me. Learned my lesson. Ps the autour could be a little bit less sexist !!
Seemed like such a well researched article, too bad the author failed the mention this disgusting phenomenon affect men as well and therefore is not a gender issue. Despite the risks, 36% of Americans still plan to send sexy or romantic photos to their partners via email, text and social media on Valentine’s Day. Significantly more men plan to do so, compared to women (43% vs. 29%), even though men get threatened to have their photos exposed online more than women (12% vs. 8%) and often have the threats carried out more than women (63% vs. 50%). (Research by McAfee).
Other research would shed a different light on it to your mcafee online survey. Statistics on Revenge Porn Victims:
-90% of revenge porn victims were women
- 68% were 18-30 years old, 27% were 18-22
- 57% of victims said their material was posted by an ex-boyfriend, 6% said it was posted by an ex-girlfriend, 23% said it was posted by an ex-friend, 7% said it was posted by a friend, 7% said it was posted by a family member
Source : http://www.endrevengeporn.org/guide-to-legislation/
Could you give me a break down of the methodology? One thing is for sure more research is needed but I doubt research by McAfee/Intel on cyber security is purposely flawed.
I seriously doubt an online survey by mcafee/Intel has any kind of methodology. I haven’t gone through the methodology of the report, I’m just pointing out that your mcafee survey is in no way credible. I believe I pointed out before that numerous people had huge issues with the online survey trinity used to get statistics on sexual assault and rightfully so, this survey is no better.
That’s interesting, I was thinking the same thing about the link you put up. It also strange that you think that one of the global leaders in cyber security would have no credibility in this area.(I guess they are tainted by their misogyny). I doubt that Intel/McAfee would release any research that did not have a strong methodology unlike some of these feminist (sexist) organisation who actually use those online surveys you were talking about.
Really Ron? Did I say anywhere that mcafee were misogynistic? tell me have you any other surveys to back up your claims? You mentioned the other day that you had a few but you just keep on firing out this one. I don’t deny that some men are affected by revenge porn and that it in no way effects them any less than women when it does happen but I seriously doubt that it happens anywhere near as often to men.
Dell, you are tainted by your own sexism (feminism) so much that you just can’t entertain that something like revenge porn isn’t a misogynist plot. When all your have is a feminist sledge hammer all you can see is a nail. This is a human problem not a women’s problem, hopefully it won’t take this happening to a man in your life for you to open your eyes.
Ron, I have never denied that it doesn’t happen to men, I’m just questioning your online survey statistics as there are numerous others that would put your figures to shame. have you any other sources or surveys to back up that one? Calling me sexist because I’m questioning your survey and giving you other statistics to negate it is not productive but rather just makes you look childish.
You are sexist Dell, just like I’m anti feminist. Only difference is I hate the one percent of women who are crazy feminists and you hate most men.
I quite like men actually Ron, I just don’t like misogynistic idiots. so, the other statistics you claimed to have? or are you just going to debate by name calling alone?
I’m sorry for the hostility Dell. I just don’t dig revenge porn deniers.
Ron I never denied that it happens to men, repeatedly I have said it does and that when it does it is equally harmful. I just questioned your survey. As far as hostility is concerned I think Orans little piece towards me below outshone your frustration 100 fold. I have a son and a daughter, I would be distraught equally for both should something like this happen to them. my daughter has gotten requests from guys for naked pics on a few occasions which is frightening as she is autistic but thankfully talks to me about everything, my son never has. You can see why I might question the statistics.
Out of eight police forces in England & Wales which kept data on revenge porn,there were 149 allegations made in 2 and a half years – and the ‘vast majority’ of the victims were women..
I wonder what the response would be if I took the same approach to rape statistics? Men don’t report it.
really need to get the finger out there Ron
I keep on hearing about this story but I have yet to hear anyone who has actually said they have verified that it exists. If there’s 200 people in this group surely there would have been a leak by now.
Yes show us the photos so we can at least judge for ourselves :)
Why do we need verification? It has been confirmed by the paper in UCD and UCD are investigating it. There hasn’t been a leak because all you men are the same. Cowards deleting themselves in case they get caught. They should expel everyone in Ag Science until somebody starts talking. These so called students are sharing pictures now but who’s to say it’ll stop there. People like them are the reason I don’t feel safe walking home after dark.
This is reminiscent of what happened to Graham Dwyer. A trial by media. No proof yet they still convicted him. I will happily see someone who is proven guilty punished to the full extent of the law but this trend of deciding guilt with a lack of evidence is frightening.
Jess, the reason you don;t feel safe is because you think that all men are the same according to your own post. That makes you irrational and neurotic at the very least so I’d say fo see a psychotherapist.
All you hysterical women are the same.
Maybe we are all the same. But it doesn’t excuse the fact that every man is walking around with a weapon in his trousers. And in many cases all it takes is the circumstances to be right for them to use it.
I see. Every man is a potential rapist. There we have it. Rape hysteria.
It’s hardly rape hysteria when we live in a society where victim blaming is endemic. The attitude of, “she dresses like a slut so let’s treat her like a slut” is hardly uncommon. I was in Kilkenny 2 weeks ago and as I was walking through the bar on one occasion I was accosted twice. Both telling me they wanted to have sex with me. One suggesting that I, “probably love anal”. I was minding my own business and out with 4 female friends.
Seriously Jess thats not true. Most men are respectful and decent. Do you really believe that? If so, you are creating a terrible existence for yourself and you are being incredibly unfair to all men.
Most men are certainly not “respectful and decent”. What planet are you on? Go out sober some night and into a nightclub in town. Watch how women are treated. Watch how groups of men talk about women. And then watch them accosting women trying to make their way home after closing.
Yip there are a handful of creepy men who do the things you talk about and it is disgusting and humiliating, But most men don’t do that, you are not noticing them because well they are not doing that.
Jess. Do you have daddy issues you’d like to declare? Or mammy issues?
Seems to me you were dragged up rather than raised, hence your views.
Jess – most men are respectful, you have elected a particular cohort in a particular social setting. You do realise that means you’re already dealing with a minority, not the populations at large. But don’t let that fact spoil your rant.
There is no revenge porn ring in UCD Ag science students.
Lots of pics of sheared sheep doing the rounds?
Please do not let the facts get in my way to being outraged. 200 students in the agricultural wing of the university adhering to the strict code of omertà is entirely plausible.
Hi Roisin.
Isn’t it about time you responded by retracting the false accusations contained in your article here and offering an unreserved apology here to the young men you falsely slandered in UCD.
ps
Next time do some research first before you put pen to paper to to make public accusations against young men you have never even met.
That way you will avoid being categorized as a dangerous idiot.
why is it all men posting here …
“cause men understand the situation much better”
So, after all that, this group didn’t even exist.
It existed in the minds of the author and Irish feminists.
And at the end of the day that’s proof enough for them.
I remember a few lads doing a drunken skinny dip on holiday and someone there took a pic. That pic made it around the local area and each girl had comments relating to each lad and his penis size.
this was back in 2000 but it never happens to men at all does it.
How about we not make this ANOTHER male bashing gender thing and just combat the issue at hand which is person A shared an image of person B, who happened to be nude.
Why does gender need to come into that?
Yeah like women never shared personal photos of guys they slept with with each other gimme a break.
Anyway.
It’s not revenge porn. It’s youthful exuberance. Young, free and sexually active.
Seems to me that the ‘modern’ ‘liberated’ young female is out of her depth when it comes to sexual interaction.
Everything’s an ordeal for her.
Maybe they should stop allowing themselves to become brainwashed by toxic feminist man hating ideology and try to have you know ‘FUN’ instead.
Every sexual encounter now is immediately followed by some revenge feminist man blaming attack.
Everyone wants their bit part in Nightmare on Academia Street now it seems.
When did life stop becoming happy and fun?
Most women don’t even identify themselves as feminists any more, that is how pathetic the movement has become. They just get a lot of coverage because they are so nuts.
Oran, what about the above alleged scenario comes across as happy or fun for the women involved to you?
So downloading movies, or trolling comments is as bad as revenge porn? Got it.
That part struck me too. Quite a leap from downloading a copyrighted file to sharing pictures of a nude teenage girl.
More simplistic nonsense from a femin-nazi. Thankfully most normal women are not like this. They know the difference between craic and malice. They know banter is not the same as abuse and they know you should have the cop on not to share intimate photos with a randomer you’ve just met. The author should realise people in the real world take no notice of her ultra feminist views advocated by middle class white woman who claim they speak for 50% of the population.
A lot of feminists have jump on the feminazi word as evidence of a mysoginist campaign against them. I prefer to call them what they are; sexists.
Ron Burgundy just to clarify. do You think that guys sharing an intimate picture of a girl without her consent on a group chat of 200 is just Craic? or are you referring to other situations where you believe women have over reacted? As much as I don’t think they should be put on a sex offenders list like Ron Koeman suggested, I do think what they did was malicious.
@Dell,
So those young lads who were having a laugh, are as bad as rapists who rape women at knifepoint?
Eamonn read my comment again. I did not recommend they be put on a sex offenders list, Ron did. I said I think that’s over the top in another comment. Also those lads who were having a laugh is oversimplification at best. I kniw what your stance is though, you believe it’s the victims fault.
@Dell,
Victims, what victims?
These women gave their consent, no crime was committed.
These women consented to sharing pictures with the person they sent it to, not a group chat of 200. Do you think that if a person consents to something with one person that it means they are consenting to it with all people? If a guy consents to sex with a woman does that imply he is therefore consenting to sex with all of her friends? If you give me private information and make it clear that you do not want the information given to anyone else are you in fact consenting to it being given to everyone else? If the women had consented to their pictures being shared surely these lads would have no problem telling the women that they had shared the pics and telling the world who they are and that they did share these pics, after all, if these women did consent, this should not be a problem.
@Dell,
What kind of idiot sends naked pictures of themselves to others?
@Dell,
Talk about a First World problem.
Naive young ones, also we don’t know if they took the photos themselves. Either way their naivety in giving a person a photo does not constitute consent to have them published in a group of 200 and the people who would do that knew that what they were doing was malicious and a breach of trust. That is why I feel classes on consent are pointless, people know what constitutes consent, they just chose to ignore it. Maybe classes about the Internet and the potential for abuse that it has would be a wiser way to spend funding.
I know you don’t think it’s a big deal but I think to a 17 or 18 year old it would be pretty humiliating that something so private be made public and judged and rated. when i was young I did stupid things but I was lucky enough that no one had a camera to record it and publish it. I think if the group were doing what the report said they were doing that something definitely should be done about it so people know that this is not acceptable behaviour and also if nothing else doesn’t all this publicity help with people realising they need to be more careful about who they trust and what they want put out there?
@Dell,
Is it a crime to look at naked women on a porn site?
It probably soon will be if we let these mad feminazis walk all over us.
No eamonn but these girls did not consent to having their pictures shared. They were not and are not porn actors. I know there are extreme feminists out there and I do not agree with a lot of what they say but there are also men out there who are the male equivalent who truly believe that women are not their equals. As far as I’m concerned their gender is unimportant in either case, they just want the upper hand and power. But that doesn’t mean that when someone breaches trust and publicises private information for kicks that it shouldn’t be dealt with.
Why did they allow men to photograph them naked?
If they were stupid enough to do that, then they’ve only got themselves to blame.
So it turns out the whole basis of this article is a complete fabrication. Absolute idiots. Well done The Journal. Maybe you need a fact check for your own stuff before you become hysterical?
Guilty until proven innocent Ron. Peoples word > Evidence.
20:46 Friday evening and the allegations are dismissed!!
Now…how many on here already had most of the men on campus strung up in the town square? That’s why we don’t jump to conclusions.
All allegations have been proven false. No victims have come forward. No groups were found. All that remains is the mud that many of you shamelessly threw at these young men. Any person who launch verbal attacks on these young men’s character should apologise immediately.
I understand there is a wider issue here but none of these allegations that such a group exists have been confirmed. As far as I’m aware no student has come forward saying that their photo was shared on such a group or no student has come forward confirming the existence of a group. To my knowledge the story was sourced from an anonymous post on the app yik yak and published by the college newspaper, which then went viral. If such a group does exist it is a terrible and shocking thing but shouldn’t we all wait for conformation or some evidence before jumping to conclusions. I feel sorry for the people who fear their photos may have been shared but also I feel sorry for the people affected by the allegations i.e. the male population of ucd and in particular the ag science students.
So what do you say now it was all made up.
Funny article.
Dublin people be like “Ag Science students? Country boggers” :-D
Dell doing anything without someone’s consent is always wrong. Surely that goes without saying?
Fair enough, I wasn’t sure from your comment whether you were talking about the incident involving the students or other things.
No point in reporting this to Police. UK.had revenge porn laws we do not. If you send a picture to someone else over here thay picture now becomes public and anyone can view it or use it whatever way they want. Harsh lesson to learn for those 200 women but a lesson none the less.
That these students are allowed to remain in college is more worrying of the acceptance of this behaviour. Mass expulsion may sound extreme but it would send the right signals . Let them so peal if they want but set the marker down.
have your say