Fathers & Families Resolves Crisis over MSPCC Anti-Father Child Abuse Ad

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s TV Public Service Announcement “Nowhere to Hide” depicts a terrorized 10-year-old child hiding in fear of an abusive father.

The PSA can be seen here. In it, the little child hides under his or her bed (as pictured), in a closet, and in other places. The child even hides a teddy bear because the  violent father will destroy it. A child’s halting acoustic piano version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” plays in the background. The text of the ad, interspersed with the pictures, reads:

“Where would you hide if you were ten years old?
And your father came home
And he was looking for you
Like he looked for you last night
And the night before that
And the night before that
And what if he was still angry
Very, very, angry
Where would you hide if you were ten years old?

Fathers and Families, the Massachusetts-based shared parenting organization led by Dr. Ned Holstein, discussed the ad with MSPCC over the past couple days, and Ned asked the leaders of MSPCC to meet with he and I over the issue. I prepared a campaign in support of Fathers and Families but delayed it in order to give the MSPCC a chance to resolve the issue.

To their credit, they did, informing Ned this afternoon that the ad would be pulled. I commend them for their decision, and also commend Ned for his leadership. The Fathers & Families announcement on the issue can be seen below. Activists from Fathers 4 Justice USA, KRights, and other groups also wrote to the MSPCC today. The MSPCC has done good work for children for 129 years–they should not be judged too harshly for this one mistake. 

On the subject of child abuse, I would also note that, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ report Child Maltreatment 2004, when one parent is acting without the involvement of the other parent, mothers are almost three times as likely to kill their children as fathers are, and are more than twice as likely to abuse them.

[Source: Child Maltreatment 2004, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Figure 4-2 “Perpetrator Relationships of Fatalities, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004” here, child fatalities perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 40.6% of all child fatalities. Figure 4-2 also shows that fatalities perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 15.6% of all child fatalities. According to Figure 3-6 “Victims by Perpetrator Relationship, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004,” here child abuse perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 45.6% of all child abuse. Figure 3-6 also shows that abuse perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 19.5% of all child abuse.]

It is true, of course, that a substantial minority of child abuse is committed by fathers–had this ad depicted a mother and a father abusing a child, or had it said “parent” instead of “father,” or had there been another MSPCC ad which depicted mothers as abusers, we would have had no quarrel with the MSPCC.

From Fathers & Families: 

Prominent Boston Organization Pulls Offensive Ad

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) is the oldest child abuse social service agency in the country, going back to almost the Civil War. Their record is long and admirable.
 
Recently they made a mistake, seriously insulting fathers, but they had the integrity to correct it when Fathers & Families called it to their attention. So please, any of you who are gearing up to attack the MSPCC, please relax, but down your pens, and take pride in our successful efforts to work amicably and successfully with a first-rate organization that simply made a mistake.
 
The MSPCC produced a shocking video titled “Nowhere to Hide.” It is offensively anti-father. Filmed in the style of a horror film, the ad shows a 10 year old child hiding from an angry father – a “very, very angry father.” It asks, “Where would you hide if you were 10 years old…and your father was looking for you….like he did last night…and the night before…and the night before?”  All of this over dark and frightening footage of hiding places for a child.
 
By identifying fathers, and only fathers, as perpetrators of child abuse, this ad has the effect of pushing child abuse into the contentious arena of gender politics. It is especially ironic because mothers commit a good deal more child abuse than do fathers. As I told the MSPCC, the best approach is to avoid gender-based blame, and for men and women to work together to put an end to child abuse.
 
The last two days have been spent in non-stop emails, telephone calls, negotiations, preparations for press releases and email write-in campaigns, consultations, and efforts to restrain the more hot-tempered fathers’ activists until we could talk further with the MSPCC.
 
A few minutes ago, I received a call from their CEO, who promised to do whatever is possible to take the video down from the internet (but remember that once set loose, it cannot be fully retrieved) and to request the television stations not to show it. I believe this call was made in good faith, and will give them the benefit of the doubt should the video sneak onto a screen or still be hiding somewhere on the internet despite their best efforts.
 
People to thank for this good outcome: Glenn Sacks, Steve Patterson, the MSPCC, and yourselves, for supporting Fathers & Families so that we have the capability to respond in a major way when necessary.
 
Finally this reflection: remember the PBS campaign a while back? In the face of our protests against the anti-father film Breaking the Silence, PBS agreed to make a new, balanced documentary on family law issues–a promise they kept. Yet some people foolishly claimed that we won nothing because they did not retract Breaking the Silence. Actually, we won the most important thing — respect — and I think that was evident today.
 
Together with you in love of the children,
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Executive Director

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