Yahoo Finance Why Ulrika Jonsson is not happy with Davina McCall's tweet about male violence
Ulrika Jonsson has called out Davina McCall for a tweet about "fear-mongering" and men's mental health, saying "it has no place in the conversation" about male violence against women.
Following Sarah Everard's death after being abducted while walking home in south London, many women have shared their own experiences of assault and feeling unsafe.
But McCall tweeted: "Female abduction / murder is extremely rare. Yes we should all be vigilant when out alone. But this level of fear-mongering isn’t healthy. And men’s mental health is an issue as well. Calling all men out as dangerous is bad for our sons, brothers, partners."
Female abduction / murder is extremely rare. Yes we should all be vigilant when out alone. But this level of fear-mongering isn’t healthy. And men’s mental health is an issue as well. Calling all men out as dangerous is bad for our sons, brothers, partners.
— Davina McCall (@ThisisDavina) March 12, 2021
Many commenters disagreed with McCall about how rare the issue is and the relevance of male mental health, and Jonsson appeared on Lorraine on Monday morning to give her views.
She said: “First of all, it is not fear-mongering, because this is happening. To say that it is rare is also incorrect. We know that domestic abuse is definitely not rare.
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"I am sure what she was trying to do was say 'let’s not forget that this is not all men',but I don’t even think that is a conversation that needs to be had, because I don’t think anybody has ever said that this is all men.
"Men’s mental health is a separate issue to this."
Talking about social media messages she had received from men sharing their own experiences of sexual assault, Jonsson added: "It is men who are fearing men, who aren’t fearing women, I wouldn’t have thought.
"So men’s mental health is a very important issue but I think it is not one that has a place in this conversation.”
Jonsson said she was horrified to realise that "every single woman that I know, my close friends, some extended friends, have had some form of harassment or violence, verbal, physical or whatever".
Talking about a conversation she'd had with her 16-year-old daughter Martha when she was 14 about safety, Jonsson shared: "She said, ‘Why are you having this conversation with me, is this conversation not one you should be having with young men and boys?’ That really put me in my place.”
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Jonsson also said she was proud to find that her son Cameron had set up a group chat with his sisters to address the issue of male violence.
She said: "He just wanted to say that for every one man who would want to harm a woman, there are many who would die defending her and he takes responsibility for the fact that men need to be part of the societal change that needs to take place.
"And I was moved to tears by this.”
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