Bo-Jangles

'In all of the places I've stumbled through in a peripatetic decade, people of all nationalities, colours and creeds have been eager to tell me that New Zealand is paradise.

They've seen Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies, they've eaten frozen yoghurt at the NZ Natural franchise and glimpsed ads for Manuka honey on the sides of city buses from Kuwait to Canada ..........

Part One of Five

New Zealand is no paradise, it is brutal | Stuff.co.nz

Charismatic

Slow news day at Fairfax I see.

Kotare

The woman needs a therapist. NZ is a frontier colony in its attitudes (just like Oz, Canada, US) and rurally has a macho culture (well it still did in the 80s/90s). Being shocked by the brutality of rugby, home kills, and the boisterousness of boys?? Actually I could write something similar about northern working mens clubs, football terraces, hare coursing on the moors and so forth and call it 'Brutal Britain - the true Reality :-)

Not supporting actual 'brutality', I would have had more sympathy if she had raised the subject of domestic violence levels in NZ.

Moses2013

New Zealand has marketed itself very well over the last few years and the main selling point is always scenery and fewer people, so it's just natural that people (Expats) looking for those things will say New Zealand is paradise and because New Zealand is so remote (also smaller population), fewer younger people travel abroad.




Because it's so easy and cheap to travel for teenagers in the UK, everywhere else is paradise, especially when you get an all inclusive holiday for €300. Most people leave their country for a reason and no matter where you are the majority of Expats say the country they come from is not paradise. Of course, if it all goes wrong then the country you came from is better.

paddy234

I don't really understand her points at all,perhaps it's because i've only lived here 3 years so far but I certainly would not call New Zealand Brutal. I'd love to see her go to the North of Ireland at the height of the war or Palestine or Syria etc and see true brutality. New Zealand is a sheltered country. It's tough boy attitude is more tongue on cheek from the rural community than something to be taken seriously. I find most people here to be very understanding and empathetic In life and have similar values to Europeans in which most of the population here descend from

bourbon-biscuit

Ugh, what a cringe-inducing poorly written opinion piece that was. Even the photos looked nicked off the internet and the sort of thing a 14 year old would use (the bullet!). Nothing new in either the material, the angle taken or the insights offered.

Part one of five. Really? Hope the standard improves ...

SSky

She's a bit soft isn't she.
As for the bullying, yes it's out there, I never really witnessed it myself until my last job and then it was just really extreme and extended criticism that kind of flip flopped from being praised one moment for initiative to being told I was being negative and that's probably cos I can't keep my mouth shut and had an opinion. Non of my boys have ever been bullied.
Slaughtering animals like that is a really kind way to dispatch them. No stress of a journey to the freezer works and nice tender home grown meat that has been grown in a nice environment.

LittleGreyCat

Kind of sad, really. Someone who had a very sad childhood and is blaming the country as a whole.

Not much different from growing up in the UK in the '50s and '60s. No double glazing or central heating and you wrapped up warm to go to bed.

Rugby is still a UK national sport, as well, especially fervently supported in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Oh, and France and Italy - another two cold harsh places.

Ummm....

...this is one very unhappy person. So perhaps the view isn't completely balanced?

I seem to remember that his Auntie was hard as nails and in charge.

It all seems very biased through the memories of an unhappy person, and possibly not the view of the majority.

Bo-Jangles

Part two

New Zealand is no paradise: Is it the most sexist place on earth? | Stuff.co.nz

garethwm

This is suspect, in my opinion. This women claims to have not lived here for about 20 years and then goes on to describe the current attitudes toward women in NZ in minute detail. Not withstanding that NZ has more women elected to parliament than most other countries. And I dont think any NZ woman has been stoned to death for adultery yet, as per her preference for the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. Im not sure whether women are allowed to even drive there??

LittleGreyCat

The second article is much better - but yet again reflects a culture which was more prevalent (at least I hope so) in the last century in the UK. It does reflect the reported culture in the US back in the day, with "jocks" and cheerleaders filling much the same roles.

There is still a lot of concern over consent, "No means NO!" and the ability to give informed consent when intoxicated.

There is still a lot of difficulty getting a jury to convict in a rape trial.

However there is strong opinion (of witch hunt proportions) against under age sex especially where one of the participants is a lot older than the other.

I don't suppose there are many women on a UK Expats forum who have grown up in rural NZ but hopefully some parents can comment; the worrying part of the report is the acceptance of it all by the local adults.

poppy10

I've noticed that a lot here. Attitudes that were commonplace in the 70s in the UK but would be totally out of the mainstream now. Heard lots of people talking about rape victims having been "asking for it", lots of people excusing or condoning domestic violence as being part of a man's role, people coming out with casually racist comments - it really is like stepping into machine into a bygone era, and not in a good way.

bourbon-biscuit

Again, a poorly written piece but she is now touching on an important contemporary issue.

Yes. I did a small piece of research into sexual consent in NZ, particularly in the university campus context. It's a huge problem - much bigger than I think most people realise. There's a culture of normalised rape and sexual assault that is largely explained away as being about misunderstanding of consent but it's actually about male entitlement and misogyny. This problem isn't unique to NZ but it is especially stubborn and supported by attitudes in wider society.

The most interesting aspect of the Roastbusters case for me was (a) the fact that the police only acted when they had no other choice and had previously sat on their hands even when a serious complaint had been made (b) the several young women who were victims/ friends of victims and came out in defence of the rapists. Those two aspects are very telling about the normalised attitudes towards sexual violence and misogyny.

Justcol

Its a lot better than a lot of places in a lot of things
and worse than many others in many things
so really on balance, no better or worse than anywhere else


you either like it or you don't.
If you like it great, come on in and join the party
If you don't, stop your bloody moaning and **** off somewhere else that'll make you happy


everything else is other peoples perspectives and marketing...end of story

jmh

I think it depends a lot on what sections of society you bump into. Having worked in a very PC public sector job, I find I am appalled when I meet people in the real world with sexist and racist attitudes. No one I know has the sort of attitudes she talks about in the article, but you can't deny that there are people out there who think like that. I grew up here and never experienced the sort of sexism and sex abuse she describes. I never knew it existed, although it obviously did. One thing is true though - sex is treated more casually here in the young. Is that a bad thing?