The girls who cry wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a morality tale traditionally told to children. It is the tale of a shepherd boy who amuses himself by calling out for help, claiming his flock is being attacked by a wolf. The villagers rush to rescue him in two false alarms. They become annoyed by his silly games. The third time a wolf really comes, but the villagers don't answer the boy's cries. The boy is eaten by the wolf.

This tale has two lessons for children. Firstly, it shows children it is important to consider other peoples’ perspectives. What you might think of as harmless self-gratification, may be annoying, detrimental and damaging to someone else.

Secondly, if you abuse the systems put in place to protect you, you end up putting yourself, or others at greater risk.

However, for the last two generations, schools, publishers and women's groups told different types of morality tales to girls and women.

Firstly, there is an opposite gender called the patriarchy who get out of bed every day with no other purpose than to oppress and be violent towards women.  Men can’t do anything about this because it is in their nature.

Secondly, it is perfectly valid for a woman to consider everything from her perspective only. Her perspective can be "her truth" and this is completely justified.

An outcome of this is support for the part of wimdria law that says

Other damage to men doesn't matter. Saying false, or derogatory, things about a man, or men in general, is an acceptable way to advance your own position, to extract financial benefits, or to free up opportunities for women.

This culture leads to false claims about men. Men are all guilty, so it isn't possible to make false claims about men. Whatever negative impact this has for men is only what they deserve.

False claims about men are rife throughout society - in the media, education, public policy and common conversation. Many people do it as part of their employment, or to get a financial return - see bitch-whistle marketing.

There is some debate whether women lie about men in the Family Court. The real question is why anyone would think the Family Court is the only place where women don't lie about men?

Men and their families aren't the only ones effected by this. The tragedy of widespread lying about men, is that women who are at risk, and who need to be believed, are often not believed.

Like the boy who cried wolf, people who seek self-gratification through lying about men, end up putting other women at risk.

Similarly, those people who support or encourage others to lie about men, also put women at risk. Credibility is like virginity, it doesn't come back.