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Home / Lifestyle

'Legal rape' blogger boasts he'll flout travel ban as crisis group slams meeting plan

NZ Herald
1 Feb, 2016 10:32 AM7 mins to read

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Controversial author and pick-up artist Daryush Valizadeh runs "neomasculinity" group Return of Kings (ROK), and has planned the "tribal meeting" for his followers. Photo / YouTube

Controversial author and pick-up artist Daryush Valizadeh runs "neomasculinity" group Return of Kings (ROK), and has planned the "tribal meeting" for his followers. Photo / YouTube

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis and a rape crisis organisation have slammed plans for local meetings for supporters of a "neomasculinist" group that promotes legalising rape.

As Australia considers banning pro-rape group Return of Kings founder Daryush Valizadeh from entering that country, Kiwi men are being called on to make a stand against such groups and to speak up against their beliefs and ideas.

Wellington Rape Crisis has condemned the group and meetings scheduled for February 6 and Mr Davis slammed the group as "plonkers" who should be run out of town.

Anti-women blogger Valizadeh, thinks rape should be legal on private property and has organised meetings all around the world to bring like-minded men together. He has threatened to "sneak" into Australia if he is denied entry.

"F*** it, I just booked a flight to Australia. See you somewhere there on 2/6. I'll stay a while, see some sights," he wrote on his Twitter account.

When told he'd never get through Customs, Valizadeh wrote: "I'll just take a private boat to Darwin from Indonesia or East Timor. I'll find a way to enter. I won't be stopped."

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Wellington Rape Crisis agency manager, Eleanor Butterworth, said the agency was hugely disturbed by the group's ideas and its move to come to New Zealand.

"This group promotes disturbing attitudes towards relationships and women and we hope New Zealand men are better than to agree with them.

"I would really like to see all men who are part of anti-violence activism, or who individually consider themselves to be opposed to abuse, to monitor and challenge groups like Return of Kings."

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Ms Butterworth encouraged all New Zealanders, particularly men, to make a stand against Return of Kings and its meetings, scheduled in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

The group, which has called for its "fellow tribesmen" to join the meetings, has asked that women, gay men and transgender men stay away.

"This group clearly expects that the only opposition they will face is from women. This isn't just something women should have to fight.

"They need to receive the message that there isn't a market for this kind of thinking in New Zealand."

Mr Davis, also a White Ribbon ambassador, said those connected to Valizadeh's group and its ideas are not "real men", and referred to their actions as "creepy".

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"This group has the collective IQ of your average garden gnome. They should get psychological help to escape their confused, creepy, fantasy world," he said.

"These plonkers don't have any clue about what it is to be a real man - who loves, respects and cares for all women. They need to stop pretending sexual violence is normal and a man's right."

NZ First leader Winston Peters also had some words for the anti-women group's plans to come to New Zealand.

Mr Peters said: "We do not need this drongoistic, medieval, four-flushing twit in our country breaking our laws."

Valizadeh runs "neomasculinity" group Return of Kings (ROK), and has planned the "tribal meetings" for his followers, according to his website.

There are 165 meetings in 45 countries planned for the international meet-up day, which will kick off at 8pm local time.

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Exact locations are published on his blog, including a secret code-word greeting.

Men who want to attend the meetings must ask: "Where is the nearest pet shop?" to men in the area, and if they respond with, "Yes, it's right here", they are advised to introduce themselves to each other and get the details of the final secret location.

The New Zealand meet-up points have been identified as Auckland's Aotea Square, Glover Park in Wellington and in front of Dunedin Town Hall.

In Australia, where meetings are scheduled in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, opposition Senate leader Penny Wong has called for Valizadeh to be denied a visa.

"It is disgusting. Those views and that type of campaigning and organisation has no place in Australia," Wong told ABC radio today.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was seeking an urgent briefing about the legal basis of refusing a visa for Valizadeh.

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"Like all Australians I am offended by the reports that I've seen," he told reporters in Canberra. "Once I've got all that information I can make a decision about whether or not a visa can be cancelled."

Faced with the prospect of being denied formal entry to Australia, Valizadeh has threatened to "sneak into" the country by private boat to Darwin from Indonesia or East Timor. "I'll find a way to enter. I won't be stopped," he tweeted.

On his website, Valizadeh said the scheduled gatherings were designed for "male bonding".

According to the website's "About" page, the group is aimed at "a small but vocal collection of men in America today who believe men should be masculine and women should be feminine".

"ROK aims to usher the return of the masculine man in a world where masculinity is being increasingly punished and shamed in favour of creating an androgynous and politically correct society that allows women to assert superiority and control over men. Sadly, yesterday's masculinity is today's misogyny."

Under its "Community Beliefs", the group defines a number of "neomasculinities" principal tenets, including: "A woman's value significantly depends on her fertility and beauty" and "A man's value significantly depends on his resources, intellect, and character".

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It also claims that the "elimination of traditional sex roles and the promotion of unlimited mating choice in women unleashes their promiscuity and other negative behaviours that block family formation".

Valizadeh has told his followers that if any protesters attend the meetings, the participants should get their phone numbers and film their behaviour.

In September, a petition was launched to have Valizadeh's self-published "pro-rape" books removed from the online retail giant Amazon.

Exact details of the final meet-up locations are yet to be revealed, but the website says many of them will be in bars.

It also explicitly says the meeting is "for heterosexual men only" and says women, gay people and members of the transgender community should not attend.

If "a pretty girl" shows up, followers are advised to "get her number and then tell her to buss off. Do not allow women to attend the meeting."

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If "crazy feminists" turn up, participants should record them on their camera phones, and send the footage to Valizadeh, "so we can tear them up".

Valizadeh says he will be attending the Washington DC meet-up.

He finishes by saying: "Our views are becoming known enough that we can 'come out' of the shadows and not have to hide behind a computer screen for fear of retaliation.

"Up to now, the enemy has been able to exert their power by isolating us and attacking with shrieking mobs, but we'll be able to neutralise that tactic by amassing in high numbers come February 6.

"I will exact furious retribution upon anyone who challenges you in public on that date (remember to record them). Therefore let the sixth of February be a clear signal to all that we're not going anywhere. We have finally arrived."

The website has articles with headlines such as: "Hillary Clinton's Socialist Manifesto Shows Why Women Shouldn't Be Involved In Politics"; "25 Tips For Getting Laid In Europe During The Winter"; "Every Violent Male Criminal Is Rewarded With Sex From Beautiful Women"; and "How The Homosexual Takeover Of The West Was Predicted 40 Years Ago".

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Valizadeh, seemed to show support for the Roast Busters sex gang when news of the story hit New Zealand headlines a few years ago.

Members were discovered sharing videos of drunk underaged girls they had taken advantage of sexually.

They posted the video clips on Facebook.

Valizadeh, whose Facebook page is Roosh V, shared a Herald article on November, 11, 2013, on his social media site.

The article encourages young women who fell victim to the Roast Busters to come forward.

However, in a message accompanying the article, Roosh says New Zealand authorities are encouraging girls to come forth with "false" rape charges against a group of men.

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