Preemptive Fridge Magnets and Other Weapons of Masculinist Destruction: The Rhetoric and Reality of "Safeguarding Australia.".

The author focuses on Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the Australian government's policy of "safeguarding Australia," or increasing national security measures, and how it affects women's rights and access to services. According to the author, the government's policy of controlling public services and social groups is part of the government's "politics of fear." The author offers a discussion of protective masculinity that seeks to both dominate and protect women in relation to the connection of women and the state. The author examines the government's funding of national security programs, the government's policy on violence against women and family laws, and the decline of feminist organizations and women's advocacy groups in Australia.