David Byron has been submitting insightful news stories left and right lately, and writes "I have spent time looking at feminist sites on-line and trying to debate on feminist boards for a couple of years now, and in all that time of trying to find a sincere feminism, only one group has managed to convince me that they might really want sexual equality and are prepared to be honest. The site is now one year old and here's a quote from their newsletter: For slightly more than a year now, we have been making an all-out effort to heal the destruction wrought by gender feminism and to offer in its place a feminism that embraces men as equals, the free market as opportunity, sex as a source of joy, and civil liberties as every human being's right. My thanks to each and every one of you for sharing and contributing to our vision." Click "Read More" below to view more of David's comments and find out what site he is referring to...

Ed Bartlett's post from the Men's Health America list announces that a nine million dollar study has been sponsored by the NIH to research a prostate condition called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. "BPH refers to the non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland. This condition may make it difficult for men over 50 years of age to urinate. It is estimated that one in four men will need treatment of
BPH by the time they reach 80 years." Details of the study can be read here.

David Byron writes "Statistics say men sexually abuse children more than women do, but as with most definitions of sexual based crimes the definition itself is biased towards only describing male criminal behaviour. For example the FBI stll defines rape as something that only happens to women. This article in the Chicago Tribune is about a case where a single mother was forcing her 6 year old son to breast feed and sleep naked with her. The state called it sex abuse. She called it good parenting. The judge called it bad parenting but refused to say it was sex abuse. When will sexual crimes be seen as truly gender neutral and when will women's sexual crimes be recognised? The child is now in foster care."

David Byron writes "This article by the New York Times [free registration required] talks about how young boys are used in warfare in Colombia. As an issue I find that the treatment of men and boys in the third world is probably the last thing to be mentioned on men's sites. In a sense this is good, because it is a humanitarian issue not a gendered issue, but feminists have framed the third world as an area where only women are oppressed and it simply isn't true."

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal had an editorial on the recent Brandeis false rape accusation case, where there was significant controversy over the way universities are allowed to enforce their own discipline codes. This is one of the most detailed stories about a false accusation of rape on a college campus that I know of, and is immensely valuable reading material. Please check it out. Update: I have changed the description of this article, arfter recieving some percpetive comments about it.

The latest UK Sunday Times reports that "The government's oft-criticised women's unit is in its death throes. Downing Street advisers and female ministers want it junked and replaced with a new outfit to combat discrimination against men and women...The new unit would be as likely to produce a green paper on the under-achievement of boys in state schools as low pay for women." All I have to say is...WOW, what a great idea! Could it be possible that people are looking to move beyond gender politics and are tired of one-sided feminism? Click here to read the story.

A group called the Equitable Child Maintenance and Access Society from Calgary, Canada is planning to legally challenge the public display of "most wanted" lists of "deadbeat dads." Photos of fathers in child support arrears on the internet violates the person's right to privacy, and consequently the Freedom of Information Act and the Freedom of Privacy Act, according to the group. The article from the Calgary Herald can be read here.

Time magazine printed this story recently on the gender education gap, where males are consistently doing worse and worse. It's a typical overview of the subject, but includes some good numbers and quotations of Christina Hoff Sommers. Also of possible interest is this fact: "Last July the University of Georgia lost a lawsuit filed by female students who were denied admission because of an affirmative-action policy that favored men. Could this be the first case of an explicit affirmative action program for men? Well, I mean besides Selective Service. (sarcasm)

This article from The New Republic outlines the increasing role that feminism has played in the democratic party, and gender politics in general. With the U.S. election differences in gender voting preference playing a very significant role in this election, this is probably going to become a very popular topic among political analysts (as it has already).

Apparently some teachers in the UK are concerned that the new paternity law proposal could seriously disrupt education in these times of severe teacher shortage. IHF notified me of this story in the UK Telegraph. A spokesman for the Education Dept. replied to the complaints with "Schools will have to manage in the same way as other businesses."

This report by Stephen Baskerville reminds us how corrupt the family courts are, and gives an informal estimate that puts as much as one-third of the jail population of this country as fathers on contempt-of-court charges. And with a quote like this "A Georgia sheriff and superior court judge have proposed creating forced labor camps specifically for fathers", the analogy between child support and slavery has never been more true. Please send Stephen an email of thanks for his superb and highly articulate articles. He must take a tremendous amount of flak for being so outspoken in the name of fathers and men.

I know many readers will enjoy Jocelyn Payne's web site and organization - Women Opposed to Male Bashing (WOMB). She describes the site as, "an Egalitarian, Anti-Sexist, Anti Hate
site - Pro woman, Pro man, Pro Dialogue. I respect Masculists, Feminists & Humanists who are searching for a fair and balanced relationship between the sexes , while respecting gender differences." The WOMB site includes many useful links to men's rights web sites and research on men's issues.

IHF sent in this story from the UK Telegraph. It's about a man who is suing his former lover for tricking him into raising a child that isn't his. "Mr X plans to sue Mrs Y for "deceit", the emotional distress caused by the discovery, and the costs, with interest, he incurred while bringing up the child. The man, from the West Midlands, and his former girlfriend cannot be named because of a court order protecting the child's identity." This case could have profound effects on the Choice for Men movement in the UK, and even in the US.

Although the article is from April of this year, if you click here you'll read a good, concise piece explaining the misconceptions and reality about the gender wage gap. From the article: "The pay equity movement seemed to be cruising along until a 1999 study came out that cast doubt over the validity of the 73-cent statistic. Researchers Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Christine Stolba argue that the wage gap is virtually nonexistent when you consider factors such as job experience, actual number of hours worked and individual choices, such as flexible scheduling to balance work and family life." The researchers wrote Women's Figures, an indispensable reference to have when debunking the wage gap myth.

Foster's Daily Democrat printed this front page story about a man who is serving a 6-20 year sentence for aggravated sexual assault of his former girlfriend. DNA evidence has just proven that he is not the father of the woman's child, who was conceived at the time of the rape, and the victim had even recanted her story in the original trial! But he was still convicted because the prosecution claimed she had a vested interest in recanting the story and used an older videotape of her making the accusation to convict him. After the trial, she even went to media outlets saying she had made up the accusation in revenge because she thought he was seeing another woman. Will justice be served?