It has come time for me to announce that soon I will no longer be administering Mensactivism.org on a day-to-day basis as I have since the site was started. We have taken on some new people who will be working with some of the older co-admins to keep this site running smoothly and in the spirit that it was created. This is a decision I have not made lightly and I think will improve the quality of this site as a resource to men's activists. Read on for more explanation...

On the 30th anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the National Center for Men is announcing their intention to legally challenge the unjust double standard of "her choice, his responsibility." They seek to establish a legal recognition of men's reproductive rights. Their press release can be found on the choiceformen.com web site here.

warble writes "As we all know, Governor Davis vetoed AB2240 last year and claimed he was doing this because the bill was flawed. That was a very disappointing event in the men’s movement. However, NCFM, LA is made up of winners, and winners will always find a way to turn a failure into a success.
So NCFM, LA examined the veto and determined that there was an Executive Order in place. Then we made some phone calls and sent in a FAX asking about the Executive Order. The order in effect directed the Department of Child Support Services to work with the proponents and opponents of paternity fraud to reach a resolution to the issue. To our surprise we received a phone call from the DCSS and they are demonstrating a literal commitment to resolving this issue. It turns out that the DCSS representative is very friendly to men's issues in the matter of paternity fraud. To our surprise, we are finding that the DCSS wants fairness in paternity fraud issues!" There's much more to this post, see the Read More section below for more info.

HombreVIII writes "MFNBC is pleased to announce that we will start broadcasting men's rights shows live, via the internet, this Sunday starting at 8 PM Central Time. Accompanying the 2 shows we will be broadcasting this Sunday will be a hosted chat, (accessible through the site), where listeners can discuss the shows as they are being aired. MFNBC - the Masculists Factfinding Network and Broadcast Channel located at www.MFNBC.com, will be presenting episodes of Jack Kammer's 6 year running radio show called "In a Man's Shoes" for the first time ever on the internet starting this Sunday! This will be followed immediately by a broadcast of Raymond Cuttill's newest "Men's Hour" show, scheduled for realease on that date as well." For more details, see the Read More section below.

fightbigotry2002 writes "The Maryland Judicial Equality Committee and other Maryland Men's and Children's advocacy groups are in the process of seeking out both non-custodial mothers and fathers to challenge the current Maryland Custody Guidelines for Child Support. As you may remember, a Georgia lower court has declared the Georgia Child Support Guidelines unconstitutional, which has been appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court. Those of us in Maryland will be building upon that case to mount a challenge to bring equity to the child support issue for all concerned. If you can help us out, please contact us for details at Fightbigotry2002@yahoo.com."

Steve writes "I will host this week's MANN chat, Wednesday night (1/15),
starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, at the usual location. The
topic for this chat will be 'A Manly Sense of Humor in Men's Activism.'
  We have seen a lot of anti-male humor in the last few years.
 Still, humor can be an important tool for men's activists.
 When should we use humor in our work to promote equality for men
and boys?  How can we use humor effectively to laugh at ourselves
when appropriate?  How can we disarm the mean-spirited man-bashing
and boy-bashing humor we encounter in the media, in the workplace, and
in social situations?  Help us answer these questions at this
week's MANN chat.  As always, invite a buddy or two to join us!"

Kathleen Parker has written an essay, published in the Orlando Sentinel, on the 17-year-old boy who was convicted of rape for not stopping consensual sex when the girl said, "I should be going now" and "I need to go home." Unfortunately, Parker asks "Where's Daddy? Who didn't teach this girl the rules of engagement?" while not asking "Where's Mommy?" I guess women/mothers can't be held liable the way men/fathers can. Besides, maybe dad was driven out of the home as a result of a false accusation by the mother.

On the whole, it's a good article, though. I've called to thank her. You can write to her here.

jmel96 writes "

"Social work literature is biased against heterosexual males, leading to "unfair and untrue" stereotypes about men and hampering social workers' ability to counsel men, an Alabama professor has concluded after reviewing articles in two social work journals from the last decade."

So begins a fascinating article in the Washington Times. I have long suspected that the "helping professions" were biased against men, but it is nice to have a member admit it and actually want to do something about it."

Dan Lynch writes "Here is a story [free reg. required] of a wife trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband. Of course it's a sad situation when people come to such a thing, but even more sad is that [news] coverage of this criminal act or attempt is rare. The woman even tried to use battered women's defense to get out of the charge."

cobbbiz@yahoo.com writes "I have a legal problem that I think is unconstitutional and I don’t have the resources or the knowledge to change it. I need help!:

I am paying $500.00/month in rehabilitative alimony to my ex-wife. She is now living openly with her lesbian partner. Her sexual orientation is the reason for the divorce. Under Alabama state law, the Statute concerning alimony states that it will be terminated if the recipient “cohabitates with a person of the opposite sex”. If my ex-wife were heterosexual and living with another man, the alimony could be immediately terminated. I am working what is equivalent to two jobs while my wife lives in one of the most prestigious areas of Alabama.
Is there any source of help? This could make right a poorly-written Statute and unjust ruling not only for me but for all men and in some cases even women."

Three teenagers and a 20-year-old have filed suit challenging the all-male draft. My guess? The draft today would be an opportunity for many women to get educations in fields such as medicine, air traffic control, and computer science. For men, the draft will generally entail clear threats of forced killing, maiming, and death.

Then again, maybe the Selective Service Act will be overthrown or left the way it is. This bears watching.

Marc A. writes "Big Thanks to NCFM, LA member "Ray" for finding this article by NBC4.TV news that covers NCFM, LA's November 19 rally for a Commission for Men. The article is very brief and just gives a statement about the rally, but it's great that we're finally getting some coverage. It also is nice to see they didn't bash us like others have, and they even quoted a member."

Anonymous User writes "The January, 2003 edition of Readers Digest has devoted the entire "That's Outrageous" section to Male Bashing. There is no link that I can find to the specific article which takes up 2 print pages, but the author, Tucker Carlson is a regular columnist and a co-host for CNN's Crossfire. The article brings up most of the issues that have been presented here before, such as how men are streotyped in advertising and you would be hard pressed to find similar publicity directed towards women. While the article barely scratches the surface, perhaps this exposure to the RD reading public will help open a few more eyes."

I received the following announcement from Men's Health America: "Are you tired of all the one-sided coverage that the media is giving
to gender health issues? Are you disturbed about articles that imply
that a person's life counts for less because he happens to be male? This coming year, Men's Health America has established improved media coverage of men's health as one of our top priorities for 2003. We plan to do something about this bias! Men's Health America would like to invite you to participate as one of our Media Watchdogs." See the Read More section below for details on what this involves...

CJ writes "This is a sad story about a man who killed himself in a police holding cell, hours after he was charged with rape. He has since been cleared of the crime through DNA evidence. Any man that has been charged with trumped-up or blatantly false charges (be it of rape, DV, in family court, etc.) knows how a mere allegation trumps all of your civil rights and opens the floodgates for a nightmarish experience in the name of victim advocacy. Lately it seems that rape convicts are regularly getting cleared of their sentences, like the group of kids that were held responsible NYC Central Park rape. One has to wonder how many men's lives have been ruined with false charges."