ABCnews reported recently that the wife of Jon Colombini has abducted their son and sailed to Cuba (sound kinda familiar?). Jon has joint custody of the child and is fighting for something to be done. It won't be easy, considering that Cuba does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S, and the fiasco that surrounded the Elian Gonzalez situation. For more information about the complications of international child abduction, you can read another story we previously reported on.

The UK Sunday Times printed this story on child abuse (including sexual abuse), and many of the misconceptions surrounding it. The article has a good deal of information in it, including data on family situations that are more prone to abuse (broken families are worse than intact ones) and mothers who are abusive. Take a look at the data - I learned quite a bit by reading it.

Jim Castelli writes, "James Carroll's Boston Globe editorial, when stripped of the disingenuous disclaimers, essentially says that black heterosexual men are the cause of AIDS. While purporting to not blame males, Carrol presents thinly veiled stereotypical generalizations of black male sexuality reminiscent of "To Kill A Mockingbird" while absolving women of any role in the spread of AIDS. The demonization of gays which Carroll strongly asserts was wrong two decades ago is now being replaced by the demonization of heterosexual men and boys. It is as if he is subtly suggesting that the safest of all solutions would be to eliminate male heterosexuality."

I'm posting this as an example of sex differences in human beings (something which is a controversial gender issue), a topic I haven't reported on previously on Mensactivism.org. A news story from Yahoo! states that women tend to use both halves of their brains when listening, while men tend to use only the left side of their brain. While I've read some immature remarks that imply that this is some biological deficiency in men, I've likewise heard that men can do more with half a brain than women can with both halves. I say let's just let the scientists determine the implications of this, and resist the urge to turn this issue into a superiority complex.

In another UK Telegraph article, someone else is questioning the wage gap between men and women. It is explained that the difference in average wages is mostly the result of men and women's choices, and says, "the picture is more complicated than is often thought. Single men earn less than married men, who are spurred to work harder by the responsibility of a family. The reverse is true for married women, who earn less than single women largely because they are more likely to work part-time...Only a part of the labour market advantage enjoyed by men can be attributed to discrimination in any sense that can be addressed by public policy."

An article from the UK Telegraph, submitted by IHF, explains how the UK singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall of Simply Red was arrested on false rape allegations. Not too long ago we reported on the similar situation that Paul Weller found himself in. No mention was made of the accuser's name, which again is an example of the lack of accountability in false accusation cases.

This alarming news article from the National Post reports that for Canadian boys, the obesity rate has tripled in the past 15 years (it also doubled for girls during the same period). "The findings are considered alarming and significant, particularly since overweight children tend to become obese adults, who are much more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart disease." Here's a great reason for promoting fathers, who tend to encourage sport and outdoor activity participation with their children.

Marc Angelucci has been running a campaign and petition drive to establish a Men's Studies book section at Barnes & Noble retail stores, and has been highly successful in his efforts. He recently sent me some photos from the events, and I had them scanned and posted to the site. You can view his story and the photos here. Marc's been doing an excellent job, and could use some help to keep the momentum going. Also, thanks to Jim Castelli for scanning the photos for me.

Okay, maybe this isn't such a big deal, but....I've fixed some of the annoyances of using this web site. You can now bookmark individual pages on Mensactivism.org, so you can return to them later! Before, the way I had the site set up used frames and "domain cloaking" to keep the address http://www.mensactivism.org in your browser's Location bar, and this would stay the same no matter where you were looking on the site. Now the URL changes according to the page you are looking at. This should make the site more useful to researchers and those wanting to keep track of our editorials and articles.

Adam pointed me to this article from the UK Guardian. It's from late August, but is still a timely editorial on the topic of prejudices people have when men are alone with young children. These stereotypes are what keep men out of roles such as early childhood education, where I feel they are desperately needed. You don't hear much public dialogue on this issue, and I hope this will eventually change.

Time magazine recently had an article on boys' body image. It's by a woman who believes that toys such as G.I. Joe, whose muscular size has dramatically increased over the years, is a root cause for eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia in men. This article is an interesting contrast to our previous one on anorexia, but includes statistics for boys and men: 36% of boys in the 3rd grade have tried to lose weight, and up to 15% of high school aged boys are believed to use androstenedione (basically, an over the counter steroid). Thanks to Bill Kuhl for sending this one in.

According to this study reported on by Yahoo!, new fathers "worked about 53 additional hours a year when the child was a boy rather than a girl," and also if the child was a first born, new fathers worked an additional 66 hours per year. This demonstrates that men's practical style of parenting remains seen by many as providing and not parenting. Hopefully someday this will change.

IHF sent in this link to a story from the UK Independent. It discusses some new research which is suggesting that anorexia nervosa may have genetic, not social, causes. It turns out that people with anorexia exist in remote areas of Africa where Western media has no influence. Also, it is often unexplained why anorexia affects some people more than others, suggesting causes other than social pressures. While the research is not yet conclusive, it does present another way of looking at the disorder. There was no mention if this could also affect the outlook on disorders involving male body image.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and to offer a hearty THANKS to everyone who visits this site and makes use of it on a regular basis. It's the diverse and loyal user base that has made The Men's Activism News Network into what it is today. Enjoy your dinner and family!

The Ottawa Citizen had a great editorial piece by Eva Saira, which lays bare the fact that under current conditions, men accused of rape and sexual harassment are basically guilty until proven innocent. The letter is a line-by-line indictment of the rape shield laws that enable false accusers to get away with their crimes without accountability. While no one can deny the importance of sensitivity in handling sex crime cases, I believe that privacy standards for those accused but not yet convicted would go a long way to reduce the number of false accusations.