Tonight's on-line chat will be about the male-only military draft. Is it sexist? If so, what should be done about it? Should women be drafted, or should the draft be abolished? Or is there some other solution? Join us tonight to discuss these and other questions related to the draft and men's issues. I've begun to wonder if the draft could now become a common cause for young men that would bring them into the men's movement. If so, how should this be done? Click here for our on-line chat page and join us at 9:30 PM Eastern Time tonight!

Frank Hujber submitted his own essay about the value of masculinity in society, particularly to deal with massive disasters such as what the United States has recently experienced. His essay, A Comment on Heroes, can be read by clicking Read More below.

Ragtime wrote in a short article about the state of affairs in Ontario, Canada, these days with regard to domestic violence. If you're a long time visitor of this web site, you'll recall that we reported on a law passed in Ontario called Bill 117 - which is the most extreme form of punishment on someone accused of domestic violence that I've heard of to date. The worst part is that the consequences occur not after a conviction, but upon a simple accusation, which need not be verified by the police in any form. Click Read More below for Ragtime's discussion of the matter.

rparent32 writes "This link is to the original story, and the second is a follow up. What I found interesting is that this piece doesn't deal with injured genitals in the familiar humorous genre. Also I found it interesting that the cop didn't want to press charges, because the women had enough problems already. It seems she, and others, lost their jobs, and this was the reason for the protest. Why do so many men refuse to press charges against women? Is it just an extension of the old concept of chivalry?"

Amid all the news about the war against terrorism, this story went largely unnoticed in the major news media last week. Andrea Pia Yates, the Texas mother who methodically drowned her five children in the bathtub, has been deemed competent for trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

This transcript of a recent Dateline NBC tells the story of Tom Burnett, one of the now famous passengers of Flight 93, which crashed outside Pittsburgh after Burnett and other passengers attempted to overtake the hijackers. The story is inspiring.

I do have to admit, that since the terrorist attacks on the U.S, there has been a good number of pro-male news stories in the media. Thanks to Glenn Sacks and Claude Moreau for sending in this one from the National Post. Christie Blatchford writes in appreciation of the men who risked all and pushed their limits to help others. Check it out.

rparent32 sent in this Ananova story about a father who objects to having his son circumcised and whose mother insists on the procedure. rparent32 writes, "It seems this couple split up over the circumcision issue, and are now in court. I don't know if the court will decide if the boy should undergo the procedure or not, or decide which parent gets to decide. I'll keep looking for follow ups to this story and post them."

rparent32 submitted this short Ananova story which reports on a Swedish study which found that men become more likely to divorce when their male co-workers have gone through a divorce, but women behave in the opposite manner. The idea is that when men see other men with new partners after a divorce, they perceive the risks of divorce as minimal. Not much else is mentioned in the article, but it's a curious finding to say the least.

Neil Steyskal sent in this article from the National Review. In it, Kate O'Beirne writes about the firemen in New York, and a court decision that watered down the physical fitness test required for people to become firefighters. An interesting fact is that, even with the test change, only 36 of New York's 11,000 firefighters are women.

Glenn Sacks, the only regularly published male columnist in the US who
writes about gender issues from a perspective unapologetically sympathetic to men, has in his latest column come out strongly in defense of American Muslims and Arabs who have been targeted for hate crimes since the September 11 terrorist attack. You can read his article, All Americans Need to Stand Up for US Arabs, Muslims, which I feel is an important message we need to support. Arabic men, in particular, are under the most suspicion and distrust these days. Update: Glenn also has a new article, "Attacks on American Muslims Reaffirm Wisdom of 2nd Amendment" which should appear on his web site soon.

This article from Boston University's The Daily Free Press claims that men are now more and more being affected by eating disorders traditionally thought to be women-only problems. The Eating Disorders Council of Long Island estimates that at least one in 10 people with eating disorders in the United States is a man. Medical health professionals such as those at the Eating Disorders Council believe more cases exist, but that many go unnoticed and underreported. That sounds familiar...

This article from the University of Wisconsin's Badger Herald may put at ease some college age men who fear the draft may soon call them into a physical fight against terrorism against their will. According to the author, Wisconsin professors doubt the draft will be used in the war against terrorism. One large group of people noticeably absent in the draft is women. The original draft provisions referred only to "male persons" as candidates. The constitutionality of this was upheld in 1981 in Rosktker v. Goldberg. President Clinton also asked the Department of Defense to reconsider the gender requirement in 1994, but they came to no decisive conclusions. Pevehouse said the draft is very unlikely to be reinstated, and young men should not worry about it. Update: The author of this piece misspelled Roskter. The summary of the case may be found here.

This commentary in the UK Guardian points to a lack of female perspective and reporting over the recent terrorist attacks in America. The writer essentially blames The Patriarchy, and then claims that is woman's nature to be less violent and more nurturing than men. She hints, but does not explicity say, that men did the killing, so other men should die fighting the killers. Now this is a writer who deserves some letters.

Robex writes "This article was printed in The Times of London today entitled "As men became heroes". Amongst other things, Josephine Hart (the article's author), learned the following from the WTC disaster:
"We learnt that men are not all children, potential rapists and commitment-phobes. We learnt because they taught us with every step they took, trudging their way up the stairs of the World Trade Centre to almost certain doom while others walked down to the hope of safety."
Whether her own personal beliefs, or repeating supposedly commonly held stereotypes, the paragraph tells us much about Hart's attitude to men.
I have written to The Times today expressing dismay at these comments and pointing out that it pains me greatly that men have to die on live TV to change one embittered writer's view of them."