Article here. Excerpt:

'A free public event focusing on boys’ educational performance and needs will take place on Oct. 7 at the Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma campus.

“Why Boys Fail: An Evening About Educating Boys,” will be presented from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium of the college campus, at 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway.

Richard Whitmire, author of the book, “Why Boys Fail,” will be the keynote speaker and Petaluma resident Joe Manthey will give a Powerpoint presentation, “A Brain-Based Approach to Academic Success for Boys.”

The event is designed for parents and others who care for, educate or make policies affecting the lives of boys.

Manthey contends that the educational problems facing boys often are not understood.'

Albeit, in its usual convoluted, weasel-word manner. Link to statement here (.pdf document). Excerpt:

'Recently there has been renewed debate regarding both the potential health benefits and the ethical and human rights issues relating to infant male circumcision.

Circumcision is generally a safe procedure but there are risks of minor complications and some rare but serious complications.
...
Ethical and human rights concerns have been raised regarding elective infant male circumcision because it is recognised that the foreskin has a functional role, the operation is non-therapeutic and the infant is unable to consent.

Link to clinic site here. Excerpt (emphasis not added):

'The Haven Surgery now offers a circumcision service for male babies for religious or cultural reasons, from the ages of 4 - 24 weeks.

This service is not for circumcisions for medical reasons
...
She will be assisted by a female nurse.
...
Should you wish to take advantage of this special service, please contact the Haven Surgery by telephone.'

Article: Researchers at MIT showed that genes on the Y chromosomes are changing at a rapid pace. Excerpt:

'"The Y chromosome looks like it has a lot of life left in it," says David Page, an author of the study and director of the Whitehead Institute at MIT. In fact, he says, the Y chromosome looks to be "the most evolutionary dynamic part of our genome."

That's a dramatic reversal from just a few years ago, when scientists were suggesting the human Y chromosome was in trouble and might be headed for extinction. In 2000, for example, a team from the University of Edinburgh presented evidence that that Y chromosome had become "genetically degenerate."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In going through the recent tribute here to Pat Tillman, the former NFL star that gave up a lucrative career in football to serve his country, I found myself nodding my head a lot. I also experienced a kind of sick feeling. There were many references to his bravery and sacrifice as indicators of quintessential masculinity.

In an age where men struggle to find the increasingly elusive meaning of manhood, the Tillman story should prove helpful, but only in discerning a path to avoid.
...
There is a lot of talk these days about making men good fathers, husbands and citizens. Much of this, of course, is predicated on the egregious myth that men are none of these things to begin with, and that their lives do not need or deserve compassionate attention simply for the sake of improving their lot in life. Everything we want men to be is somehow meant for the benefit of others. However well intended (and sometimes not), these efforts are doing little more than regarding men as human appliances.
...

Documentary web site here. There is no text describing it on the site, but well worth watching.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Tonight [9/27/10] at 7 p.m., first-year men at Hamilton College will be attending a mandatory presentation of "She Fears You," a program at which they will be pressed to acknowledge their personal complicity in a "rape culture" on Hamilton's campus and to change their "rape-supportive" beliefs and attitudes. First-year men were informed via e-mail that attendance was required and that they needed to bring their ID cards. "She Fears You" will be presented by Keith Edwards, "a national speaker and trainer on diversity and social justice and college men's issues."

"She Fears You" is based on the theory that men need a "combined cognitive and emotional intervention" in order to change their "rape-supportive beliefs."'

I accidentally came across this article in Elle magazine about men's reproductive rights. It actually does a fairly good job of presenting both sides of the issue. It includes quotations from Mel Feit and Kim Gandy (ex-president of NOW). Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

The best thing that ever happened to me was losing my balls...”

Barry Munday utters the words to a rugged – and horrified – guy sitting next to him at the bar. An aspiring ladies’ man, Mr. Munday suffers an injury to his testicles, learns he’s a father and grows into a better man in the film named after him, opening Oct. 1 in theatres.

The movie is just the latest in a string of emasculating offerings in popular culture. In April, bloggers seized on an oxytocin-laced “cuddle spray,” rumoured to entrance your guy into snuggling after sex instead of cozying up with ESPN.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In its earliest and most benign form – the political campaign to achieve equality under the law and equality in economic opportunities – feminism was a necessary and welcome reform movement. No rational person could be less than delighted to see barriers to a full range of educational and career options for women fall by the wayside.

The feminism I take exception to today is not the mild and blameless right of a woman to self-actualize that all women absorb by osmosis from the cultural air we breathe, but the radical ideology that has come to dominate the movement’s academic and institutional elites over the last 40 years.

Via email submission:

This afternoon the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was scheduled to hold a mark-up hearing on the proposed International Violence Against Women Act (S. 2982). The purpose of the hearing was to consider any final amendments on the bill before a vote by the Committee, and subsequent referral to the entire Senate for a vote.

But just minutes before the hearing was scheduled to begin, committee Chairman John Kerry of Massachusetts announced the hearing would be canceled. Senate insiders believe the cancellation marks a decision by Sen. Kerry to avoid an embarrassing defeat of the bill. Sen. Kerry was a lead sponsor of the bill, along with senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

While Sen. Kerry may attempt to secure passage of the bill during the upcoming “Lame Duck” session of Congress, Senate insiders believe such a move is unlikely.

Column here. Excerpt:

'We live in an era where it’s no longer acceptable to make fun of particular groups.

Except men, of course.

Curiously, while we are expected to treat others with sensitivity and respect, men are still fair game.
...
And if the mass media portray men as idiots, it’s not surprising that such misconceptions end up colouring people’s views of men in real life.

Case in point: the long-standing myth that men are incapable fathers. Tiptoeing into that cultural minefield is Luc Bouchard, provincial co-ordinator of the Alberta Father Involvement Initiative.

His mission? To convince the skeptics that just because men parent differently doesn’t mean they’re bad dads — and to help social service agencies design parenting programs that reach out to dads as well as moms.'

Article here. The author, Andrea Mrozek, is a Conservative Christian and Manager of Research and Communications for the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.

'For the one smiling face of dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford there are thousands upon thousands more who are weeping, waiting for the despair to end, living lives filled with drugs, sedatives, physical and sexual abuse and suicidal thoughts.

Their stories were ignored in Justice Susan Himel’s decision to overturn Canada’s prostitution laws on Tuesday.

Reasonable evidence was likewise ignored, evidence that shows lax prostitution laws increase the exploitation of women, help organized crime and increase human trafficking.

Parliament has 30 days to decide how to act on this decision. It must be overturned, and failing that, something more stringent put in its place. Following the path of Sweden by criminalizing Johns is one possible solution, with considerable support among women’s groups and anti-human trafficking activists across the globe.

The Swedish model prosecutes the buyer.

From an IA newsletter:

'With the American Academy of Pediatrics conference happening this weekend, it's more important than ever to write to the AAP and demand that they listen to America's parents, and the rest of the world: circumcision is not an effective tool against AIDS, it isn't medically necessary, and it inflicts needless pain and suffering on helpless infants. Email them here.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'But I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to tell it like it is. And what it is is this: statistically speaking women have a huge advantage as entrepreneurs, because the press is dying to write about them, and venture capitalists are dying to fund them. Just so no one will point the accusing finger of discrimination at them.

That WSJ article also criticizes Y Combinator for having just 14 female founders out of their 208 startups to date. But I know that Y Combinator wants – really, really wants – female founders and that there just aren’t very many of them. I know this because Y Combinator cofounder Jessica Livingston has told me how excited they are to get applications from women, and that they want to do everything they can to get more female applicants. What they probably won’t admit, but I suspect is true anyway, is that the rate of acceptance for female applicants is far higher than for male applicants.