Is the System too Easy on Women or is the System too Hard on Men?

Essay here. Excerpt:

"Great, so if big-brother is a chivalrous fellow who treats men and women differentially under the law and elsewhere, now what? This is where differences of opinion are likely to burgeon (and perhaps political affiliations as well). Are women coddled too much, or are men punished too severely (generally speaking)? In other manner of speaking, should we lock women up and throw away the key like men are often treated for certain crimes? Or, should we send more men into counseling/psychological services instead of prison in an attempt to garner more empathy/sympathy for men in a similar way that women are sometimes treated?"

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FATHERHOOD FIRST: Program helps men better lives, reconnect with kids

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Initiative is one of President George W. Bush's efforts to shore up families through marriage and parenting programs that help parents, especially men, overcome barriers to supporting their children financially and emotionally.

An estimated 47% of U.S. children live in homes without their fathers, according to the department.

"If you look at some of the statistics -- they're earth-shattering," said Tara Wall, a spokeswoman for the office in Washington, D.C.

"In 1960, fewer than 10 million children did not live with their fathers. Today, the number is nearly 25 million. A third of these children won't see their fathers at all during the course of the year."

Children who grow up without their fathers are far more likely to fail in school, engage in criminal activity and abuse alcohol and drugs, according to human services department and numerous studies.'

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Time Magazine: The Myth About Boys

Article here. Excerpt:

'"I don't think anyone will deny that girls are academically superior as a group. Girls are more academically powerful. They make the grades, they run the student activities, they are the valedictorians."

Christina Hoff Sommers, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was explaining how she came to worry deeply about boys. In the book-lined parlor of her suburban Washington home, she ticked through a familiar but disturbing indictment: More boys than girls are in special-education classes. More boys than girls are prescribed mood-managing drugs. This suggests to her (and others) that today's schools are built for girls, and boys are becoming misfits. As a result, more boys than girls drop out of high school. Boys don't read as well as girls. And America's prisons are packed with boys and former boys.'

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Australia: Circumcision Urged in Curbing AIDS Spread

Story here. Excerpt:

'Michel Kazatchkine, the executive director of the Global fund, a leading international health agency, also called For increased funding.

"I believe that the evidence is overwhelming for the efficacy of circumcision," Kazatchkine told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the meeting. "And if countries come to us ... I see no reason at all why we wouldn't fund that."'

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Sexism of Jackson Katz and White Ribbon Campaign exposed in NH newspaper

The Caledonian Record, a newspaper that covers parts of New Hampshire and Maine, just printed two replies, here and here, to the White Ribbon Campaign's and Jackson Katz's anti-male sexism and misandry. These men go around misframing partner abuse to be primarily male-on-female, putting feminist ideology over social science so that female violence and male victims remain swept under the rug. They get away with it by playing off stereotypes and ignorance, and because very few people challenge them publicly.

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Nifong admits: No crime in lacrosse case

Story here. Excerpt:

'DURHAM, N.C. - Disgraced former prosecutor Mike Nifong acknowledged Thursday there is "no credible evidence" that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology.

"We all need to heal," Nifong said. "It is my hope we can start this process today."

Nifong's apology came as a judge began considering whether to hold the former Durham County district attorney in criminal contempt of court for his handling of the case.'

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Give us back our children

From the looks of the article, mothers are losing their children to adoption agencies for no good reason. There are two fathers mentioned if I remember correctly.

But I also know thousands of men lose their kids to vengeful mothers too. For some reason, its never an epidemic unless the female is on the losing end. I wonder if it will sink in that what these mothers are going through, men have been going through it since the start of radfem leadership.

Excerpt:
"Six weeks ago, the Mail told how social workers tore a baby from her loving family to put her up for adoption. Since then, scores of parents have contacted us with horrifying stories of children stolen by the state. How dare the courts continue to gag them?
...
This sweeping shake-up in social policy was designed for all the right reasons: to get older children in care homes into happy new families with parents.

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"It's she-man John vs. he-woman Hil"

Op-ed here. Excerpt:

"Is work/family balance a "women's issue"? I suppose men just love slaving away 12 hours a day in mind-numbing jobs and cramped cubicles so they can come home to their bitter, exhausted wives and already-sleeping children.

Did I miss the memo that humans are now able to asexually reproduce? Otherwise I would assume reproductive rights also affect men - who, I was under the impression, often play a somewhat vital role in procreation.

And on the flip side of the coin, is "the war on terrorism" -don't even get me started on those semantics - a "men's issue"? Were the 160,500 American women who have served thus far in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East since 2003 merely playing dress up?"

Can any of you guys verify the "160,500" statistic?

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National Post Editorial: Why men earn more

Article here. Excerpt:

'When activists want to make the case that their society is riddled with sexism, the first statistic they typically serve up is the one comparing earnings: In most Western countries, working women earn significantly less than working men.
...
The idea that factors other than discrimination drive pay discrepancy got a boost this week from across the Atlantic. On Wednesday, the European Commission released a new report showing that, despite Europe's progressive politics and famously intrusive workplace regulations, women still earn 15% less than men on average -- virtually unchanged from the 17% figure of 1997.'

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Victory for wealthy ex-hubby

Story here. Excerpt:

'A WEALTHY retired builder won his appeal today over a court ruling that he must pay more money to the woman he divorced nearly 30 years ago.

Dennis North, 70, was ordered last year to pay his first wife, Jean £202,000 by a family judge who heard she had "fallen on hard times" after embarking on a lifestyle she could not afford.'

---
Ed. note: This is a follow-up to a piece posted June 28, 2007 here on MANN.

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Circumcision Urged in Curbing AIDS Spread

Article here. Excerpt:

"A U.S. health expert urged governments worldwide Tuesday to endorse circumcision to slow the spread of HIV, saying men without the procedure have a greater risk of contracting the virus from infected female partners.
...
Robert Bailey, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois, said studies in Africa showed that uncircumcised men were 2 1/2 times more likely to contract HIV from infected female partners, though many health officials were still unclear about its benefits."

I think the professor should be taught about its strong drawbacks. Very likely, he was mutilated himself as a child and has no idea. Sad, yet another victim who supports what made him a victim.

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Unruly schoolboys or sex offenders?

Story here. Excerpt:

"The two boys tore down the hall of Patton Middle School after lunch, swatting the bottoms of girls as they ran -- what some kids later said was a common form of greeting.
...
Now, Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, face the prospect of 10 years in juvenile detention and a lifetime on the sex offender registry in a case that poses a fundamental question: When is horseplay a crime?
...
The outlines of the case have been known. But confidential police reports and juvenile court records shed new light on the context of the boys' actions. The records show that other students, boys and girls, were slapping one another's bottoms. Two of the girls identified as victims have recanted, saying they felt pressured and gave false statements to interrogators. "

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Man ordered to pay ex-wife alimony, despite domestic partnership

The article is here. Excerpt:

'A judge ordered an Orange County man to continue paying $1,250 a month in alimony to his former wife — even though she's in a registered domestic partnership with another woman.

State marriage laws say that alimony ends when a former spouse remarries. So Ron Garber thought he was off the hook for the payments when he learned his ex-wife, Melinda Kirkwood, registered her new relationship under the state's domestic partnership law.'

She's in a new committed relation (could this also have something to do with the marriage breakup?) and still gets support from her ex. What a deal!

At least it is alimony which is deductible for the payer and taxable for the payee.

Interestingly, the comments lean towards support for the ex-husband. Now remember this is in left-leaning San Francisco.

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RADAR ALERT: D.A. Group Fuels the Problem that It Claims Doesn't Exist

"THERE IS NOT AN EPIDEMIC OF ROGUE PROSECTORS IN AMERICA," claims a recent news release from the National District Attorneys Association, following the disbarment of North Carolina district attorney Michael Nifong.

According to NDAA president Mathias Heck, "The vast majority of prosecutors take their responsibilities very seriously. They seek out truth and justice, wherever it leads." (http://www.ndaa.org/newsroom/pr_duke_case_june_17_07.html)

If that's true, then the NDAA - the group that represents 30,000 district attorneys around the country - has some explaining to do. Because in two weeks, the National District Attorneys Association will be holding a conference called the National Institute on the Prosecution of Sexual Violence. Research shows that about half of all rape claims are false. That means that each year, 47,000 American men, disproportionately Black men, are wrongfully accused of this heinous crime: http://www.mediaradar.org/research_on_false_rape_allegations.php

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Father-free holidays

Story here. Excerpt:

'Many men now only join their families for a short part of the summer holiday.
...
These days, father is more likely to keep in touch by text or email, and mother is probably juggling summer childcare with a demanding freelance career, but otherwise, it seems, the long summer break - much of it spent without Dad - is back in fashion.
...
Absence of a parent can also have a detrimental effect on children, especially on young boys, if it's the father who's away. An interim report from the Children's Society, published last Monday, said that the UK has the longest working hours in Europe, and that 21st-century stresses are "pulling families apart".'

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