frank h writes "This story says that abortion rights are at the center of many key races in this year's election. We need to pay attention to this because as much as the feminists want to keep the focus on access to safe and legal abortion, the Roe v. Wade ruling is key to father's rights: it states that the father has no right to any decision making in the reproductive process. It is possible for father to have reproductive choice AND to keep abortion safe and legal. Note that this MAY be a possible dividing point with the pro-abortion crowd. There may be many women who favor male reproductive choice who also demand the right to safe and legal abortion."

chicago joe writes "I just read one of the most disturbing commentaries co-authored by Eric Zorn and Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune. It was an opinion piece asking the question,"Is sex with teens different if adult is a woman?" This is concerning the recent arrest of a teacher in the Chicago area who is accused of having sex with three of her male teenage students. Both writers agreed that it is not the same. They essentially said female pedophilia is OK! Eric Zorn wanted to know why the boys were not suspended because "they should have known better", and he diminished the felony charges because it is "every teenage boy's fantasy." Mary Schmich states that men are predators when engaging in sex with underage girls, but women are innocent because they are "just having relationships" with young boys. The Chicago Tribune is owned by the powerful media giant Tribune Co, owners of many media outlets and also owners of the Chicago Cubs. This should be an embarrassment to them." Here's the link, though free registration is required to read it.

Anonymous User writes "This story in The Age says that Australia's new phone counseling service for men is unable to keep up with demand. In spite of the degrading cartoon beside the article, men's voices are finally being heard." I also found some of the commentary in the article degrading to men, but I'm encouraged to see that men are making use of this service. We need to help these people, not ridicule them.

SJones writes "After all the disparately high funding for breast cancer research at the expense of other cancers such as prostate cancer it has been found that the gene that increases a woman's risk for breast cancer is tied to a man's increased risk for prostate cancer. The story is here."

We're gonna hear a lot about this.

Robert S. Flores Jr., the man who killed three professors and himself at the University of Arizona, wrote a long letter detailing the reasons for his actions. In that missive he states, "...I will stand up for myself and be assertive. What I discovered was that being a male and non-traditional student, and (shudder!), assertive was not compatible with the instructors at the college of nursing... In many ways male nursing students are 'tokens.'" He speaks of his wife using standard accusations against him during their divorce, though he says she couldn't substantiate any of them and even contradicted herself, and he gives other examples of being abused for being male. He has stated outright that these were among the reasons for his murder/suicide.

It sounds like, among other things, this man cracked after years of abuse and oppression for being male. I'm afraid we will see much more of this sort of thing in the future.

An anonymous user points to a finding by two Canadian academics. It turns out that the witch-hunts that occured around the 16th century were not exclusively female-oriented, as modern media suggests.

"It makes it much harder to maintain the standard, stereotypical narrative of unrelieved misogyny, of blind ignorance, superstition and woman-hating,"

As Stanley Green mentioned during the Conference on Male Victims of Domestic Abuse two Saturdays ago, many people aren't aware that, despite some of the language of the bill, the Violence Against Women Act is not intended to exclude funding for male services, nor could doing so survive a constitutional challenge. Of special interest is the fact that Senator Orin Hatch entered some important comments into the Congressional Record before the bill was passed. These comments can be read in the Read More section below. If you'd like more information on this, the Men's Health Network has some relevant documents you can download from this page.

Steve writes "I will host this week's MANN chat, Wednesday night (10/30),
starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, at the usual location. The topic
for this chat will be 'Do we need an Office of Men's Health?'  The Men's Health Act
of 2001 would create an Office of Men's Health within the Department
of Health and Human Services.  However, that bill is languishing in
Congress, while men continue to suffer from the concerns the bill seeks to address.
 Some men say we need an Office of Men's Health to promote men's health
and well-being.  Other men say such an office would merely create bigger
government and more bureaucracy, and would not produce any tangible benefits
for men.  What do you say?  Join us at this week's MANN chat to
share your views on the proposed Office of Men's Health or men's health issues
generally.  Invite a friend to accompany you to the chat; he'll thank
you for it!"

Raymond Cuttill writes "In the October Men's Hour; Michael J. Geanoulis talks about The NH Commission on the Status of Men, how hearts and minds are being won. Will the WHO report on violence save men from everything from suicide through domestic and sexual violence to war? Well, not exactly. In Costa Rica mothers can name the father of their baby if they want to. Presumably then they never get it wrong - right? wrong! Available at www.menshour.com. Listen online or download MP3s."

Anonymous User writes "In this article on ifeminists.com, Kirsten Tyrnan argues that the veto of California's paternity fraud legislation was not as irresponsible as Glenn Sacks and Dianna Thompson believe. In fact, vetoing the bill prevented the state from making the mistake of trading one set of problems for another. Tyrnan's main concern with the original bill is also well stated. Neither the woman who lied about vital information to the presumed father, nor the system which blindly enforced her fraudulent claims against him, would be held accountable.
"

Dianna Thompson and Glenn Sacks will host their first live call-in show on MND radio tonight at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST. They will be discussing the war against so-called "deadbeat dads" and the new, election season punitive measures against divorced dads being discussed in Ohio. The show will be on Men's News Daily radio and the call-in number is 1-888-440-3476.

SJones writes "A recent article discusses how the medical community ignores older men's health problems, specifically osteoporosis."

" To investigate whether doctors treat osteoporosis in men who are hospitalized for hip fracture, the researchers reviewed the medical records of more than 300 patients at least 50 years old. Patients were asked in mailed questionnaires whether they received any medication for osteoporosis [...].


According to the report, less than 5% of men had received any treatment for osteoporosis when they were discharged from the hospital, compared with 27% of women."

CJ writes "Here is a somewhat unbiased article that was prominently featured in The Boston Globe concerning domestic abuse. The headline and pictures associated with the article look like they are of standard feminist slanted variety that newspapers regularly publish. But this one presents men's issues as they relate to the domestic violence "industry." As usual, the local feminists have issue with the truth. PLEASE contact the Globe to support unbiased reporting like this, and send them facts and support on domestic violence issues."" letter@globe.com

Dan Lynch sent us this story from Men's News Daily and writes "Here is an opportunity to do some more letter writing activism. There is a male friendly judge who is trying for a supreme court seat. In fact I think he is all about the greatness of fathers. Even his own daugther, which I think is great, is his biggest supporter. His name is Judge Steve Alexander who "is a fiscal and social conservative who believes in the sanctity of family and fatherhood" is trying to get himself on the ballot for Washington State Supreme Court, Position 4. If this is of an interest to you, you may consider writing in or helping with the "grassroots" campaign they, his daugther and many others are trying to organize for his admission. "I wanted to be there for my children--not just a name on their birth certificate, but a strong, warm, and loving presence in their lives"-Judge Alexander." I'm really sorry for taking so long to post this, I hope there's still time for it to help.

Serge writes "CBS recently aired a "60 Minutes" episode on boys. "Just as educators’ special efforts to improve the performance of girls in school is showing success, they now have a new problem: boys are falling behind at all levels of education. Lesley Stahl reports." The above snippet is the only transcript found on their site. All the other segments of that showing are transcribed! While partially putting the blame on fathers who fail to encourage their sons in scholastic achievement, as well as crying that "men still earn more," the program did raise important questions that are but all too familiar to this site's readers. But overall, I think it was a step in the right direction and is sure to get some discussion going in wider circles. Perphaps someone else could find the transcript of this on their site, as I am unable to. Otherwise, we should probably encourage them." I've received word that N.O.W. has issued an action alert to lobby CBS to stop acknowledging the plight of males in school, so we really need to counter their efforts and help increase this kind of coverage.