Mark Rosenthal writes, "Nancy Pfotenhauer, president of the Independent Women's Forum,
and Margot Hill, a member of the IWF's advisory board, were
recently appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Violence
Against Women by John Ashcroft. The IWF has consistently
questioned the "one-size-fits-all, men-beat-up-women" portrayal
of domestic violence promulgated by VAWA and the organizations it
funds. Not surprisingly, NOW is launching an all out letter-writing
campaign to torpedo these appointments. It is essential that we
counter this by contacting the same officials to express our
belief that the appointments of Ms. Pfotenhauer and Ms. Hill will
help to counter the system's built-in biases which allows
VAWA-funded agencies to get away with denying services to the
834,732 men who are victims of domestic violence each year (as
reported by the U.S. Department of Justice)." Check the Read More section below for the rest of Mark's submission and contact info for the officials who will be approving these appointments.

This Sunday's chat in the iFemininsts chat room will also be about the sabotage of the NH Commission on the Status of Men. It will begin at 9 PM EST on Sunday, Sept. 22. If you missed the MANN chat or haven't had enough of this topic yet, please stop by and say hello.

Raymond Cuttill writes "The September programme is out. Domestic violence against men gets less media airtime than Haley's Comet (next due a splurge of publicity in 2061). News of a DV against men conference in Portland, Maine in October may have passed CNN by, but not the Men's Hour. The Blackshirts actions are called harassment and intimidation. John Abbott, leader of the Blackshirts, speaks. Steve Jones claims men are parasites. How far do men need to go before men are heard? Listen at
www.menshour.com"

This is a reminder that the Battered Men's Helpline second annual conference on Male Victims of Domestic Violence is one month away. The event will be held on October 19 in Portland, Maine. I'll be there and expect to do some digital recording of the audio which will be made available after the conference in Ogg Vorbis format, which is similar to MP3. But don't think that excuses you from attending this conference - we need people there to show their support of this cause, so make your travel plans today!

Napnip writes, "I'm writing this hoping to get a bit of advice. In about a week, my place of work will be having a United Way fundraising program. There will be speakers from various agencies to speak with the employees. During my shift, our speaker is supposed to be someone from a local battered women's shelter. No doubt she will be presenting such "facts" as a woman is battered every 15 seconds, etc, while ignoring the other side of the data which states that a man is also battered every 15 seconds. I've already printed out a lot of information and will be carrying this to the meeting with me. Question: Should I confront her about the data? Obviously, I don't plan to be obnoxious about it (as I value my job!), but I would really love to ask her why she ignores the other half of the data (which I'm sure she will)." This is an excellent question to pose to MANN readers. What would you do? Note that I'm not asking what should someone do, but what would you do, especially if you value your job?

The Gonzo Kid submitted this link and writes "Indiana Pacer Ron Artest was assaulted by his girlfriend - update on the story, on the news this AM he was shown leading her out of the lockup after posting her bond. Fox59 news played his 911 call, which said he feared for his safety, and knew if he defended himself he was going to jail. A sad commentary there." In other disturbing news, Agraitear sent us a story about woman has been charged with aggravated assault for setting her boyfriend's bed on fire while he slept in it. The man is now in intensive care. Agraiter comments, "Aggravated assault? Shouldn't this be attempted murder?"

Julian Droms writes "Yesterday, there was a front page news story in the Detroit Free Press about new paternity fraud legislation for the State of Michigan. There are four bills; testimony will be on the 25th of this month in Lansing. All four bills have passed the house and are now in committee. Written testimony can be sent to the Senate Committee on Families, Mental Health and Human Services; 517-373-3543." The fact that these bills are coming forth in several states is an exciting wave of change I see affecting men's rights nationwide. But be prepared for a struggle, as has happened in the L.A. County case.

Steve writes "I will host this week's MANN chat, Wednesday night (9/18), starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, at the usual location. The topic for this chat will be "New Hampshire Commission and CEDAW:
Latest Government Attempts to Harm Men's Rights."  Recently, we've seen the attempts of N.H. Governor Jeanne Shaheen and her office to sabotage the new state commission on men. We also have CEDAW--a fundamentally anti-male treaty--moving to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a ratification vote. Courts routinely make anti-male decisions. Sometimes, it feels like threats are coming at us from all branches of government. What's an activist to do? Let's share ideas and develop strategy at thes week's MANN chat. Join us and let others know about it!""

A recent posting on the Men's Health America list announces that the federal Men's Health Act is gaining more support, with currently 115 co-sponsors in the House. We are encouraged to write to our legislators and ask them to support this bill during this time when they are very eager to get our votes during the election season. The Men's Health Act is a fairly non-controversial men's issue that we should definitely get them to include in their campaigns.

Wendy McElroy's latest column in FoxNews discusses some of the suspicious and outright dirty politics being used to stack the NH Commission on the Status of Men. Not only was it discovered that one of the nominees went on a NH Public Radio program arguing that men don't need this commission, but it has been exposed that the governor's office has been soliciting people to apply even after plenty of qualified individuals had applied for the commission. Some were even solicited after the application deadline had passed. Hopefully with this kind of media exposure, and more expected to follow, politicians will get the message that using underhanded tactics against men's advocates is not worth the cost.

Back in 1996, Health Canada released a report entitled The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens. Prepared by Dr. Frederick Mathews, this paper documents the neglected experiences of our boys and provides yet another legitimate source of information regarding their troubles.

chicago joe writes "There is an article in this month's Oprah magizine [October] that should make everyone see red. It is a story about a former pro football player named Don McPherson and his men's program concerning domestic violence. He has been brainwashed into believing the traditional feminist stereotypes. He tells men at his workshop that women do not commit domestic violence - men do. He labels only men as perpetrators in gender crimes, and he states that male privilege, and our culture that breeds it, are responsible for most of women's woes. The article is also filled with the same anti-male distortions and facts that is common for this subject, and it convinces it's readers that the trend for many males is create or join organizations such as McPherson's so as to "take a hard look at their manhood.""

Luek sent us this article and writes "In Lawrence County, Pennsylvania the ACLU got 37 men out of the child support prison gulag. They reasoned correctly that anyone arrested and threatened with imprisonment is entitled to free legal counsel if they can't afford it and due legal process. Just because you are a male you still can't be treated like a piece of property by the iron heeled state tyrants." This could be a very important breakthrough if this kind of legal case is made in other regions. The ACLU has been lukewarm or completely apathetic to certain men's issues (ie, male reproductive rights) in the past, but this could be a way of getting our "foot in the door" and might lead to the ACLU being more open to men's rights issues. Let's hope for the best.

Jeff Mapes from Kalamazoo College in Michigan is looking for a pro-male speaker to come to his campus and give a presentation on men's issues. If you're interested, please e-mail Jeff at k00jm03@kzoo.edu. Jeff has been successful in starting a "men's issues house" on campus. Here's an excerpt from the house's mission statement: "At every level of discussion on this campus, masculinity is ostracized and shunned. From the way sports players are cynically referred to as “jocks,” to the tendency of every discussion on masculinity to center around gender violence, the students, faculty and staff of Kalamazoo College largely operate under a fundamentally negative—and utterly wrong—conception of men and masculinity. This conception begins with the assumption that men, left to their own devices, will act like brutish animals in a Hobbesian state of nature. As a house, our primary mission will be to fight this misconception." We definitely need more college groups like this.

Rams forwarded me this article about an English professor at the University of New Hampshire who has taken a close look at boys and literacy. Prof. Thomas Newkirk argues that instead of viewing popular culture as of no intellectual value, that in the case of boys and reading, it can be a very important influence: "Newkirk interviewed 100 boys and girls in third, fourth and fifth grades in New Hampshire schools for the book, and discovered that sports, movies, video games and other venues of popular culture are a powerful way to encourage young boys to read and write. In his book, Newkirk argues against the simplistic stereotype of boys, showing that rather than mimic violence, boys most often transform, recombine and participate in storylines, and resist the unreality of popular culture." Newkirk has written a book on this subject, Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture, that many MANN readers might want to check out.