We're a bit behind in posting the two most recent articles by the powerhouse duo Glenn Sacks and Dianna Thompson. In case you missed them, here's a summary. In this article, Sacks and Thompson explain how the Child Support Enforcement Act is truly an act of "political grandstanding," using "dead beat dads" as scapegoats for oppressive new legislation. Included with their criticism of the bill are constructive suggestions Sacks and Thompson have for improving the system, so that children do receive needed financial support from non-paying parents. The second article is on the subject of male reproductive rights, or as I like to say, the lack thereof. The double standards here of course are also devastating for men, who have no say in the abortion decision or legal recourse when tricked into paternity. A recent PA court case where a father requested the ability to stop an abortion is the starting point for this article.

The BBC News reports on a recent proposal in Norway that "would compel both state owned and listed private companies to appoint women to at least 40% of boardroom places could become law by 2005."

Wendy McElroy's recent column delved into the topic of male circumcision, and the gender double standards we have as a culture regarding genital mutilation. She gives a basic overview of the arguments about it and provides many links to groups opposing the practice, and briefly discusses the growing legal debate on the legitimacy of infant circumcision of males. This is an issue that received surprisingly little attention from individualist and equity feminists.

fritzc77 writes "This CNN story by Julie Hilden now suggests putting the names the men ACQUITTED, or simply accused of sex crimes, on the internet. Nowhere in the article does it seem to mention that such men might be innocent." Thanks also to John Knouten for submitting this story.

Robex writes "Here is a start in the UK at addressing the chronic underperformance of boys at school in the UK."

The government hopes that by allowing fathers to take more time off work to spend educational time with their sons, boys' performance at school may improve. The scheme is being targeted at boys rather than girls as boys are more likely to underachieve at school. In September the fathers will be offered one paid hour to spend with their 11 to 14-year-old sons.

One hour is not much, but it's a start. You can have your say on this at the the BBC website which is running a Talking Point on it."

Trudy W Schuett writes "In the Aug. 5 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, Carol Delaney, an associate professor at Stanford, literally blames all men for recent crimes against children." Contact information and other letters may be found at the Desert Light Journal. Update: Men's News Daily includes an interesting exchange between men's activists and the office of the Provost at Stanford - check it out.

Luek writes "Governor Davis of California denied early parole to two predatory females who killed their boyfriend and husband respectively and who of course used the 'abuse excuse' to get public and political sympathy. This is very encouraging, since the paroles were considered foregone conclusions by the feminist lobbyists who were ram-rodding these two paroles through. If you live in California, give Governor Davis an e-mail pat on the back for having integrity and doing the right thing. Good for you Governor Davis!"

warble writes "On Tuesday, August 6, 2002 the California Senate Committee of Judiciary held a hearing on AB2240. Several men's activist groups appeared, including NCFC, and NCFM, LA. Monday, they lobbied the CA Senate in favor of AB2240, in an effort to discern the arguments presented by the opposition. The effort is directed at moving the bill out of committee onto the floor. As usual, the opposition is forwarding frivolous arguments, trying to dilute the bill, or simply stop it in committee. Currently, the bill has been completely feminized and yet they are still trying to oppose it. The lobbying efforts are aimed at trying to get amendments that eliminate absolute judicial discretion, hold women responsible for paternity fraud instead of rewarding them with money from the richest man, modifications to the declaration of paternity form so that women can choose to declare that they require paternity testing, and elimination of the three-year time limit while moving the bill out of committee. Therefore, your letters in support of the bill are appreciated. To read the bill go to "Bill Information" and enter AB2240. To send an email to the committee go the following link: CA Senate Committee of Judiciary"

Thundercloud writes "Here is yet another "Heads-up."
After having to endure the new show "SHE-SPIES" (and many others like it), yet another "girls beat-up the guys" (and love it) series has been spotted on my radar. This one is called "BIRDS OF PREY." It is based on the DC Comics characters "Black canary" and "Oracle." It's to debut this fall (September, I think). Once more the previews show, what else, women beating the holy hell out of men (and my guess is the men will probably get masochistic pleasure from it, as in MOST of these types of TV shows and movies). Apparently abusing men sells (to a mostly female audience)."

Trudy W Schuett writes "I saw a need for a brief overview of the issues, and it's up at the DLJ website here." Raymond Cuttill also writes "MSNHatesMen is sort of running. Firstly it is not on MSNHatesMen.com as the site has moved, but the upload etc. won't be working for a while, so it's being hosted at menshour.com for the time being. So far only 1 ecard is available. It's "Women are always whining...". It isn't as fancy as the MSN one but it makes it's point. To send an ecard go to this link. As the site says, it's not about hating women, it's about challenging the hating of men. Sauce for the gander."

A new study has been done on domestic violence which focuses on DV among college students. Included among the study's authors is Dr. Murray Straus, and the University of New Hampshire was one of the schools where data samples were taken. The results came out as all of the Sociological studies have shown; that assaults are committed by women and men at about equal rates. In some cases, women were even more likely to be the aggressor than men. Foster's Daily Democrat reports on the study here. Update: Foster's has printed another story on the study today. Second Update: The Concord Monitor printed a must-read article on the study, too.

Ray writes "This article is linked through ifeminists.com to the IWF, and is as relevant to issues affecting men as any all-male topic. Should taxpayer dollars be used to fund college level Women's Studies programs that are used to support an anti-male/radical feminist agenda? Are the distortions taught in the Women's Studies programs actually traumatizing otherwise healthy females more than the fallacy they preach of; ie man as patriarchal oppressor? It appears this article from the Independent Women's Forum speaks volumes about where the vitriolic rhetoric against men in America is spawned, hatched, and nurtured, but you be the judge."

Marc writes "This is a petition some of us sent to Robert Hirshon, president of the American Bar Asociation, about their misleading info on male victims. I've been telling them about this for almost two years now and they still aren't doing anything. If you have a moment you may want to write to Robert Hirshon at rhirshon@dwmlaw.com and explain why the ABA should be more fair to male victims." Read More below to view the petition.

Once again Mensactivism.org has overcome another technical glitch, and it appears that I was able to utilize partial backups to recover data up until the night of the crash. If anything is acting odd, let me know. For now, I'm just glad things appear to be working at all! :)

Mike Medved has written
an article about the problems men and boys have when it comes to education in America. Of course, this is a western problem, but there's nothing wrong with localizing your efforts. Anyway, he's quite aware of the double standards here, and in my opinion takes a hard line stance
in defense of the nearest man, which is much needed.