This Sunday's joint MANN/iFeminists chat will feature special guest L. Neil Smith, a noted author of Science Fiction. We'll be discussing how men and women are portrayed in Sci-Fi, particularly in cases where men are depicted as heroes, and women as villains. It seems that in Science Fiction, authors are more willing to turn the popular stereotypes on their heads. The chat will begin on Sunday, 2/3, at 9:00 PM EST at the iFeminists chat room. See you there!

shouting writes "Dilbert has been featuring the "Man Hating Boss" for the past few days." The series started on January 29, and can be seen here. Click the following days on the calendar you see on that page to view the other ones.

As MANN has grown over the past several months, we have reached the point where we are consistently flooded with news submissions, and can't post them all. We've been having a hard time picking and choosing which stories will be posted and which won't, and to try to help organize things better, we've come up with the following News Submission Guidelines that will help us post more stories with greater speed and efficiency. Please take a moment to read this, and thank you all for such incredible participation with this web site and community!

Glenn Sacks has challenged columnist and talk show host Larry Elder to "rumble on 'Deadbeat dads: Victims?' in studio, mano a mano." Sacks, who has appeared on dozens of radio and TV talk shows, including at Elder's KABC radio in Los Angeles, noted that Elder's column "has caused an uproar within the Fathers' Rights movement, and given the reaction we received when I was on Al Rantel's show a few weeks ago, I'm sure we'll have plenty of callers and listeners." To let Larry (AKA the "Sage from South Central") know you're interested in the proposed debate, e-mail him at the_sage@larryelder.com. Glenn can be reached through his website at GlennJSacks.com.

Trudy W Schuett writes "The DesertLight Journal and the British radio show, The Men's Hour, announced they will join forces to form cyberManbooks.com. The new e-book publisher will target a primarily male audience with new books, as well as classics. Set to launch on February 14, cyberManbooks is unique in the world of e-publishing. Unlike other publishers that provide little or no help for new writers, choosing instead to promote and assist proven authors, cyberMan will encourage and help new writers from the time their work is accepted for publication. This new concept in publishing will connect authors worldwide to assist each other in their promotional efforts, and give readers free access to contact cyberMan authors. In addition to providing quality e-books, cyberManbooks.com will give websurfers access to a variety of online information for writers and readers, including research resources and learning tools."

Dave Compas sent us this article and writes "Men, this is one more for the record book, and another woman attempting to escape responsibility for her actions. Check out this story from the Sacramento Bee! She "accidentally" stabbed her man to death!" That is one *freaky* photo of her, too.

SunCat writes "Bookstores now carry a boyfriend training kit. It is a brown paper pouch, with "stars" to rate your boyfriend's performance. Warren Farrell fans should note that the package is labled DISPOSABLE. File this under "misandry does not exist." :-(" The package supposedly contains "all you need to knock your boyfriend into shape...With such a comprehensive guide, you'll never have to follow his rules again."

This column on WorldNetDaily is Larry Elder's take on apparently recent shifts in attitudes in some media toward so-called "deadbeat" dads. Elder thinks that people focusing on this issue are calling for a "welfare state" and absolution from responsibilities. Of course, then there are those men who are ordered to pay 200% of their income in child support. You can e-mail Elder here. Scott's note: Thanks also to Neil Steyskal for sending this in.

This interesting story on ananova.com reports on a Valentine's Day singles night which attracted the interest of about 500 women, but only two men. The organizer attributes it to "men taking themselves too seriously these days." Perhaps men are also more wary of dating these days as well?

Two recent posts to the Men's Health America mailing list outline new developments in the campaign to advocate for Afghan men's human rights. This post includes a sample letter that you can use to send to your national Congress members to remind them of the invisible plight of Afghan men. In another development, Amnesty International has been sending a standard form letter to people who have been writing in during this campaign, defending their double standards. Is this something that should go without response? It's up to you to decide.

Men's News Daily received an full-length article in Wednesday's Washington Times, which can be read here. Apparently MND has set its sights on surpassing the Drudge Report as the premier conservative men's issues news web site. Even more significantly, I think this is the first time I know of that a "men's rights" web site has received such attention in the print media. This is a noteworthy event.

Neil Steyskal submitted this column by Patricia Pearson in USA Today. Pearson points out that: Contrary to initial media reports, this was not the first time a Palestinian woman has proved capable of terrorist violence. Far from it. She also warns that likely victims of terrorism should watch out for the use by terrorists of the "least likely suspects." Namely, women.

Neil Steyskal submitted this story from National Review, which explores reasons why women in managerial positions may make less than their male counterparts. Before we spend more of the taxpayers' money, we might consider some explanations other than "discrimination" for the continuing gender gap in earnings.

Neil Steyskal submitted this letter from a feminist lawyer in USA Today and writes "The feminists are attacking USA Today for its criticism of Title IX: Reply to: editor@usatoday.com. The letter's author, in fact, is pretty smug, calling women's sports and discrimination against men's sports (which she denies exists) "the winning team."

Neil Steyskal submitted this story from WorldNetDaily. Apparently, a bill went to Congress' Armed Services Committee (without a co-sponsor) in December which would require all U.S. men ages 18-22 to go through military training for "homeland defense." According to the article, a draft today would be dramatically different than the draft of Vietnam and there would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service.