Gordon Finley, a Professor of Psychology at Florida International University, gave us permission to reprint a letter which was published in the Miami Herald on 12/28. Prof. Finley responds to an article on the rising numbers of child abuse and neglect deaths, and points out that the social workers dealing with these cases would be more effective if we confronted the problem of false accusations, which comprise a sizable proportion of their caseloads. Go to the Read More section to view his letter.

Margaret Wente wrote a balanced review of Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture for the Globe and Mail. I say it's balanced because she offers some criticism for the book as well. Overall, she definitely feels this book is needed, though she finds it to overstate the problem at times. Speaking of this book, I think it's time that I ordered a copy myself. Thanks to an Anonymous User who sent this review our way.

As promised, I have set up an e-mail list to be used for the book reading group. If you haven't heard, Mensactivism.org has set up a "book club" of sorts - every couple of months, people who want to participate will decide on a book to be read, and then form a reading schedule for the book. The mailing list will be a place to discuss the contents of the book and other related issues (please note that is not a general purpose list, so please keep discussions on-topic!). The first book we are reading is Christina Hoff-Sommers' Who Stole Feminism?, and we are reading 3-4 chapters each week. To join, click here and fill out the web form. All are welcome.

John May sent in this chat transcript from CNN where gender feminist leader Gloria Steinem is interviewed. The main topic of the discussion is women's rights in Afghanistan, but it's always a good idea to keep tabs on what Steinem is up to.

Douglas Rome submitted this article from the UK Guardian. It describes the increasing derision people are expressing for older men, and as Douglas writes, "This article is especially interesting in that it's by a radical feminist who's shown no previous sympathy for men's plight: I think they're becoming worried, at last, over the molten fury of the men's movement about what Karpf describes as sexism hiding behind feminism."

The same Anon User who sent in the news that Egypt has banned the flogging of male prisoners also discovered this Reuters article which states that 137 Saudi Arabian and five foreign young men were flogged for "harassing women." I have no idea what they mean by harassment, whether it was inappropriate touching or possibly rape, but even Amnesty International believes this to be a grave human rights violation of these men, as reported in the article.

An Anonymous User writes, "On Dec. 19, Judy Mann wrote a column in the Washington Post that stereotyped and vilified men. Many of us wrote letters to the editor. On Dec. 22, the Post "Free for All" section ran a letter from a Markus Garlauskas that characterized Mann's column as "an anti-male message of hate." On Friday, Judy Mann resigned her position at the Post. I don't know whether or not we can take full credit for her resignation, but I do believe that we did make a difference to stop anti-male bigotry." Apparently, Judy couldn't help but make a few final snide remarks about men in her last article (see paragraph 3, in particular). Good riddance.

AFG writes "This commentary from the Washington Times discusses the epidemic of various men in jail for crimes they did not commit. In particular, it informs us about the way in which governmental and judicial authorities often ignore new evidence or employ "snitches" in order to ensure a conviction or keep a man behind bars. It also talks briefly about feminist lawyers who use the courts to "act out sex grudges"" Also thanks to an Anonymous User who sent in this link.

Remo writes "This interview in Feminista! is with a long-time veteran of domestic violence shelters. Note the implicit misandric assumptions. Also the statement near the end that the shelters are but a way-station for a larger political goal. And lastly, note the corrupting influence of money. Let's hope the men's movement doesn't make the same mistakes."

An Anonymous User writes "Robert McElvaine of Millsaps University wrote a book called "Eve's Seed," where he states that women invented agriculture and men are jealous because of it. Just the childish cartoon on the book's website, www.evesseed.com, is proof of male-bashing. A part of the song "Margaritaville" plays in the background, which states "...but I know, it's my own damn fault." The explanation of the book's content reveals more male-bashing. McElvaine's e-mail address is mcelvrs@millsaps.edu."

Some time ago, MANN posted an article about a new sexual predator law which intended to keep people convicted of sexual crimes locked up longer than their actual sentences. According to this story in the Des Moines Register, this law is now being used to keep people who have been convicted of other crimes behind bars beyond their sentences. The following problems now arise: if we're going to ingore sentencing, why have it at all? Does this mean that anyone can now be locked up indefinitely for any offense? What happened to "he paid his debt to society?"

An Anonymous Reader submitted this letter from AngryHarry.com which is in response to this letter in the Irish Times about domestic violence against men. The Irish Times letter attempts to debunk all research on women's violence, which Karl takes them to task on. Of course, Karl's letter wasn't printed, as it is very long, but was an important rebuttal that people here may have an interest in reading.

Wendy McElroy directed me to Will Shurley's school newspaper article about the male-bashing art exhibit formerly displayed in the Boulder, Colorado public library. Shurley, from Baylor University, is the first college student I'm aware of who has confronted the "hung out to dry" art exhibit and domestic violence against men in a campus newspaper. He should be praised highly for his efforts. Why not drop him a line at Will_Shurley@baylor.edu and say hello?

Neil Steyskal writes "Here's a helpful article by a woman who does workshops on avoiding divorce: Michell Weiner-Davis. She also has two books out concentrating on how one person can often save a relationship without first convincing his partner to work on it."

Glenn Sacks, the only regularly published male columnist in the US who writes about gender issues from a perspective unapologetically sympathetic to men, takes on the issue of domestic violence against elderly men in his latest column. It's a good read on a topic that gets little attention in today's domestic violence news stories. Glenn was also interviewed on talk radio station KABC in Los Angeles, and a streaming audio version of his interview can be heard here in MP3 format.