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.

donaldcameron1 writes "The left-wing feminist rag, The Toronto Daily Star, plunks this heroic tragedy into a shared article Hero teen dies saving relatives from blaze about two fires in the Toronto area, damming the boy's heroics with faint praise. Yes, [his story] does get first billing in the article, but it gets about the same coverage as a different fire in which personal injuries to two other (anonymous) men occurred. The boy even went back into that fire repeatedly."

stevenjones sent in a BC comic strip from 12/22 that he found pretty insulting to fathers. It mocks "deadbeat dads" and anyone who might have any compassion for them. Unfortunately, there is no direct link to the strip - you must first click here and then select the Dec. 22 strip from the menu under the Archive section.

Another Anonymous User sent in this article from the Boston Globe that goes into more detail about the Smith College coach who was fired so that they could have a woman coach. The discrimination here becomes very clear despite everything that coach Babyak did for the teams and the school.

An Anonymous User sent in this link to a Reuters story which briefly mentions that the practice of flogging men in prison will no longer be used, due to a vote by the Egyptian Parliament. The article did mention that women were never flogged in prisons in the first place, which I thought was interesting.

Larry writes "Men's News Daily points to a pair of articles, one at Scotsman.com and one in The Economist, which comment on the rising visibility of the men's movement. Both tend to characterize men's issues as confused whining. Both take heart in what they interpret as "encouraging" signs of self-doubt in men. These writers seem to believe the proper goal of society for the last thirty years has been to break that damnable male quality of autonomy and self-containment. Apparently they think society has finally succeeded." Also thanks to an Anon User who sent in the Scotsman article.

I received an e-mail today from Charles Curie, who is the newly appointed administrator of the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The e-mail was in regard to my complaint about the treatment of Christina Hoff Sommers when she was invited to speak at a conference discussing the value of the "Girl Power" and "Boy Talk" programs. Hoff Sommers questioned the value of these programs, was shouted off the stage, and told to "shut the fuck up, bitch" by one Dr. Jay Wade, a professor who teaches a class in "listening skills." Mr. Curie was most apologetic, and has apologized to Hoff Sommers as well. Read his message to me by clicking Read More below.

This horrifying article from the Fatherhood Coalition's Web site details Massachusettes efforts to put non-custodial parents (namely fathers) in prison for not paying up to 40 percent of their wages to the custodial parent. The story goes on to describe some of the civil rights violations of due process forced upon non-custodial fathers. For robbery, aggravated assault, homicide -- and perhaps even flying airplanes into buildings -- defendants are assumed innocent until proven guilty, provided legal counsel at taxpayer expense, and given every consideration to guarantee that their civil rights aren’t violated in the process of ascertaining their guilt. Non-custodial fathers should be so lucky.

Tony submitted this CNN article and writes "Before anyone gets excited that men might be catching up to women should read this article. Widowers 65+ number about 2 million but widows number 8.5 million. A huge disparity still exists. This article discusses a few reasons why being the surviving spouse is more difficult for men. And it has a heart touching story of a widower."

During the last MANN on-line chat, we discussed starting a group book reading project to help educate activists about the issues and encourage people to buy and read books on or related to men's rights. The first book we decided on reading is Christina Hoff Sommer's book Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women. If you received a gift certificate to a book store recently (or even if you didn't), you might want to pick up a copy of this book and join our discussions on it. Click Read More below for details on our reading schedule and what to do to join us.

Wendy McElroy explores the spirit of this holiday in her latest column, "Random Acts of Kindness." She also tells the tale of how she was attacked in a letter by a mainstream feminist after her last column, which advocated good will toward men. And now we see why it is so important for us to let Wendy know we support her, and to speak up against wrongs, even when some might consider it "whining."

Trudy Schuett released her final DesertLight Journal of the year today, this issue focusing on holiday greetings and a review of this year's events. The MANN admin team submitted a short piece for this issue which can also be read in the Read More section below. Merry Christmas everyone!

Here is a special column I wrote for the holiday editions of both MANN and ifeminists.com. Although I do explore the serious issues of stereotypes and bigotry toward men these days, it is my hope that you will read this column and chuckle a bit, too, at my recent holiday shopping escapade. Happy holidays to each and every one of you.