Serge submitted this BBC News article, which covers the new parliament in Kosovo, which will institute a quota system to guarantee members will be at least 28% female. "While many countries, including France, Italy and Belgium have systems that demand a minimum number of women candidates, virtually none ensure that they are elected." The article also notes that "The US has one of the lowest number of elected women officials of any (Western democratic) nation." But to that I would add that just because men are the ones making laws doesn't mean that they are not serving women's needs. Who could deny that lawmakers in America are almost continually bending over backwards to please women and feminist groups?

Thanks to an active readership, we've been able to track more anti-male portrayals in the media. Anna wrote in about a demeaning ad she saw in Parents Magazine, Dec. 2001 issue: "It's for Secret anti-perspirant for women. It reads.. "It's gentle. It's sensitive. It's strong...Men, take note." The "men take note" is in larger and bolder print. I wrote to Proctor and Gamble through their web site I will also write a hard copy." cheddah and bledso both wrote in about a new Norelco electric shaver ad on TV. It shows an entertainment center fall apart, presumably due to the man's incompetence at building it, and the announcer ends it with something along the lines of, "...because men can never do anything right." The Media Watch page has been updated accordingly.

Donald Cameron writes "An article in the National Post reports: "By nature, men overreact to stress...male fetuses release double the amount of the stress hormone, cortisol, than female fetuses do. This "exaggerated stressful response" in males before birth means men may be "over-responsive to stress" after birth." I have to wonder if there is hope for men in light of this kind of research. It is good to know about the causes of diseases and disorders. I just somehow feel that we are headed into some strange territory (dare I say "Brave New World?") where genetic research can be used to make wild claims that go beyond the findings of a study. They could just as easily have said that women underreact to stress, could they not?"

Neil Steyskal writes "A therapist has written to Dear Abby to advise an abused man to leave his wife and take his children. The therapist isn't aware that the man will have to be very lucky to keep his kids, even if he has a well documented case. This is something Dear Abby needs to know. Go to the "reply" link on the site."

In yet another slam against manhood in the United Kingdom, the British government is granting women the right to know the salaries of their male co-workers. The government is painting this as an initiative to promote pay equity. It sounds more like a legal invasion of the privacy of one sex by another, and further attempts to force men into smaller pay scales no matter their years of service and quality of work. The story can be read here.

rparent32 writes "A woman in Hong Kong was released by a judge, who felt the nine months
she had already spent in jail was enough. She drugged her husband, and cut off his penis, when he arrived at their place to discuss a separation. I don't now about the laws in Hong Kong, but this sounds similar to a story in Vancouver, Canada. A women thought her husband was cheating on her, so she got her revenge by hacking off his penis. She was charged with common assault. This charge is usually reserved for such things a punching someone with a fist. She was convicted, and given probation."

Rams sent in this article from PaperClip Communications. It announces that Chestnut Hill College, a Catholic liberal arts college, will be ending its policy of admitting only women beginning in the Fall of 2003. The reason? "Declining interest in all-women’s institutions." CHC President Sister Carol Jean Vale said, "It was the most responsible decision we could make...I think a good number of the remaining women’s colleges will either merge with a larger institution or become coed."

Chivalry (or, the placement of women on a figurative pedestal) has long been blamed by feminism for women's inequality with men in a variety of areas, but is it also responsible for modern inequalities which directly affect men? Unequal sentencing for similar crimes all the way down to unequal pricing for goods and services could conceivably be blamed on this relic from ages old we call "chivalry." They say it's dead. Are they right? Join us at 9:30 p.m. EST for an online chat on the subject, and we'll attempt to determine the truth.

Eeva Sodhi writes "Mary Cleary, the spunky and ever so resourceful Irish woman who founded AMEN, suggests that as a postscript to November, celebrating "woman abuse" we need to declare the week of Dec. 3-9 as "Domestic Violence Against Men Awareness Week." I support her wholeheartedly. After all, we women need to demonstrate that we are WOMEN, not feminists who have invented the obscure term "gender."" So begins Eeva's essay on domestic violence. Please click Read More below to view the rest of her submission. Thanks, Eeva!

Wendy McElroy's latest Fox News column is interesting because it exposes how the radical feminist movement is getting miffed at Laura Bush's advocacy for Afghan women. McElroy writes that the reason for this is that "The left wing of feminism is desperate to own this issue. Voices like the Feminist Majority Foundation are trying to use the oppression of Afghan women in the same manner they exploit other international issues, such as the trafficking of women or working conditions in the Third World." It's not completely related to men's rights, but provides some insight into the feminist movement, whose tactics we should try to understand.

Neil Steyskal submitted this Washington Times article where Suzanne Fields makes some interesting comments on the concept of chivalry. She starts out by discussing the repealment of old fashioned laws based on chivalry but then comes to point out that in many ways chivalry has taken a new form in domestic violence laws. She ends by discussing the plight of Afghan women, and throughout the article, I had a hard time trying to figure out her position. You can reply to this article at letters@washingtontimes.com.

Someone at Hefty has responded to my complaint about their current commercial trashing men. Among other reasons they give for running this ad is the fact that they ran it through several focus groups, which found it "humorous." She does not tell me what the ratio of women to men in those focus groups were. She does, however, apologize for the offensiveness of the advertisement. Her letter (as well as my original) may be read by clicking Read More below.

Tony writes "You might find this interesting. The educational Statistics Quarterly did a study looking at trends in educational equity of girls and women. The quote I found most interesting is," Data show that in school an in college, females are now doing as well as or better than males in many of the indicators of educational attainment, and that the large gaps in educational attainment that once existed between men and women have significantly decreased or been eliminated altogether." I find it interesting that a study on women and girls mentions this fact."

Tony sent in this article from the Toronto Star which discusses the rising number of women being charged with domestic violence. In one case mentioned, a woman made 320 harassing phone calls to her estranged boyfriend in a span of two weeks. She even continued to call after the police warned her to stop. We reported on a similar situation a while back where a man created a web site called Psychoexgirlfriend.com and documented her calls on his site.

Neil Steyskal submitted this article about some women from Afghanistan who are challenging the U.S. media's portrayal that men are dominating tyrants in Afghan families. It was an excellent, rare article and we should praise the Washington Post for printing this story. Comment to: letters@washpost.com.