Tonight's Mensactivism.org chat is intended to serve two purposes. One is to continue discussion about the topics discussed in the Trolls, Sincerity, and Our Public Image thread, and the other is to welcome the wave of newcomers to this site recently (since Wendy's latest Fox News column, we've seen a dramatic jump in new user registrations and site traffic). So drop by our chat page tonight, Nov. 28th at 9:30 PM Eastern Time and say hello, all you new people! We should also note that our first official joint chat with ifeminists.com will be held this Sunday, December 2, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern Time.

DAR sent in this story from Maryland's SunSpot and writes "[This is] Another case where the 'system' incorrectly assumes that the 'blood' parent (being a 'mother') is the best parent." The article offers a graphic description of some of the abuse this mother perpetrated against her child, and the fact that she was given custody of another (apparently due to the "battered woman defense") is appalling. It's a perfect example of just how far the battered woman defense can be exploited.

The latest Men's Health America posting includes links to three articles (also submitted to Mensactivism.org by Neil Steyskal) which serve as typical examples of the media is ignoring the human rights of Afghan men. Read, and respond: New York Times article, e-mail: letters@nytimes.com. USA Today article, e-mail: editor@usatoday.com. Christian Science Monitor article, e-mail: oped@csps.com. Neil also sent in an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal whic comments on some of the gender politics surrounding condemnation of the Taliban.

Neil Steyskal sent in this article from the Christian Science Monitor about a study which claims that women learn 33% less than men in college. The article suggests that colleges and universities are biased against women, but from the dropping enrollment of men in college and the poorer academic performance of men in general, I think the article failed to present the issue in an unbiased way.

As we enter the activism phase of the Men's Health America campaign to draw attention to the abuse of Afghan men's human rights, we are asked in this MHA posting to contact the organization Human Rights Watch, which claims on their web site that "Women have borne the lion's share of human rights abuses in Afghanistan throughout the conflict" (see here). The statement ignores the brutalization of Afghan men and wrongly turns the issue into one where we discount the suffering of half the population. Please contact HRW and ask them to correct this.

Neil Steyskal submitted this article about a new Irish suicide study that outlined the stark gender differences in suicides: "five times more men died from suicide than women, and 40% of the deaths were men aged 30 or under...The report recommended specific health strategies for men, and they needed greater encouragement in accessing health services."

In her weekly Fox News and ifeminists.com column, Wendy McElroy eloquently tackles the hotly debated issue of El Dildo Bandito's (aka Bob Rowan) recent taking down of 21 ceramic penises from the Boulder Public Library. Likewise, I have written this piece, my personal masculist perspective, on the events surrounding Mr. Rowan. I am ashamed to admit that Wendy, ever-vigiliant, managed to mention both the recent YWCA hate campaign against boys and mensactivism.org in her piece, while I merely railed against taxpayer supported hate speech expression. Both these columns are also available directly off ifeminists.com, mine being a guest editorial for the week.

In a surprising move by the Hawaii Supreme Court, that state's version of Megan's Law (a law many states have adopted which requires sex offenders to register with an official registry, and to announce their presence in neighborhoods) has been struck down as unconstitutional. This article in the Fresno Bee explains. The court said that the law violates due process by not allowing those charged with sex crimes to present a defense. Hawaii's willingness to scrutinize Megan's Law for due process violations is a step in the right direction for those who fear false accusations.

Marc Angelucci writes "This opinion article from the LA Times gives us yet another imbalanced perspective on gender and the Afgan war. It emphasizes human rights. But it only mentions gender when it comes to women, as usual. It even refers to "women and civilians," as though "civilians" would not do, and as though male soldiers who are forced to fight are somehow less innocent. They printed my letter on this two weeks ago, so I can't write again for a while. But they do print letters from other states, so please write them at letters@latimes.com." Also of note, Neil Steyskal writes "The Christian Science Monitor published a letter from Cary Roberts about Afghan men. Thanks Carey!"

The third and final Special Report from Men's Health America has been released, and can be read here. This one focuses on the way Amnesty International, a leading human rights watch organization, has expressed its own bias against men. Keep the letters going, folks - there's a success story which will appear on this site in an hour or so.

I feel that the time is ripe to write something about how we as a movement should give some thought to public relations and how to help increase our numbers in the men's movement. I would like to ask every reader of Mensactivism.org to take a moment to read this article and reflect on it, and tell me what you think. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I think it's time for a discussion on the following topic. Click "Read More" below for the text...

Regulars here at Mensactivism will probably love this article, so I'll ask you a quick question: Have you ever wondered what would happen if a hardcore feminist looked long and hard in the mirror about their beliefs and said what they saw? You don't have to wonder anymore as viewing this link shows you the results, and the honesty is quite surprising and refreshing at the same time. I was gonna give a quote, but where's the fun in that? Read it, it's a rare find.

frank h writes "I found this article courtesy of David Limbaugh (Rush's brother) in his most recent article here. I don't even have the time to get angry about this one, but it's more psycho-babble about how children are better off if dad's don't really KNOW if their children are really theirs." Something tells me that the field of evolutionary psychology has a long way to go...

Neil Steyskal writes "Sunday the Washington Post published a major article advocating political preferences for Afghan women. Comment to: letters@washpost.com. The Christian Science Monitor has also editorialized in favor of special programs for Afghan women. Comment to: oped@csps.com."

Les Farkas found this offensive ad in a recent issue of Chicago Magazine. Needless to say, this is another issue worth writing in to protest. Les writes, "[Montauk was] so smugly satisfied with the ad that they showcase it on their homepage...This kind of advertising creates a climate where men can be systematically ridiculed and put in their place. The ad reinforces this kind attitude in women." Click Read More for contact information where you can send your opinion of this. Given that the ad is so outrageous, I think we have a chance of effecting some change. Kudos to Les for initiating this project.