Henry Makow wrote an interesting article about the political nature of feminism for TooGoodReports.com. While I've heard and agree with requests from readers to avoid becoming political with this web site, I think this article and its perspectives deserve some airtime here to balance things out. It's interesting to note that ifeminism is almost completely the opposite of Makow's description, suggesting that ifeminism has few ties with the modern feminist movement.

Foster's Daily Democrat, which ran a story about my domestic violence project at UNH, wasn't exactly forthright with my views regarding statistics about domestic violence. So I wrote them a short letter explaining the statistics further, which they printed in today's letters section. Hopefully this will help to set the record straight.

A new book is soon to be released that should be of interest to MANN readers. Spreading Misandry : The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture by Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young is "A probing inquiry into the pervasiveness of negative male stereotypes in popular culture...Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young argue that men have routinely been portrayed as evil, inadequate, or as honorary women in popular culture since the 1990s. These stereotypes are profoundly disturbing, the authors argue, for they both reflect and create hatred and thus further fracture an already fractured society. In Spreading Misandry they show that creating a workable society in the twenty-first century requires us to rethink feminist and other assumptions about men." This is definitely on my reading list for this winter!

I've been having some discussions with Wendy McElroy, who is recognized as a leader in the "Individualist Feminist" movement. iFeminism, as it's called, is far removed from NOW-ideologies and dogma, and from the number of articles she's written on false accusations, domestic violence against men, and the inconsistencies of mainstream feminism, she has consistently given men a fair shake in her writing. Wendy and I have been discussing ways to try to work together on common goals that both Mensactivism.org and iFeminism.com share, but I want to get reader feedback on this idea. Click "Read More" below to read more info and please post your thoughts on all of this! I value and will consider all thoughts by Mensactivism.org readers on how to handle this potential alliance.

Tonight's Mensactivism.org chat will be on the topic of men's reproductive rights (also referred to as "Choice for Men"). As you know, women have multiple options to decline parenthood, including abortion and baby-abandonment laws. Men, on the other hand, have no fail-safe methods for planning their own family life. But did you know that there are cases where boys have been raped and then sued for child support? That Georgia's Supreme Court has even admitted that the laws discriminate against men? Check out www.choiceformen.com for some good background reading and then click here at 9:30 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, Oct. 24 to log in and participate in the discussion.

Steve writes "An NZ lawyer is starting a campaign to rename Father's Day into Men's Day of Shame for sexual abuse. The full story can be read here. I have posted my own plan for protest here." This literally turns my stomach. From the article: "New Zealand could lead the way internationally if "good" men stood up in shame and denounced the sex crimes committed by other men." Good men standing up "in shame?" On Father's Day? This is one of the most degrading things I've heard of in a long time.

This story in Australia's Herald Sun reports on another new technique for women which will allow them to conceive children without men. Scientists have engineered synthetic sperm which clones the 23 chromosomes from the human female egg, completing the number of chromosomes necessary for an egg to begin cell division and develop into an embryo. This path is filled with dangerous consequences, though, and not just for men. It could also be dangerous for the child produced by such means. "The big risk with this parthenogenesis is if you've got bad genes . . . (you would be) very concerned about abnormalities of the offspring.

This advice column on AskMen.com attempts to help a young man deal with his "psycho" girlfriend. Apparently, this lady latched herself onto him and, when he tried to get away, threatened him, destroyed his car, and even falsely accused him of sexual harassment. Be afraid, be very afraid. Thousands of men across America let their guard down, thinking that just because they're with a woman, they have nothing to fear. But the fact remains that a stranger is a stranger and you will never know what they're capable of until you've lived with them long enough to understand their character and even then, you still never know.

The battle for men's rights in Scotland is far from over, as evidenced by this story in The Scotsman. After successfully suing her father to pay for her education, a 17-year-old girl sued him again (and won) for a computer and a tennis racquet. Naturally, the father in this story is painted as cold and heartless. His side of the story, in fact, isn't even presented.

Les Farkas sent in a letter he wrote to the BBC for their focus on female refugees from Afghanistan. Les is encouraging us to also write in and get some exposure on major news web sites such as the BBC, which prints letters from readers. As he wrote me, "The more society whines about unfairness to women, the more I feel men being written off or disposed of someway, somehow. In the midst of all the sentimentality over females, we must never stop reminding people, whether they like to hear it or not, that the well being of the other half of humanity should also be of concern!" Read More below to view his letter. And send yours in too!

This article on Excite News reports on an interesting study which found that young men who played soccer prior to puberty had heavier bone density in their legs and spine than those who were more sedentary. Health researchers say the activity of these young men may prevent them from having bone-related diseases or problems later in life.

This editorial in Harvard University's Harvard Crimson laments the modern face of feminism, pointing out that while the movement once had a noble cause--equality--it is now simply a means for women to paint themselves as victims. The author also points out that modern feminism results in discrimination against men by women. It's an interesting read, and there's a bonus: the author is female.

There is an important article posted to the Men's Health America mailing list that includes some statistics about suicide. Sadly, suicide for men overall has gone up for men and down for women between 1970 and 1998, and most disturbingly is a significant increase in sucides by men over the age of 50. Please check out this posting and keep it for reference.

Kingsley Morse, Jr. sent me an e-mail about a new law proposed in the New Hampshire legislature. HB1301 would prohibit married couples from obtaining no-fault divorces if they have any children under the age of 18. I'm curious, what do readers think of this? It certainly seems like a great way to reduce the ability of selfish parents to harm their children through the process of divorcing, but if they're that selfish to begin with, are they really better off staying together? Another question that popped into my mind is, could this give rise to more false accusations against men by encouraging women to use this route to get out of an unsatisfactory marriage? I'm a bit lukewarm on this one, though I do support the intentions of the bill.

Foster's Daily Democrat ran a story about my domestic violence awareness project at UNH. Sean Goodwin did a decent overall job reporting on it but I feel the article reads very choppy and is somewhat confusing. Dr. Murray Straus is quoted extensively in it, and was an excellent source to help balance the article out. I just wish they could have made it clearer that I'm insisting that the sociology studies show that men and women abuse each other at about equal rates, which isn't clear at all from the article, and was the main point of my press release.