Fortunately for the men of Texas, a woman who claimed two men had assaulted her has now recanted that claim. She originally said two white males had carved the letters "KKK" into her chest. Law enforcement became suspicious of her story when she failed to retell it the same way. Turns out, she had carved the initials in her chest herself with a pair of scissors. Officials have not yet determined her motive for mutilating herself and then falsely alleging that two men had perpetrated the act. The woman is expected to face criminal charges for lying to police and will be charged the cost of the investigation.

Steve writes "I came across this in the Diversions section of U.S. News & World Report: "The Mind of the Married Man (HBO, debuts September 11, 10:30 p.m. EDT) is all about horrible husbands. That means cheating hearts, body parts, and R-rated fantasies. The leading men are - how to put this delicately - sex-addicted idiots. Still, the comedy series can be wildly funny, even poignant. Real-life partners won't be able to stop talking (and arguing) about it." I realize that HBO airs a few decent movies and shows (as well as mindless drivel), but do we really need a series like this? If you want to contact HBO, click here."

Kingsley Morse sent in another great article from the National Post, this one on "gold diggers" - women who hunt down men with lots of money for financial exploitation. The article interviews some self-professed "gold diggers" and some men who've had experience with this kind of woman, which is really insightful. In the end, though, it seems that there is too much justification of the gold diggers' motives, making it sound like being a gold digger is a demanding job in itself, and worthy of the "fruits" of its labor. I don't think the financial exploitation of men should be condoned any more than the sexual exploitation of women.

Andrew sent in this article from Canada's National Post, which should be very useful for people researching false accusations of sexual assault. The article includes many good stats and quotes from Canadian police departments, and also explains the very touchy issue of why a woman might make a false accusation, including cases where "the system" continues to prosecute a man long after it has been discovered that the accusation is false or unfounded.

I'm happy to announce that we've transitioned back to using the standard port (port 80) to run our web server on, now that the ISP block has been lifted. Now, if you have any links which refer to mensactivism.org and include a ":81" in them, those will not work. Just remove the :81 and they will work again. Please send any further problem reports to admin@mensactivism.org.

Surveys by corporate America (especially corporations selling products like alcoholic beverages) are often frivolous, and intended to be entertaining. This survey however, hints at a disturbing problem between men, women, and sports. According to the survey, women have more sinister expectations about men's behavior at sporting events. Not surprisingly, according to the survey, men's true actions do not fall in line with the female thoughts on the subject. Perhaps it is this engrained cynicism about men which allowed the "40 percent increase in domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday" myth to take hold?

A popular plastics softener used in the creation of blood bags and tubing for medical practitioners may cause development problems for children, especially boys, according to new research by the FDA. This story on Excite News suggests that the plastics softener may leach into fluids fed through tubings or blood bags, and into the patient's body. The softener can cause problems with the development of sperm and the development of the testicles.

This story on Excite News reports on a new television show airing on NBC daytime this season (starting Sept. 10). Titled "The Other Half," it's yet another talk show geared toward a female audience, but with men discussing the issues from their perspectives rather than women. The producers describe it as "The View," except with men. Unfortunately, the show's description reads like yet another way for women to bash men on television, but make it appear OK because it's men who are doing the bashing. I'll be interested to see how it works out, though. Anyone home during the daytime on this site? Check out this show and report to us on it.

School dress codes have been controversial with students for years, particularly teen-agers, who often wish to define their personalities by their clothing, piercings, or what have you. This commentary from Texas A&M's Battalion supports a Texas mother in her efforts to fight an elementary school dress code which will allow girls to wear earrings, but not boys. The 5-year-old boy was suspended from school for wearing an earring to kindergarten. The author of this commentary is, perhaps, seeing things too black-and-white, but I support her overall statement that school dress codes should not discriminate between the sexes.

This story in the LA Daily News highlights, in my mind, the biggest problem with the child support industry: it is, indeed, an industry. To that end, here's a highlight from the major points of one of the sources in the article: "I think it's a big boost," said Trom, who noted the money will either go to reimburse welfare or directly to families. Reimburse welfare? Interestingly, though, the article does not use the term "deadbeat dad." It uses "deadbeat parent" instead. Is this sensitivity to men from the news staff, or simply political correctness?

I received another Press Release from Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, in which J. Steven Svoboda spoke out criticizing the UN and its Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights for discrimination against men with regard to their stance on genital mutilation. "Svoboda commented that everywhere that FGM occurs, male circumcision also takes place, adding that male circumcision occurs six times for every time FGM occurs. "Some day," Svoboda told the United Nations, "we will come to understand the misguided nature of our attempts to explain why any violation of female genitals is criminal while a comparable, serious, extremely painful, and disfiguring alteration of male genitals is permissible." Attorneys for the Rights of the Child has apparently made circumcision one of their main issues, and I applaud them for their advocacy. The full press release can be read in the "Read More" section below.

I recently discovered that my ISP has stopped blocking port 80 incoming connections, so the current "hack" that has kept this site available can be removed. If the web site acts funny during Sunday and Monday, it will probably be me testing and implementing the changes. If you've been wondering why there is a ":81" in all the URLs, you won't have to wonder much longer - they will disappear in the next day or two.

Glenn Sacks, the only regularly published male columnist in the US who writes about gender issues from a perspective unapologetically sympathetic to men, condemns the savage attacks on men's collegiate athletics in his latest article "Title IX Lawsuits are Endangering Men's College Sports." It was published in the Los Angeles Daily News on Friday, September 7. Readers with comments on the article can write to the Daily News letters section or to Glenn at GlennJSacks@cs.com. Click "Read More" to view the essay.

Like the U.S. and Andrea Yates, Ireland has apparently been dealing with its own "killer mom" stories of late. John Waters in this column in the Irish Times explores the reasons why society may believe that children are more likely to come to harm in the care of their fathers than their mothers.

In a move apparently prompted by a group of 19 (mostly female) prostesters outside NOW's Washington headquarters, the group is backpedaling on its previous statement that it will raise funds for the defense of Andrea Yates, the woman who drowned her five children in the bathtub and is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. The story in the Washington Times quotes some of the protesters.  "I don't think we should make excuses for murder," said Bishop Imagene Stewart, who represented the African American Women's Clergy Association at the rally. "If we let her get away with this, other women--who are mad at their husbands--will do it too, and just plead insanity." The mostly female group of demonstrators hoisted signs like "Pro-Woman, Pro-Choice, Pro-Drowning?" and "NOW does not speak for me."