This cautious article from InteliHealth describes some research recently that is showing that boys are entering puberty sooner than they were in the past, with black boys even earlier. The article mentions a couple of potential flaws with the research, but suggests that this is definitely a valid issue to look into. As boys enter puberty sooner, they are at higher risk for some kinds of hormonally influenced diseases, such as testicular cancer. It would also suggest that sex education should begin sooner as well.

Disturbing news about Ritalin as this quote tells us "a recently concluded study at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) not only confirms the similarities of cocaine and Ritalin, but finds that Ritalin is more potent than cocaine in its effect on the dopamine system" there's alot more reading in the article for your interest. If you have trouble reading it, copy and paste it into notepad if need be. On a side note don't forget to check out Changing children into drug addicts? where this issue is continued in a similar style.

Tom Golden from Webhealing.com pointed me to a magnificent essay written by Sheridan Hill. Hill writes about her discovery and acceptance of domestic violence against men and women's violence. As a self-described feminist since she was 14 years old, Hill was able to openly examine the research and statistics about DV and learned that the feminist doctrine about DV was incredibly harmful to men. Toward the end of the article she also acknowledged the problems boys are facing in school. I was struck by how useful this kind of testimony is to getting the message out to feminists, and hope that more women will come forward and speak out like this.

I found the following two articles from Wired News off of the Slashdot site. I think they are certainly of interest to us, as the men's movement is quite dependent on the internet and secure communications will be very important to us. This Wired article describes how Senator Judd Gregg from NH wants a global ban on encryption systems that don't have a "back door" for the government to use to monitor your communications. In another Wired article, a bill allowing FBI wiretaps of a person's internet communications without a warrant has just been passed by the Senate! What we will inevitably see in the upcoming months are blows to people's civil liberties which are unprecedented in our country's history. Click Read More for some of my thoughts on this.

Masculist e-zine The Guy Code has published articles by three of its writers (one its editor) today about Tuesday's tragedies and America's struggle against Terrorism. Francis L. Scurvy writes from the anti-draft view and demonstrates that you can be anti-draft and still be a patriot. Ordinarily humorous writer Ray Meyers points out that there's nothing funny about what's happening in America right now. And Guy Code editor Elliot Zaret writes about heroism among the ruins.

cheddah sent in this story from the National Organization for Women and writes "Can you believe that NOW is promoting the idea that family courts are biased against women!? Here is a quote: "These injustices are commonplace today in the closed-door family court system. These courts often claim to operate in a manner consistent with the "best interests of the child." In practice this often means that a judge, often a male judge, biased and imperious, defines that phrase. These judges decide, time and time again, when a woman raises the allegation of sexual abuse in a custody dispute, that it is she who will lose her children forever.""

Steve writes "The Associated Press has reported that there is speculation that male
passengers on the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania may have
stopped further terrorist activities by the hijackers. In this news
story, the AP noted that men have prevented the hijackers
from causing further death and destruction. This seems to be
another example of positive male behavior. We [as men] are the protectors
of the world, and we often risk our personal safety--and
sometimes our lives--to protect others." I just found another article which talks about this event in more detail.

Trudy W Schuett sent in her opinion on a television show called "The Other Half," which is being aired on the NBC network. Click "Read More" below to read it. The program is not particularly friendly to men, to say the least.

Tonight's weekly on-line chat is going to be an open discussion. We made this decision since it is probable that people may want to discuss the events surrounding yesterday's tragedies in the United States. There are also a number of men's issues related to this event, including honoring the heroism of the hundreds of firefighters and law enforcement officials who gave their lives yesterday for the sake of saving others. Our on-line chat page can be found here, and we'll be starting the chat at 9:30 PM Eastern Time tonight, 9/12. All friends of the men's movement are welcome to join.

cheddah writes "Although this Boston Globe article does touch on issues relevant to men, it does not explore the reasons why men live on average shorter lives compared to women. Also - referring to men as "males" seems denigrating, and the author points out that men are emotionally dependent on women in order to live a happy life." I feel that the Globe should be applauded for covering such a rarely talked about topic, though - the lonliness of older men is a problem we should care about as a men's issue.

I feel obliged to say something, however unqualified I am to say it, about today's tragedy at the World Trade Center, and offer the condolences of the Mensactivism.org admin team to those who have suffered a personal loss from the attack. Certainly, every U.S. citizen, and most people in the world have felt the sting of this attack on human dignity and freedom. In particular, I hope the best for the folks I met in NYC recently who were organized and promoting men's rights there, and that they are safe at this time.

This column in alternative newsweekly OC Weekly raised the ire of several readers who wrote in to defend a man's right to keep his foreskin. The column writer was called sexist and a bigot for the statements of disgust she makes in her "censorship" column about uncut men.

According to this story on Fox News, the gap between the number of men and number of women in the U.S. has been closing rapidly since 1980, and closed most dramatically in the 1990s. Fortunately, the Fox article takes a newsier approach to this information than the AP and Reuters, which created headlines like this from the story: "Good News For Women! There Are More Men Available."

Bill Kuhl sent in a great essay he wrote about the research he's been doing on domestic violence against men. In it, he discusses two topics that are rarely spoken about in current DV literature: "domestic vandalism" of a person's property, and how the element of surprise is another way that women often gain an upper hand in the domestic abuse of men. See the "Read More" section below for his article.

Wendy McElroy's weekly Fox News column this week tackles the sensitive issue of how feminism has hijacked domestic violence and turned it into advocacy. She spends a great deal of print space, as well, explaining in terms with which we men's issues folks are now very familiar that men can be victims of domestic violence as well as women. Herself a victim of domestic violence, McElroy does a great job of examining how feminism has turned all women into victims and all men into perpetrators. She also mentions our own frequent contributor Marc Angelucci.