A 25-year-old Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to 1-10 years in prison after pleading down from statutory rape to statutory sexual assault for having sex with a 12-year-old boy. She will be eligible for parole after one year. Amazingly, she claims to have been "seduced" by the boy.

Neil Steyskal sent in an item from the Times-Dispatch about a new study which found that "one in five high school girls is physically or sexually abused by a dating partner." The article's highlight is the statement: "The study also suggests that a disturbing number of adolescent boys "have adopted attitudes that men are entitled to control their girlfriends through violence," said lead author Jay G. Silverman of Harvard University's School of Public Health." I'd encourage people to research this study and examine the methodology. It seems to me that the findings might be explained by an over-emphasis of poor men and women, but is certainly not representative of the population at large.

This story on Australia's news.com.au focuses on why fewer men than women go to the doctor. This issue has drawn considerable attention recently, especially after the study recently reported about on this Web site. Unfortunately, the main reason people seem to believe men do not go to the doctor as often is because of the old male stereotypes: men are afraid they'll be seen as "weak."

Neil Steyskal writes "USA Today published a feminist reply to Ann Coulter's column on Title IX. It claims that men's college teams are being dropped because they are expensive. Send your reply to: editor@usatoday.com."

This commentary posted on Excite News laments a court's decision to award a female walk-on kicker for Duke monetary damages under Title IX after she was cut from the team. The coaches and author of this piece assert that she was cut based on physical limitations in her performance, just as any male player is. Duke is appealing the decision.

An Anonymous User pointed me to a for-profit organization called Child Support Liberation. They claim to provide services for NCPs paying child support to help ensure they aren't being taken advantage of. I think this is a great idea, considering all of the resources devoted to the enforcement of CS orders that are too often unfair to the NCP. There needs to be some accountability in this process, and CSL appears offer it (for a fee, of course).

The Massachusetts based Fathers and Families organization will be holding a meeting on Monday, August 6, from 7 to 9 PM. E-mail Ned Holstien at NedHolst@aol.com for the location. "This meeting will be a good opportunity to review how the five hearings on the child support guidelines went, and to discuss what our follow-up steps will be. We will also be able to update members on the status of our legislation, and other current matters."

Spartacus sent in this article from dadi.org. It covers a number of related issues, including the decline of fatherhood, the rise of the welfare state, and the government programs which essentially reward mothers for eliminating dads from the home. It ends with a plea not to let further government intervention in family matters destroy fatherhood and our society further.

I'm afraid I won't be able to make it to the chat session tonight - but that doesn't mean you can't do so! Most people meet at the chat page at 9:30 PM Eastern Time and go from there. Feel free to do so and discuss whatever topics you'd like. I'll try to drop in if I can.

This article and photo essay in the Christian Science Monitor tells the story of male inmates coming together and "transforming their lives" through acting. While females in prison are offered more in the way of social support, males are often left to their own devices (and survival). Shakespeare Behind Bars appears to be trying to break through all that. Not that it's been easy: Previous wardens were not all supportive of Curt's efforts, and the current warden admits his program probably wouldn't be around if it cost anything. Curt raises money to pay for costumes, and volunteers his time. He says he does it because acting can transform lives - particularly those of prisoners. The program is, of course, controversial, but the article does present it as bringing an element of humanity back to these men. Make sure you check out the photo essay.

This story on Excite News illustrates all too well the effect of male stereotypes on society, and their potentially deadly consequences. A Nashville, Tenn., man was murdered recently--I am not making this up--because he was holding his wife's purse and escorting a blind friend to the men's restroom after a short cruise on Nashville's Gen. Jackson Showboat.

In a shocking column on Fox News about how social services systems have a financial incentive to accuse parents of abuse and neglect, Wendy McElroy tells the story of a family torn apart so that the department could receive its "adoption incentive payment." According to the mother of the family, she was forced to accuse her husband of abusing her children so that DSS would have all the more reason to remove them from their home.

Rob Exeter writes, "I came across a rather one sided view of domestic violence stats on this webpage for the Kennebunk, Maine police. What is sad is that the "Mission Statement" of the Maine Police with respect to DV victims refers only to women and children. The crowning glory of the usual selective collection of "stats" is the attempt to compare the number of men killed in the Vietnam war with the number of females killed in the US during the same period. An interesting rebuttal to the figures can be found at this site, however.

Michael Snyder (a frequent poster on the newsgroup soc.men) wrote up a detailed analysis "comparing and cross-referencing the various DOJ reports on violent victimization, to show a pattern of bias in reporting, placing outrageous emphasis on female victimization and downplaying both male victimization and female offenders." I hope you'll take a moment to check this out, because it will blow your mind. Click here for his site.

Former Washington high school teacher Marty Barnes will only do 10 days of a traditionally 90-day sentence for second-degree criminal attempt of sexual misconduct with a minor (a misdemeanor) after she allegedly kissed one of her male students (twice). This story in the Seattle Times details the facts of the case. Barnes pleaded down from second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, which would have meant she would have been required to register as a sex offender. Update: The author of this article (in an e-mail to me) says that several readers have written her asking why Barnes was given such a lenient sentence when a male would've received the max. You may write your letter to the editor to the Seattle Times here (opinion@seattletimes.com).