Neil Steyskal writes "In this Reason magazine review of recent feminist books, Cathy Young finds some documentation of women's desire to control child rearing." Young's commentary on where feminism stands today is quite interesting, and she calls for the inclusion of men's perspectives in the ongoing dialogue about gender, even in books about feminism.

Nightmist writes "According to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, the father of the five Yates children recently slain by their mother (allegedly in a fit of postpartum depression) should bear the responsibility for the deaths of said children. Of course, O'Reilly is going under the assumption that the mother really was insane at the time of the killings, an assumption which the science of postpartum depression may dispute. Again, remember that Bill O'Reilly is Fox News' Jerry Springer, so I wouldn't consider his opinion as being either informed or asserted with any great intellect."

Here's an amusing incident involving the dress code at the South Carolina House of Representatives, a non existent Men's Caucus sending a memo, and some women's advocates. So how do these things come together to form an amusing story? Why don't you click the link and find out? The scary thing to me is that legal action could be in the works for something that was obviously satire.

Nightmist writes "The Salt Lake Tribune ran this article recently about Jade Rubik and www.safe4all.org. In the story, Rubik tells some of his own horrifying experiences as a victim of abuse. I e-mailed him after the story ran. He said the piece ran on the front page of the print edition. That's pretty high profile in mainstream media. It's about time."

Yes, it's another"no men allowed" incident, according to this Ottawa Citizen article. As you would expect, they're backed up by the law to a certain extent since their justification "cites a 1986 case in Montreal, in which a feminist group wanted to exclude men from a musical event on International Women's Day. The Quebec Human Rights Commission ruled that excluding men was within the organization's right." If ever there was a good reason for men's groups to gatecrash....

Mensactivism.org is proud to announce a new feature for the site: an on-line chat page. The only requirement to participate is a web browser with Java enabled, no one even has to sign up for user accounts to use the chat room. Our first official chat session will be held on Thursday, July 5, starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time. The session will last for as long as people participate. We'll have weekly chats on Wednesday nights at the same time from then on (next Wednesday is July 4, hence the exception). On top of that, there will be another special announcement during next Thursday's chat session including some free giveaways!

Nightmist writes "This article on Excite News details new gene therapy trials which could turn protstate cancer cells into targets for anti-cancer drugs. The therapy involves inserting a modified virus directly into the cancer cells."

Trudy W Schuett writes "Marc Angelucci's short-but-sweet Letter to the Editor suggesting more equitable coverage of domestic violence issues appears in today's LATimes. Way to go, Marc!"

Nightmist writes "This article on Fox News gives little detail on the charges against Paula Poundstone, who has been arrested for "three counts of committing a lewd act on a girl under the age of 14 on May 19 and June 6, as well as endangering two other girls and two boys on June 6, Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said in a statement. She could face a maximum of 13 years and four months in prison if convicted of all charges." It is interesting to me that in most cases of child endangerment involving males, the charges and details of those charges are laid out in black and white in the story. Here (even though police reports are public record in most states) we are told the D.A. isn't releasing details... interesting."

Matthew writes "This is a story that I found at www.gendercide.org (a great site for unbiased international news on gender issues). The story is from BBC News and gives a brief history of the massacre. What the story fails to mention is that all the prisoners killed were men. The gender imbalance in the criminal justice system (all over the world) is an issue that doesn't get discussed as often as it should and when something like this happens (to men) the gender aspect has almost always been completely ignored. Part of the problem, I feel, is that organizations that pay the most attention to these issues (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Peace Brigades International, etc.) tend to have a feminist perspective. It would be beneficial to the people who depend on these organizations if more 'masculists' got involved with these organizations. On a final note I do think that it is to their credit that these organizations are beginning to progress to a more unbiased view of the world. It's just feels agonizingly slow to me."

Andrew sent me this disturbing article from Yahoo! News. It begins: " William Gregory spent eight and a half years in a Kentucky Prison for a rape he did not commit - leaving his son on state child support. But with his freedom came a twist straight out of Kafka: not only did he get no compensation, but the state then sued him for the child support it paid while he was in prison." Gregory was quoted as saying he was sleeping in the streets after being freed, and was given nothing to help get him back on his feet, despite the fact he was falsely imprisoned.

Marc Angelucci writes "The LA Times spit out yet another anti-male piece on DV from a purely male=perpetrator perspective. You can read it here. The title says it all: "Helping Boys Be Boys, Not Abusers: A group called Mothers and Adolescent Sons aims to break the cycle of violence that often stems from fathers." They just can't seem to get off their gender-profiling kick. If you can, please write them a few lines at letters@latimes.com with a name, address & phone no, even if out of state."

Trudy Schuett's DesertLight Journal, Volume 1, Number 6 has been released and can be read here. Trudy has also created a page where you can view archived past issues of the e-zine, which focuses on father's rights and domestic violence against men. Update: Trudy also had a letter printed recently in the Phoenix New Times decrying the abuse of restraining orders.

frank h sent me this story from the National Post. It's about the increasing sales of home DNA "paternity testing kits" in which tiny samples of genetic material are collected from the father and child and sent to a lab for testing. The company can then establish with certainty the paternity of the child. "although the test was aimed at men, the firm had been surprised at the number of women applying to find out who was the father of their baby...[The lab's director said]:"We make it clear that it's better if all parties are informed, but we do not insist."" This, to me, is what I find most disturbing. Genetic testing without consent seems very much like a violation of privacy rights to me.

Nightmist writes "This article on Excite News details how about half of African American men responding to a survey felt discriminated against by law enforcement. Notice that fewer black women reported feeling discriminated against, hinting that not only do some law enforcement officers racially profile, but they also profile by gender."