AngryHarry pointed me to this article from the UK Telegraph. The courts of Scotland were considering allowing anonymity of those accused of rape until a conviction is secured. The Scottish Justice Minister decided against it, however, claiming that he didn't believe false accusations of rape are common. I'd be interested to see what the numbers actually are. The article describes a couple of cases of false accusations, and also interestingly comments that providing anonymity of the accuser is done according to custom, rather than law.

It has come to my attention that the message board over at shethinks.org has become a battleground for gender feminists, who are attacking equity feminists for speaking out against the top 10 lies of gender feminism. If you support the Independent Women's Forum for distributing the ad, please take a moment and help support them by going to their bulletin board, and posting supportive, non-antagonistic messages. Try to counter the irrational hatred with calm, reasonable postings.

Nightmist writes "This story in the Courier Press details how several middle-school age boys on a tour of prison facilities were forced by teachers and jail employees to 1) watch while inmates were strip-searched and 2) forced to remove their clothes for a strip-search in front of other students as a "demonstration of what it's like in jail." The thing that concerns me most is that officials say they are "looking into whether the boys' civil rights were violated." I say there's no "looking into" to it."

Nightmist writes "MSN published The Top 10 Habits of Great Dads today. In typical MSN fashion, they posted the list on the "Women Central" portion of their Web site (they have no section dedicated to men). The list comes from the 1999 book "Throwaway Dads" by Ross D. Parke and Armin A. Brott."

Nightmist writes "This article claims that men's health is more affected by threats of layoffs or job insecurities than women. The article hints that one potential reason for this disparity is that men's lives are more devastated by job loss than women's. Perhaps this is because women still may choose to stay at home or work, while men's identities--for the most part--are still closely associated with our jobs." That sounds like a very reasonable explanation to me. What do you think?

frank h writes "In the Washington Times today, there is an article entitled "Study: Poor fathers need help with jobs to pay child support." I found it incredibly offensive. Absolutely no mention was made of improving custody and visitation enforcement, just finding ways to make men work harder to pay child support that was mandated by the courts without considering the father's means to begin with. "The beatings will continue until morale improves!!""

Trudy Schuett sent out the May 30 issue of The DesertLight Journal, which can also be read on the web here. DLJ is a bi-weekly e-zine dedicated to father's rights issues and domestic violence against men. Check it out!

The Activism Projects page has been updated (I know, it's been a few months...sorry) with the latest NCFM letter writing campaign. The goal of the project is to write to the U.S. Justice Department and express outrage over recent court cases in which men who have been proven not to be the biological father by DNA tests were still ordered to pay child support. If you feel that paternity fraud should not be condoned by our society, please take a moment to write a letter and send it off. Click here for the Mensactivism.org Activism Projects page.

Nightmist writes "Part 2 of Christian Science Monitor's series on men in education details how men are now being admitted at a formerly all-female institution, the students at which used to sport T-shirts demonstrating the "Top 10 Reasons Not to Admit Men." Commencement speaker this year was William Shatner. A school official pointed out how appropriate it was for the captain of the Enterprise to speak where men are now "boldly going where no man has gone before."" Click here if you missed part one. And thanks, Nightmist, for all these great submissions!

Nightmist writes "The Irish Times is reporting new efforts to increase awareness and assistance for men's health issues in that country, where women's health issues have long been top priority. One positive note, in my opinion, is that the article mentions mental health as well as physical (and points out that suicide is the leading killer of young men)."

Evan Gahr's latest column for Jewiwsh World Review investigates some of the taxpayer funded programs which fuel feminist institutions. He focuses primarily on the Women's Education Equity Act Resource Center and the programs it has sponsored. "WEEA allows an ideological clique that purports to speak "for women" to turn sacred cows into cash cows."

Nightmist writes "The UCLA Daily Bruin recently printed an editorial in which the author examines how defendants in high profile cases are judged guilty and their lives irreparably damaged by the court of public opinion, regardless of the facts. I must agree that society as a whole assumes guilt when someone is charged with a crime (witness what's currently going with Robert Blake and the way the story is treated by late night talk show hosts...he's already guilty). This is the uphill battle which men, especially, face in our courts."

In addition to the "battered wife syndrome," which has excused dozens of women from attacking and/or murdering their husbands, a U.S. court has now acknowledged "shopaholism," which can excuse women from theft. The Sydney Morning Herald reported here that a woman (whose salary was $250k/year to begin with) was not given a jail sentence for stealing more than $500,000 from her employer - because her "shopaholic" tendencies were a symptom of depression. In the end, she was sentenced to five years of probation.

Rick Neagle from FACT (Fathers Are Capable Too) wanted to remind everyone that there will be a one-day workshop in Toronto, Canada on June 3, 2001, for divorced/separated fathers and non-custodial mothers, their supporters, and people who work with or provide services to divorced parents. Warren Farrell will be participating, and preregistration is required. Click here to download an info flyer in MS Word Format, or contact Rick at rickneagle@hotmail.com. If you already know you want to register, just go to this site and sign up.

ABCNews has a great article about techniques for approaching fathers about improving their health. It acknowledges that older men often don't take care of their own health well enough but offers ways to approach the issue effectively, without talking down to him. I especially liked the suggestions to work out with your father or bring the grandchildren for a visit and a walk every week - having more involvement with fathers/grandfathers is a great boost to emotional health, as well as encouraging physical activity.