The Bangor Daily News reports that a conference about male victims of domestic violence will be held in Portland, Maine this coming Friday, May 18. Noteworthy speakers will include Cathy Young and Mary Cleary (from AMEN). Myself and a few members of the Massachusetts Coalition for Men will be attending. The conference is one of the first of its kind and has drawn interest from all over the country. Click here for the story and more info on the conference.

Nightmist writes " This editorial on Excite describes new Ohio legislation which guarantees financial assistance for uninsured female victims of breast cancer, but not male breast cancer or prostate cancer. The author lauds the bill's support of uninsured women, but also decries its lack of attention to men. I'm not as sure as the author that the legislators' reasons for assisting uninsured females were sound (it was based upon women's alleged lack of equality in the workplace), but I am glad the problem of ignoring men was mentioned."

Marc Angelucci writes "Glenn Sacks, one of our top activists, published an article Saturday in the L.A. Times refuting the pay gap. Right on Glenn! It can be read at
this link. And here is the response from a local NOW president, who had the privilege of seeing the opponent's article, which Glenn did not have. Anyhow, fair enough - You be the judge. Anyone who even remotely knows the LA Times would probably agree this is a long-awaited victory."

Bill Kuhl sent in a short editorial about a recent episode of ABC's "Primetime," which interviewed Ellen Fein, co-author of the book The Rules, a guide for women on how to manipulate men most effectively when dating. Well, they've now released a second book, The Rules for Marriage, which explains how to keep husbands in the marriage (at least, until she wants to get rid of him). Click "Read More" below for Bill's comments...

Nightmist writes "Excite posted this story about the reappearance of a sexual assault awareness campaign in men's restrooms on college campuses. Many male students are offended by the campaign, which is why it was originally stopped in 1997. The campaign's slogan informs men that they hold the key to stopping rape "in your hands" (referring, of course, to our penises). Men opposed to the campaign said that it felt accusatory. It most certainly does."

Nightmist writes "USA Today ran this article detailing a lack of attention to male body-image problems on college campuses. More intriguing, however, are the final four paragraphs of the column, which claim that more campuses are beginning to include men in sexual assault awareness programs. Although it doesn't go into a whole lot of detail, the author hints at the wrongness of the male/female equals oppressor/victim mentality. However, she does focus more on men supporting anti-violence against women campaigns and less on violence against men."

Marc Angelucci writes "The UCLA Daily Bruin printed my opinion piece in which I criticize their gender bias and their failure to scrutinize feminist "facts." For example, they recently printed an article that regurgitated the American Association of University Women's misleading claim that Latinas drop out of school more than "any other group," and when I showed them that "Hispanic" males drop out more than "Hispanic" females they explained that "any other group" meant "any other group of women" and thus did not print a correction. Click here for the article."

Spartacus submitted this link to a USA Today article about the decline of men in higher education. Colleges and Universities are realizing that they are reaching a threshold where men are going to think twice about going to a school which is overwhelmingly female, and affirmative action for male applicants has caused a lot of controversy. "University of Georgia lost a lawsuit defending its policy of male preference last summer when a female student was denied admission." With the U.S. economy the way it's been, men are being able to slip by without many consequences. But as the economy turns down, a college degree becomes increasingly important to have.

Nightmist writes "Regardless of your opinion of Playboy, I found this article on Excite interesting. Increasingly, advertising agencies have been marketing directly to women and pretty much ignoring men. Now, with advertising in a general slump and the economy going downhill, marketing directed at men (at least for this magazine) is thriving, while other publications are suffering from dramatically slashed customer ad budgets. The news is proof to me that men, contrary to recent convention, should not be ignored by ad agencies as important consumers, and that marketing to men works just as well as marketing to women. There is, however, a new disturbing trend in marketing toward men. Has anyone seen the new Rogaine commercials for men? They encourage us to "ask her if she wants you to use it." If I want to use Rogaine, shouldn't that be MY decision?"

Anonymous User writes "Although osteoperosis is often seen as a female-only disease, approximately one-quarter of its victims are male, as stated in this article from Excite. A diet enriched with soy protein apparently strengthens male skeletal health. This isn't the first time soy has been pronounced good for men, although I do not recall some of the other problems it's supposed to counter. Is this good news or is soy just the latest health fad?"

Spartacus sent in this link to a UK Times story about the Eve Ensler and the Vagina Monologues. Ensler starts off the article talking about how vaginas are the center of women's being, and that they are what motivates women in every part of their lives. And I thought biology wasn't destiny? For those of you who don't know, the Vagina Monologues is a controversial, male-bashing play which has been performed at various universities and theaters around the world. It is almost certainly a sign of the times when a person can make a living doing something like this...

Anonymous User writes "The Chicago Sun Times reported this story about a male teacher who was reprimanded for reporting the bullying of two girls and one disabled boy by school bullies. The school board later heard outraged complaints from the community about the reprimand. Apparently, the teacher was assuming a father-like, strong male leadership role by reprimanding the bullies, but the female principal wanted none of that. Traditionally, men have been the disciplinarians at home and at school. The effects of no longer having that presence at home or at school are all too obvious. It's too bad these bullies have no such role models to help straighten their path to manhood."

Anonymous User writes "Who needs the ERA? Men do, according to a commentary by Robyn Blumner, columnist for the St. Petersburg Times and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union. I've been long opposed to the ERA, supporting instead the equality of all via the 14th Amendment. Ms. Blumner almost has me convinced. The above article, by the way, appears in Black & White, a Birmingham, AL, alternative newsweekly."

Marc Angelucci writes "The editor of the Pasadena Star News wrote about NCFM's Campaign for a Commission for Men in Los Angeles County. Although the article ends with some half-hearted sympathy, it mostly ridicules the idea that men are in "crisis" and compares the campaign to one for "White" people. You can read it here. I wrote a response (click "Read More" to view it). Others can do the same by using the "write a letter" section on the website."

I just wanted to mention that the influx of quality news submissions has been terrific lately, and I'd like to thank the active participants of Mensactivism.org for their efforts. My apologies if the turnaround time between submitting the news and seeing it posted takes a while - my final exams begin soon so I'm having a hard time keeping organized. But by all means, keep the news coming!