Both frank h and Sergei Hoff himself wrote in to inform me of Hoff's latest column in Toogood Reports. The article is a scathing criticism of compromising military standards for the sake of allowing women into combat positions in the U.S. armed forces. The issue is, of course, very controversial from a men's rights standpoint. On the one hand, our freedom could be at risk if we don't have a military which is anything less than the best, but many of us also see male-only military enrollment as evidence that men's lives are less important and as a gender we are "disposable" in wars. This is a conflict that I have yet to resolve for myself.

For my third article in my men's issues column for the UNH school newspaper, The New Hampshire, I wrote about a challenging topic - advocating the rights of men accused of rape and sexual harassment. I mentioned the news about Columbia University's draconian sex discipline code, and explained how men are routinely denounced when accused of a sex crime, even when few people know what the facts of the case really are. Read the article here.

Thomas Golden from Webhealing.com submitted this story from the Washington Post. It's about rape awareness groups that have shifted focus from blaming men and putting them on the defensive to encouraging men to empathize with women who are raped and viewing men as "helpers" who can work to stop rape. However, the approaches described in the article still portray men as the empowered group and strive to "reconstruct" masculinity. It also uses examples of male rape not to raise awareness of this neglected issue, but to try to "put men in women's shoes" to understand what rape is like for women. Despite the fact I still see the campaign as implicitly anti-male, women's groups have largely attacked the program for promoting male-only groups of activists and not coming down hard enough on men. Go figure.

Marc Angelucci writes "In the April, 2001 issue of Reader's Digest there is an article [not available on-line] entitled "Pay-Up Time for Deadbeat Dads." The article completely ignores reality, such as that fathers have a better record of paying court-ordered child support than mothers do, or that, of non-custodial dads without employment problems and who have access to their children, over 80% pay in full and only 5% don't pay at all. (Sanford Braver, "Divorced Dads.") Instead it presents things in the same one-sided, misandrist manner that the average major media article typically does. You can write a letter to the editor here."

Men's Health America has upped the ante in the debate about gender health research disparities that adversely affect men. We reported on the debate which is ongoing with the Society for Women's Health Research. Now, MHA has issued a press release to help thrust this debate into the public spotlight. Seeing that the facts are easily researchable and that we have the truth on our side, this was a very wise thing to do. You can read the press release by clicking "Read More" below...

frank h submitted this link to a Chicago Tribune article about a civil lawsuit being filed by a man upset that women receive discounts routinely at night clubs. He's claiming that it's sex discrimination along the same lines that women have won lawsuits about the different pricing of haircuts or dry cleaning for men and women. The article ends with a somewhat ironic statement that the man filing suit "would rather spend the extra money I'm charged at the door to buy women drinks at the bar." I guess while he's against businesses discriminating against men, he doesn't mind cultural discrimination against men. (!)

Hey, we've been running this web poll for a few months now, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about a new poll to run. Either e-mail them to me at scott@mensactivism.org or post them as a comment to this message. Thanks!

Marc Angelucci writes "Here is a great article in the New Times LA about Jeffrey Grant, who spent months in prison on rape convictions that were later overturned by DNA evidence. Grant won a $1.7 million judgment against the city as a result. Justin Brooks of the Innocence Project says that, of the cases in which the Project uses DNA to prove that a convicted person is innocent, 85% were convictions based on eyewitness testimony."

The Washington Post is reporting that the testimony of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) can no longer be considered scientific evidence in rape trials in Fairfax County, VA. These nurses examine the victim immediately after an alleged rape and can supposedly tell whether sex was consentual or not. One defense attortney quoted in the article said: "It turns out our SANE nurses here have taken their conclusions far beyond what the research says." A deputy's attorney also noted, "when consent is the ultimate issue, experts shouldn't be allowed to testify either way...It's for the jury to decide." I'm inclined to agree.

There seems to be a surge of stories about boy's issues and men's health recently. Ed Bartlett from Men's Health America writes, "DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has just released his proposed budget
for Fiscal Year 2002. His budget includes $0 for an Office of Men's Health. In contrast, the DHHS Office of Women's Health is slated for a
whopping $10 million increase, from $17 million in FY 2001 to $27
million in FY 2002." Click here to find out what you can do about this problem.

The Sydney Morning Herald printed this story which explains that young boys strongly need male mentors and teachers to learn most effectively, particularly about male identity. "There were important aspects of learning connected to boys' sense of male identity which could not be adequately addressed without the involvement of men...Of course, females make excellent teachers for boys...However, there are important aspects of learning connected to boys' sense of male identity which cannot be adequately addressed without the involvement of older males." It's a common-sense notion that we would do well to heed.

Marc Angelucci writes "The Society for Women's Health Research posted Fallacies and Facts about Women's and Men's Health to dispute many of the claims about gender health research disparities. In response, Dr. Ed Bartlett of Men's Health America posted these point-by-point refutations. This important debate is thankfully taking place in what seems to be a very professional manner. The arguments provide excellent material for research, op-eds and letters to editors."

James Hanback, Jr. reviewed a group of pro-male web sites for his Online column in the Nashville Scene, an alternative newspaper. Mensactivism.org is included in the review, as well as several other great sites for men. You can read his article here. As he points out, "it's the Internet that is giving the greatest rise to men's causes, providing the widest forum for the discussion of these issues." From Hanback's discussion of what "men's issues" are in the article, he's obviously someone who "gets it."

Cathy Young wrote an excellent article for Reason magazine about the current "gender warfare" going on about socializing children. She begins by discussing Jane Fonda's recent donation to Harvard for a program on gender studies, and does a balanced job reporting the current trends and how this field is being applied to children. "It's clear that the proposed interdisciplinary Center on Gender and Education will pursue not only academic research but also a social agenda...Maybe the real danger is that, in these ideological gender wars, the needs of children of both sexes will take a back seat to scoring points in the debate."

Ed Bartlett from Men's Health America submitted this link to a news article about prostate cancer prevalence and treatment rates. It set out to investigate to what extent socioeconomic factors affect the higher death rates of prostate cancer in men of different races. The study raised some new questions about the cancer in black men, as socioeconomic factors did not explain the increased prevalence (but did explain the difference for Hispanic men).