An Anonymous User sent in this link to an article by Jim Peron. It is an overview of feminism's relationship with pornography, and the controversies it has caused within the women's movement. Peron's analysis of two major anti-porn figures, Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, is well researched and excellently written. Regardless of your own views on pornography, this article gives some interesting background and information about current arguments over porn and free speech.

The Sydney Morning Herald printed a story with a lot of statistics about Ritalin use among children in Australia. "For the first time, the data breaks down the use of Ritalin and dexamphetamine by age group - and reveals a ninefold increase in their use between 1990 and 2000. The prescription rate is four times higher for boys, but is growing for girls, and any NSW [New South Wales] primary classroom has a one-in-two chance of including a child taking drugs for the condition." This alarming trend is out of control and has got to be challenged.

frank h submitted this link to Kathleen Parker's latest editorial in Town Hall. In it, she discusses the policy of British Airways to seat men away from children who are flying alone, and an incident at a Target store where a single dad was hassled for helping his 8 year-old daughter try on clothes in a dressing room. Parker puts it well when she says, "In our hypervigilant world of zero tolerance, pedophiliac paranoia and incest sensitivity, everyone's a pervert until proven innocent. If you've had the extremely bad judgment to be born a male, you're automatically suspicious."

Ed Bartlett from Men's Health America writes, "Next Wednesday, April 4, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health will be holding a hearing for the National Institutes of Health. The topic of the hearing will be "Special Populations." This will be a critical hearing in our battle to overcome the exclusion of men from NIH research studies. In the next few days, I will be asking you to (you guessed it!) make a phone call, write a letter, and fax your letter to one of the members of the House Appropriations Committee." Update: click here for the MHA announcement of what you can do to help! A little bit of effort now will go a long way at this point in the activism campaign.

My second article in a series for the UNH school newspaper was printed last Friday, and you can read it at this link. It covers the issue of male bashing, and the differences between how we view female bashing and male bashing. It acknowledges the wrongness of misogyny, and asks for people to recognize the unfairness of misandry. Finally, it offers a plea to both men and women to take the issue seriously and work together to end the "gender war". Enjoy!

Dr. Charles Corry from dvmen.org also submitted news about Clayton Giles, whose case we have covered in the past (story 1, 2, 3, 4). He writes: "Clayton Giles is a 14-year old boy who wanted to be with his
father. Only the courts in Calgary, Alberta, Canada wouldn't let him. So first he ran away to his father's home. When the courts still wouldn't acknowledge his father's rights, Clayton went on a hunger strike and picketed the courthouse to international attention gained through his web site. After 19 days the court caved in. He now lives legally with his father. On April 28th he will be starting a bicycle and walking trek from Calgary to Ottawa, and then to Washington, D.C. to promote children's right to have both parents. He deserves and has earned all our support. Details are on his web site at Legalkids.com."

A woman has filed a lawsuit against the Independence House battered women's shelter in Barnstable, MA, claiming that she was illegally forced to attend the program by DSS. When she initially refused, DSS put her children into foster care, a tactic which she claimed has been used to force her and other women to "accept the message" that the shelter teaches. "I complained in the Independence House meetings that I did not want to be there and was being forced to attend through intimidation, threats, and coercion. Independence House did everything to me that they claim would be control and emotional abuse if a man did it. I felt so violated. Our little girl suffered terribly. Independence House, of all places, should understand that when a woman says 'no' - it means 'no.'" The Massachusetts News has the article here - and thanks to Dr. Charles Corry for the submission.

Since a lot of Mensactivism.org visitors are fans of Fred Reed's writing, I thought I would post this link to his recent article about computer-assisted surveillance technology, and how the use of this technology for the purpose of social control is going to creep up on us if we aren't vigilant. While his explanation of the problem is very broad, it's a good introduction to the issues that groups like EPIC and the EFF are confronting.

AngryHarry pointed me to this UK Telegraph article about combat training in the Army. Brig Seymour Monro, director of the Army's infantry, is speaking out that the tests have been so watered down that they are little more than "aggressive camping" exercises. "The exercises, a crucial part of the Army's "Combat Effectiveness Gender Study", have concluded that women are as capable as men of serving in combat units. However, [Monro] said this conclusion could only be reached because the tasks that women soldiers were not physically capable of performing had been made easier or dropped from the trials. A scathing commentary on the trials, written by Monro, had been suppressed by senior officers, defence sources said."

A 19-year old Australian woman who had sex with a 13-year old boy as part of a "truth or dare" game was given a 12 month prison sentence but was "ordered not be sent to jail and that the term be served as part of an intensive correction order." This is despite the fact that the judge claims "the woman's conduct should be considered as serious as that of a man who had preyed on a young female." Also from the article: "a victim impact statement supplied by the boy with whom Dugdale had sex revealed he continued to experience nightmares and had trouble communicating with females. She said the boy experienced on-going embarrassment, guilt about his mother's distress and required on-going counselling." Read the article here a>.

The National Center for Policy Analysis has recently started publicizing the gender politics that created the myth that women are neglected in medical research. Their statement on the matter can be read here. The floodgates of truth open a bit further...

Marc Angelucci writes "Kudos to California for having the 5th worst Selective Service registration compliance in the nation (79%). But Assemblyperson Briggs and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors see this as a "problem." To fix it, they want to pass California Assembly Bill (AB1572), which would make draft registration automatic upon applying for a driver's license - if you are male, that is." Click "Read More" below to view some quotes and more of Marc's comments.

Some positive news from the UK Times: it turns out that "FATHERS emerged as the heroes of childbirth yesterday as women criticised maternity services and saved their praise for the men in their lives. " Fathers were also "rated as rocks of support." All I can say is wow!
It seems things are slowly starting to turn our way, but while we have a long way to go yet, perhaps we should sit back and enjoy this for a few minutes before continuing about our daily business.

AngryHarry had a link to this UK Telegraph article, which reports that Melanie Cangardel has been cleared of attempted murder charges. We had reported on this story earlier, which described how Ms. Cangardel crushed antihistamines in her husband's cereal and then tried to suffocate him with a plastic bag when he was sedated from the drugs. Mr. Cangardel did have enormous levels of the drugs in his system when tested, and the earlier story indicated that Ms. Cangardel admitted to doing this to bring attention to their marital problems. I have no idea what must have happened in court, but this is a tragic loss for justice.

Anonymous User writes "The February 2001 issue of American Psychologist arrived today (not online, unfortunately) with an article by social psychologists Peter Glick and Susan Fiske, discussing the concept of "benevolent (vs. hostile) sexism." There is much I find offensive in the article, such as the assumptions that "sexism" refers to prejudice against women only, and that disagreement with the feminist agenda is ipso facto prejudice against women. The concept of benign sexism is intriguing, though, because it consists of beliefs that women should be rescued before men in an emergency, that men need women's love in order to be complete, that women are more cultured than men, that women should be protected by men, and that men should make sacrifices in order to provide for women. They argue that these beliefs actually harm women by legitimizing less benevolent forms of discrimination, in the way the "white man's burden" legitimized colonialism. They are completely submerged in feminist ideology, but from a men's rights perspective, one can only hope that some of their ideas catch on!"