Tom Smith from the American Union of Men wrote up an interesting essay about Eminem, the rap star whose music is currently incredibly popular but which is also extremely vulgar and thus has caused quite a bit of controversy. Tom has been willing to put aside the prejudices about Eminem that the PC media has created and examined his music, and found a tremendous amount of angst related to men's issues (father loss, his own divorce problems, etc). If you're open minded, Tom's article is sure to introduce you to this rapper in a new light. Click "Read More" below for the complete article...

The National Post printed this story about an organization, the Association for Genital Integrity, which trying to obtain funds to have non-therapeutic male circumcision legally recognized as sexual assault. The argument will rely on an equal protection reasoning, claiming that the current law is discriminatory because it outlaws female genital mutilation but ignores male genital mutilation (circumcision). Some religious groups are concerned about the legal challenge, but it is possible that a religious exemption could be made. Personally, I think the issue at stake is that infant boys have no choice in the matter - if they want to become circumcised when they're old enough to make the decision themselves, that's fine, but I believe they need the choice.

Trudy Schuett submitted this sickening story from TownHall.com. It's about a women who had a history of drug problems and abusing her husband who eventually received custody of her two young boys. Things were stable for a short while until she took off on a cross-country trip with the boys, along the way cutting and abusing the boys in ways that were blatantly obvious to those around her, but she was never reported to the police by people who saw her. I think it's also clear that this story simply could not have happened had the boys been traveling with their father, and it serves as a disturbing wake up call to end the prejudices about women's incapacity for violence. It's also a good time to ask yourself, what would you have done if you had seen this woman and her children in their physical state on a train?

Dave Maupin from the Family Violence Prevention Services program in North Carolina wrote in and wanted to ask for help to fight new domestic violence legislation. The law will effectively shut out FVPS from taking on clients referred to them by the courts - because compliance with the new rules would require them to be approved and monitored by politically motivated domestic violence groups. Click "Read More" below to read his message and information regarding the new legislation which will end up harming men, women, and children seeking to overcome family violence.

This short, fairly superficial transcript from a news program on Australia's ABC network mentions the existence of male rape victims, and the lack of support services for them, but that's about it. There was no comment about what kinds of circumstances male rape occurs (for example, by exposing the high incidence of prison rape), and the woman being interviewed claims that the court system is "patriarchal" and this discourages men from coming forward. So while I wouldn't describe this as progress, it is noteworthy in that something was at least said about male rape, rather than nothing.

Australia's Daily Telegraph reports that a study was done examining why some elderly men kill themselves, and found that large numbers of them were depressed and were not receiving treatment for depression. "Prof Snowdon's research included reading the notes left by 41 per cent of the suicides and interviewing friends and relatives. Many of the suicide notes were angry and most reflected serious depression, he said." No mention was made as to what could be done to help prevent this from happening.

A short blurb in a recent issue of Time magazine caught my attention - in an attempt to increase the number of black male teachers in inner-city schools, three historically black colleges in South Carolina will be offering full tuition scholarships to male students. The catch is they must work for a minimum of four years in the state after they graduate. This sounds like a much needed incentive to get more male role models in public schools as teachers.

The New York Times (free registration required) had an insightful article about making metaphors for the current crisis of on-line privacy issues. Rather than describing it in terms of "Big Brother" (from the novel 1984), Carl Kaplan believes that Kafka's The Trial does a better job explaining the consequences of ignoring the need for privacy standards on-line. It's a good read, and relevant to all readers of Mensactivism.org. To drive the point in a bit further is news that Michigan state is considering a law that will require local ISPs to register their customers' e-mail addresses with a valid phone or credit card number, to ease law enforcement tracking of users based on their activity on-line.

Not PC writes "Erik Bullock, 30, received an automatic sentence of life in prison in addition to a 20 year sentence for hiring others to beat his girlfriend to kill her fetus. She lived, but the "choice" was stillborn. The case was the first brought under Arkansas' Fetal Protection Act. The 1999 law allows murder charges if a fetus in at least the 12th week of gestation dies as a result of a violent crime. The prosecutor described the defendant as a selfish person, but of course, not the mother. DNA TESTS LATER SHOWED THAT BULLOCK WAS NOT THE FATHER OF THE CHOICE, er, child. Click here to read the article." This is yet more disturbing news which attests to the despair and resentment of men who are forced into paternity - and in this case, the child wasn't even his! This is NOT the way to lobby for male reproductive rights, but I feel it's important to report on these kinds of events to force people to see what they might otherwise be able to ignore.

Trudy W Schuett writes "
Trudy Mackay, wife of Rev. Laughlin Mackay of Arizona announced today the formation of a prayer circle to aid men in crisis. This global effort will link e-mail volunteers from many countries to offer prayers for men in cases of domestic violence, divorce and other situations. To request prayers e-mail desertlight@angelfire.com with the word Request in the Subject line. Requests will be kept entirely confidential and e-mail addresses will not be used for any other purpose. More volunteers are also needed! For more information, send an e-mail to desertlight@angelfire.com with the words Volunteer Info in the subject line." Thanks for this information, Trudy! I know many men who will appreciate this kind of spiritual support network.

Anonymous User writes "This Ottawa Sun report is an article about how women can be sex offenders and not always the victims as feminists would have us believe." From the article: "The criminal acts of pedophiles are similar, whether it is committed by a female or male perpetrator...Rick Goodwin, director of The Men's Project counseling program for male survivors of sexual abuse, agrees that female offenders tend to go unnoticed. He calls sex abuse by women the 'invisible crime.' There is usually no physical evidence; cases go unreported; allegations aren't believed or can't be proven." While the article doesn't include much in the way of statistics, it is an encouraging break from the silence which is too often heard on this important issue.

Not PC sent in another story, this one about Rosie O'Donnell, an outspoken talk show host who has recently started helping adoption agencies give children to celebrity single mothers. And it's specifically for single mothers, married ones or single fathers she will not work with. The second half of the article attempts to refute O'Donnell's work, and demonstrate that she will be directly harming children, especially young boys, by promoting fatherless families. The article is from WorldNetDaily News.

E Zielin writes "From the More Wild Exaggerations and Misandrist Propaganda Dept: An effort by feminists across the country to transform Valentine's Day, a millennia-old celebration of romance and friendship, into a "Violence Against Women Day" - a day of resentment against men. Click here for the story." Thanks also to Ed Bartlett for submitting this.

Not PC submitted a link to this article from the Sacramento Bee. The article describes how the University of California at Davis obtained a U.S. Dept. of Justice grant for over half a million dollars to fight sexual assault on campus. The grant application stated that over 700 rapes or attempted rapes happen each year at UCD, but public data shows that one rape occurred there between 1995 and 1998. This discrepancy, of course, is the cause of much controversy, and amazingly, the counsel for the University is trying to claim that since rapes are so underreported, that the 700 figure is still accurate!

This is a long, informative article from the Boston Globe about the alarmingly high suicide rate for students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Comparisons were made with several other top engineering schools and MIT had the highest suicide rate overall. Many of the deaths, of course, are men. There is an effort to increase counseling services at MIT and to try and do more to prevent suicide. Certainly, the stress and pressure on men to perform and achieve is very prevalent at such a prestigious school, and I also hope that steps will be taken at the other schools listed in the article which had disturbingly high suicide rates.