This article from the Australian Sydney Morning Herald talks about the wide discrepancy in causes of death between men and women in the 25 to 39 year old age category. The article seemed like a positive one if it weren't for the pervasive highlighting of the increased rates of death for unmarried men. While I know this information is true, the tone of the article almost suggests to me that the author may have certain intentions by writing it (i.e, to perpetuate the myth that men must have the "civilizing" influence of a wife to be healthy). Still, it has some useful statistics in it from Australia.

I came upon this news and opinion article which explains various methods of male contraception that have been tried and are being tested. It also explains how the fear of lawsuits and other factors has lowered the size of the potential market for a men's pill in the short term. While it was written last April, it's still an informing read, so please take a look at it.

An Anonymous Reader submitted this article by Cathy Young in today's Boston Globe. In it, Young discusses the recent Massachusetts court decision to expand the "battered woman syndrome" defense to allow victimized women to kill others (in this case her son) and get away with it. She gives examples of other cases where fathers are given harsher sentences for not stopping the abuse of their children by the mother, and also double standards in drug sentencing for accomplices based on whether the person is male or female.

Kathleen Parker's latest column in Jewish World Review is on the topic of the boy who is facing criminal charges for slapping a 13 year old girl's behind. Parker dug up some new facts which I found interesting: "This time, everyone's a little bit wrong and a little bit right.
What's wrong is the assumption that the offending boy is an
innocent...This is his second brush with a girl's behind and his fifth with the New Mexico DCYF...What's right about the case is appropriate concern that this boy could end up spending two years in juvenile detention for what amounts to aggressive bad manners and a history suggesting that he needs more help than punishment."

I received this press release from the Men's Health America list, stating that a new study on sexually transmitted diseases sponsored by the NIH is excluding black males. Ed Bartlett is calling this "Tuskgee II," referring to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study which denied treatment for almost 400 black men. The list posting includes an address to write to and protest this racial and gender discrimination.

Marc Angelucci writes "The Washington Post repeated the wage gap lie again, saying women are "second class citizens" and that they "earn three-quarters of what men earn for every hour worked and . . . hold only 5 percent of top-level jobs." Of course, we also know men make over 90% of workers in 24 of the 25 Worst Jobs in the Jobs-Related Almanac (factoring pay, stress, danger, etc.). For further refutation of this myth, Scott Garman prepared some info here, which includes a link to a Detroit News editorial. Some have already responded by writing the Washington Post. I hope they print."

Marc Angelucci writes "On Sunday, 1/7, I petitioned at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Burbank, California for a men's studies book section, like the one which exists at Borders Bookstore. After three days of petitioning I've got about 800 signatures. But on Sunday, after one hour (and 60 signatures), I was asked to leave. Even though two managers at the Burbank store gave me written permission to petition, the national store in New York called the Burbank store and told a higher up manager (John) to get security and make me leave. Evidently they don't like their customers expressing their views about the store's poor coverage of men's issues in their gender studies section. I'll be back next week at another Barnes & Noble bookstore in Los Angeles where there is a public sidewalk outside the front entrance (rather than in a private mall) so I can assert a 1st Amendment right to speak based on the public forum doctrine. I'll mail copies of the signatures to B&N when I have 1,000 of them, and for each 1,000 thereafter. I'm averaging 250 signatures a day, but I'm alone and very busy. At this rate it could take forever, but I'm not stopping. A few letters and phone calls to them always helps, though." Please click "Read More" below to read where to send your letters, e-mails, or phone calls to.

David Byron writes "The Independent Women's Forum or IWF is thrilled to report that the Washingtonian has featured them in its annual "What's in and what's out" for 2001. The IWF is "in" and NOW is "out" says the Washingtonian. As far as I can remember the IWF has a far larger membership than NOW and has had for some time. The IWF opposes VAWA and the gender wage gap myth, and tends to be more conservative than the Women's Freedom Network. Both women's groups oppose the sex discrimination of feminism. Congratulations IWF!"

The truth can't be held back much longer...the reality of violent women was reported on in this Massachusetts News article. Even the liberal Mother Jones magazine is saying that "Women report using violence in their relationships more often than men." More data is expected to be released by the U.S. Justice Department to demonstrate this disturbing trend.

As reported on by BBC News, women in Germany can now join combat units of the armed forces, after a woman took the law to court and won. Could this be an opportunity for greater equality of responsibility, or will it turn into another disaster of sexual harassment suits, as has happened with the U.S. military? Time will tell.

In a surprising ruling, a New Jersey court ruled that a mother could move across the country with her daughter, and have the father "visit" with her through internet videoconferences. This is an awfully shallow form of "visitation," and the father is justifiably upset over this. David Levy, president of the Children's Rights Council, is disturbed by the precedent set by the case, calling it "unacceptable." Father's rights groups now have yet another issue to protest. Salon.com reported on the story at this link.

An Anonymous Reader writes, "Philip Cook, author of Abused Men - The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence will appear on an upcoming Montel Williams Show. Taping is set for Weds. Jan 10th. Show will air in about two weeks after that date, but no air date has been set yet. Watch your local listings in late January and
February. Cook will also appear on the O'Reilly Factor, Fox News Network on January 22nd. This show usually airs the same day, but it may be next day." Mark your calendars!

The Washington Times had a great, in-depth article about how several countries are eliminating the military draft, and the reasons for its demise. From the article: "'The draft was very efficient if what you needed was a large mass of semiskilled labor to deal with a direct and massive threat to your homeland,' said Philip Gold, director of defense studies at the Discovery Institute...'That does not even remotely describe the threat that the United States and its European allies are facing for the foreseeable future.'" Economic concerns as well as the social unpopularity of the draft, demonstrated during the Vietnam War, are other reasons that the draft is coming to be seen as obsolete.

The UK Telegraph has an article stating that the boy who recently slapped a 13-yo classmate's butt could be facing two years in a juvenile detention center for the incident. Note that both mothers of the children involved in the case do not feel this is necessary. So why is this madness continuing?

Although this is from Dec. 20, I only recently found a web link to this story and want to include it for the sake of thoroughness on the Bill 117 saga. The Ottawa Citizen printed another article on the Bill, also by Dave Brown. In it he mentions, "Reader reaction [to his original article] was the heaviest I've experienced in more than 30 years of column writing. Many refused to believe it. They thought I must have my facts wrong." Unfortunately - and frighteningly - the media seems to be completely ignoring this issue.