This story from the Bangor Daily News is on battered men in Maine, and does an excellent job both explaining DV statistics and sharing the personal horror stories of battered men in that state. Time and time again the men reveal that they had no one to turn to for help, and were afraid of losing their children if they attempted to flee from the marriage.

Marc Angelucci writes "The Daily Bruin printed my letter responding to Gloria Steinem's claim about why men vote for Ralph Nader. This letter shows my own progressive angle towards men's issues, but I think men's activism can fit perfectly on any point in the political spectrum, and I respect everyone else's position on that spectrum." Marc's activism shines through again - thanks for the submission, and your efforts!

Joe Dunbar sent me this article from the Massachusetts section of law.com on the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) system, which represents a child's interests in family court often when allegations of domestic violence or drug abuse are involved. Joe has had some direct exposure with this system and is in support of its reform, and writes, "I am trying to help parents and children in the Massachusetts court system - Middlesex County. If you're from that area and have ever been treated unfairly by attorney and GAL Vicki Shemin or Judge Judith Dilday, please e-mail me. Documented cases of fee disputes or irrational custody recommendations by Shemin would be of particular interest. Shemin extorted over $26,000 from my family, then reversed her first two custody recommendations when I objected to her bill. I am also looking for ideas to help the MA probate courts with use of GALs and other bulletin boards to post this to."

This article tells us about how badly the "justice system" is biased against men and boys in Australia, and how the boys live in conditions no better than third world countries while the courts go out of their way to not imprison girls. Click here to read it.

Jerry Boggs wrote an incredibly good "open letter to gender feminists" that can be read at this link. The quality of this letter cannot be overstated, in my opinion. He covers several key issues that have divided the sexes - misperceptions about the wage gap, the dynamics at play in male/female relationships, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Jerry obviously spent a tremendous amount of time on this, so be sure to tell everyone you know about it to spread it wide and far.

And it's not exactly flattering. BBC news posed the question, "Are men trapped in outdated roles?" and got a number of responses from various people throughout Europe. The answers were generally negative about men, and I'm appalled at the number of people (mostly women) who included something in their response about domestic violence. One answer was: "Surely it's a good thing for male violence to be under scrutiny? Personally I feel that there's a long way to go before women achieve equality with men. Not until fathers accept responsibility for child rearing and men stop using women as punchbags, that women will be equal." You can read other responses here, but please don't do it if you're already feeling depressed.

Salon Magazine had a feature length article on an issue which demonstrates how people accept the death and exploitation of male children as a given. It's entitled, "The Children's War," although it should really be called "The Boy's War," because it is mostly boys who are being slaughtered in the midst of the Israeli conflicts going on right now. The article is full of male shaming and stereotypes, and can be described as a rationalization of the deliberate killing of young men, particularly those under 18. I have to wonder aloud: if women were the primary ones being killed in this conflict, wouldn't the entire world be lamenting and figuring out how to put and end to it, rather than rationalizing it this way?

Our latest feature is from Dr. Karl Glasson, the owner of the IHF (ihatefeminism.com) web site. In his essay, Karl looks at the role models boys are looking up to today and isolates this as a very serious issue of our time. The media, Karl vehemently argues, portrays men so negatively these days because anti-male feminists dominate the media and don't want anything positive said about them. Read on for an extremely engaging and controversial essay!

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released a report this year which shows that more Australian men die by suicide than by road crashes. You can read the report here. Why are these men killing themselves in such high numbers? 8 out of 10 suicides in Australia are by men, and the numbers have been increasing while female suicides have remained constant. This is very sobering news.

Bill Kuhl submitted this link to an older article on male body image. This I believe is an issue that needs more attention. From the article: "'This is a disorder that affects as many men as women, yet people assume this is just a woman's problem. Men die from these various forms of Adonis,' Phillips says. She cites steroid abuse, eating disorders and suicide. 'This is not to
minimize the suffering that women experience, but to say that men can suffer just as much.'"

Here's an interesting article from the UK Observer which states that men's financial status tends to improve after divorce, while women's worsens. "Divorce is a complete mess for women...The odds of getting a fair divorce settlement are quite simply stacked against women." It does make sense when you think of it this way - women are often a drain on the man's generally higher income, so even if she takes a piece of it when she leaves, she's going to be worse off financially in the long run, while he can often recover. Still, I know of too many men that have been decimated in divorce settlements, and struggle through a lot of emotional pain that interferes with their ability to advance their careers. Where is the sympathy for them? IHF submitted this story.

In this preview of Warren Farrell's book Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say, Farrell explains the concept of the "lace curtain" (the lack of coverage of men's issues in the media) and his own journey through it. And you can read it at this link.

The Orlando Sentinel ran this story by Kathleen Parker on new information released on child support collection, and the different ways that it has been presented in the media. One interesting fact that Kathleen dug up (which wasn't reported on in the news articles she read) was that there are more "deadbeat moms" than "deadbeat dads," with custodial fathers receiving only 48% of their child support, while custodial mothers received 60% of their payments on average. Another set of interesting facts: "83 percent of divorced parents who have joint custody and regular contact with their children paid their support in full. By comparison, only 36 percent of parents with neither visitation nor joint custody paid any child support. Can anyone say 'Bingo?'"

Not PC and Imo Bethere submitted this story from The Sydney Morning Herald. Apparently there is a DNA testing company in Melbourne that has begun marketing their DNA kits on television, and have received an "astonishing response." It is noted that women have made almost two-thirds of the inquiries about the services since the TV ads began. The story ends with a plea from a privacy advocate that "DNA testing industry needed better regulation, including laws which required written consent from all parties involved in testing."

Tim Randles submitted this link to a This Is Money story on the new divorce law in Britain that will give women half of their husband's pension money in a divorce settlement by default. Although the law is technically gender-neutral, (the "breadwinner" of the family is the one whose pension is cut) it's obviously going to adversely affect men in the majority of divorces. But don't worry, there's good news too: "Some solicitors say the new law may also be beneficial to men because they could avoid maintenance payments by paying off their wife with a slice of their pension." At least these lawmakers have our convenience in mind. (!)