Lots of news today on divorce and family issues... An anonymous user sent in this link to excerpts of an upcoming book Betrayal of the Child, which is on family law issues and how they are destroying families and harming children. There is a good focus on the issue of fathers being shut out of their children's lives (except as a paycheck) and a call for more shared parenting/joint custody rulings in divorce cases.

Related to the previous divorce article from Time, a reader submitted this Yahoo! news story on the self esteem of fatherless black boys. The study demonstrated a significant difference in self-esteem between African-Americans with and without fathers, but no such gap for black girls. And without father figures in their lives, many young black men turn to gangs for affirming their masculinity.

Time magazine printed this feature story on divorce and its effects on children. It seems that people are finally starting to wake up to what should be a common sense notion: that divorce can and does affect children for the rest of their lives. And, as un-PC as this may be, barring abuse or addictions, staying together in a bad marriage is generally better for the children than splitting up. I noticed several implicit references to men being the ones to leave or break up families in the article, but overall it is pretty good and well-balanced.

The Fred Lane domestic violence saga continues, as I was notified by Steve Hoffman about this ABCnews article. It appears that Fred may have been killed to keep him from revealing that his wife robbed a bank, and she has now been formally charged for the crime and is being held without bail. Can anyone not be outraged that she had been held on $100k bond for the murder charges, but only now is being held without bail?

Bilal writes "This L.A. Times article
says that hostility against women in the workplace is the reason for the low numbers of women in science, but shows little evidence for that. It says nothing about gender expectations on men to be primary breadwinners or the choices professional women often make to stay home and raise children. This one deserves as many responses as it can get."

I found this story in the Seattle P-I. It announces that the Supreme Court of Washington State has ruled that police involved in child abuse cases which turn out to be unfounded can be sued if they are guilty of negligence in handling the case. Hopefully this will put a damper on the "witch hunt" style abuse cases similar to the one Washington had five years ago that are based solely on the accusations of a minor.

Robert_Cunningham wrote in about another great story, this one on a man from Canada who has created prenatal parenting classes just for new dads. The National Post article can be read here. The story talks about the importance dads play in the development of children, and recognizes that mothers are often "gatekeepers" affecting how involved dads can be with their kids. It's good to see that programs like this are being started, and I'd like to see them catch on.

Robert Cunningham submitted another thought provoking piece by Cathy Young in The Boston Globe. It is on the topic of sex crime cases, and how we have come to accept that questioning the alleged victim is generally unacceptable and "revictimizes" the person. But at the same time, the presumption of innocence cannot be upheld in this mindset. She uses as an example a recent sex crime case in Massachusetts involving a 12 year-old boy.

Adam H writes "I've found two men's health articles, the first on the lesser known Prostatitis disorder at this link and also an article on the side effects of prostate cancer treatment at this link. Cheers." Thanks for the links, Adam H! They are very informative articles.

Yahoo! News printed this article which discusses some of the reasons that men don't feel comfortable going to the doctor or entering the healthcare field: they are often shunned at healthcare agencies when younger, and doctors and nurses often have negative stereotypes of teen boys as irresponsible and untrustworthy. One example from the story was a young man who went with his girlfriend to learn how to use a diaphragm, and was told by clinic staff that men were not welcome in the waiting room!

An anonymous reader sent in this link to a maddening news story. Apparently if a man is convicted of a crime and paying child support, he is still responsible for paying it while serving his prison sentence. This of course causes these men to become "deadbeat dads" by the time they are freed, and in some cases fathers have been thrown back in jail shortly after being freed because of delinquency on child support!

Stephen Jacobs submitted this article on a surprising finding: an overwhelming majority of statutory rape convictions are made against Latino men, including those who are successfully married and raising a family. The convictions often tear families apart, and it seems that in Latino culture, having young girls married at an early age is commonplace. There is considerable contempt for men in the article: "'Sure, there are those cases where there's a baby and the father is sticking around and paying the bills and nobody wishes he was reported,' [Santa Clara District Attorney] said. `But you don't know how long he will be there.'"

An Anonymous Reader writes: "I know you're not trying to advocate presidential candidates with your site, but I thought this was relevant: Ralph Nader was recently attacked by Patricia Ireland for not being outspoken on women's rights. The SF Gate printed this story on it, then the next day printed this one where Nader rebukes Ireland, saying NOW has not focused on many of his consumer issues which are very relevant to women. BUT, here's what I find most interesting: he's not willing to stoop to the level where he panders to feminists on issues like domestic violence and eating disorders. It seems like he's implicitly saying that he knows it's a load of BS." Note: The Men's Activism News Network does not officially endorse any presidential candidates.

Robert Cunningham has submitted another story (way to go Robert!) on father's issues. It's from The Philadelphia Inquirer, and can be read here. It focuses a lot on the organization Fathers' and Children's Equality (FACE), and the ways they are helping divorced fathers out in a very biased family law system.

George writes "I found this article about programs being started in several states of the U.S. to help fathers in prison have more interaction with their children. It's perhaps a bit different from the typical article on fathers, but it's kind of encouraging in that these men may now be better able to fulfill at least somewhat the role of father in their children's lives. The new programs reportedly are already promoting better behavior among participating inmates."