A Virginia man is asking the court to obtain custody of his partner's unborn child, as he believes he would be a much better parent than the mother. Salon ran the story in this article. The main legal confusion right now is how to determine custody of a child that hasn't been born yet. This may be the first child custody case of its kind, and raises some interesting questions.

IHF submitted this link to a UK Times article which talks about men who have killed themselves due to the stress placed on them from the Child Support Agency. This is shocking news: "Mr Brett's suicide brings to 55 the number of deaths linked to the CSA. The agency has
admitted the possibility of potential connections with two deaths. The campaign group NACSA (National Association for Child Support Action) has documented 42 suicides and eight murders that it believes
can be laid at the agency's door." What's it going to take to put some reason into paternity laws?

This ABCnews article discusses how proposed changes in Ireland's abortion laws (which currently outlaw abortion except to save a mother's life) could increase the number of false accusations of rape against men. The reasoning is once women are allowed to have abortions in cases of rape, some women will stoop to making a false accusation in order to get an abortion. This is a significant controversy, but I think it's especially notable that people are at least concerned about false accusations in Ireland and there is a dialogue going on about it.

In an article which turned my stomach, Maclean's is featuring as its cover story in their latest issue a tirade against male violence. Just about every sentence is directed at demonizing males and masculinity, and the word misandrist barely begins to describe it. Please give yourself some time before writing a response to Maclean's - I'm personally going to need about 24 hours before I can compose a reasonable reply.

Now for some men's health news: new research has proven for the first time that men's ability to procreate decreases as they age. This has been postulated for some time but conclusive evidence has been hard to come by. ABCnews has the report here.

ABCnews reported in this story that a Texas man who has already served 10 years of a 99 year sentence for the rape of a sixteen year old girl may be pardoned based on new DNA evidence. His conviction was based primarily on witness testimony, and the prosecution team has changed their views on the case and have submitted a request for pardon to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Ever wonder why when you bring up the high prevalence of domestic violence perpetrated against men, you get shrugged off? The National Post printed this article that exposes the double standards that work against men when trying to get recognition about domestic violence. A superb analogy is made with the issue of suicide, one that I'll remember for quite some time. Read it for some good strategies to show how callous and selfish it is for someone to say, "violence against women is more severe and prevalent, so violence against men isn't as important."

There was a good article in today's Christian Science Monitor which raises awareness of the needs of young boys in education. Both William Pollack and Christina Hoff-Sommers were quoted, and the article was in-depth and informative. It can be found by clicking here.

I have received a few requests from readers to post information here, so here they are:



Joe Dunbar is doing some work to help fathers in the Massachusetts
court system. If you're from that area and have ever been treated
unfairly by attorney and GAL Vicki L. Shemin or Judge Judith
N. Dilday, please contact Joe at joewdunbar@hotmail.com. Documented cases of fee disputes or irrational custody recommendations by Shemin would be of particular interest.



Rich Zubaty wrote in to announce a new pro-male book he's about to release, What Men Know That Women Don't. He has a pre-publication edition which is downloadable from this site for a cost of $4. This rate will increase to $24 once the print edition is released, so you might want to check it out now.



Dr. Charles Corry also wanted to warn readers that there are plans to change domestic violence laws in California and Oregon so that both parties are arrested when a 911 call for domestic violence is made. This is not really good news; click Read More below to read his notice and find out why.

The National Post printed this story which is an interview with William Pollack, author of Real Boys. I haven't heard much about Pollack lately, and this interview isn't exactly flattering toward him. I think this quote kind of sums up his views: "Women have the right to be angry...and it may still be a man's world. But it's not a boy's world, and it never was one." I have mixed feelings about this, but still wholeheartedly support Pollack for getting the media interested in boy's issues.

The National Coalition of Free Men recently sent out its latest E-Zine, and you can read it by clicking on "Read More". E-mail subscription info to the E-Zine is also included. NCFM is a non-profit educational organization that examines the way sex discrimination affects men. It also tries to raise public consciousness about little known, but important, topics dealing with the male experience.

IHF highlighted a Guardian Observer story about the current status of rape convictions in Britain. Last year close to 8,500 rape cases were reported, but only 634 were carried through to conviction. From the article: "The Home Office has now demanded action from the Crown Prosecution Service
and the police to push up the low figure. Campaigning groups say Britain should learn from America, where the use of special advocates who support women through the courts has pushed conviction rates above 50 per cent in Washington and New York states." If Britain is going to "learn from America" with rape procsecution, what that really means is that they're going to start securing convictions without evidence and making people guilty until proven innocent. This is disturbing news.

krob4399 writes "A man in his mid-forties sent this to me and consented to submit this horror story without revealing his identity since, at this time he has not been charged with any crime. I know the man very well and I am sure he is falsely accused." Click Read More for the story. It's truly a nightmare situation.

I'm going away for the weekend, and I wasn't able to find any stories to queue up to have posted over this weekend, so this site will remain as it is until Sunday afternoon/evening. See you then!

Last week I reported on the shaky rape allegations made against a former student of Aberystwyth University in Britain. His trial is now over, and he was found not guilty after the jury deliberated for 41 minutes. This UK Telegraph article (courtesy of IHF) gives details of the acquittal and the disturbances that this young man had to deal with by being accused of such a serious crime.