Some more Aussie news: The Sydney Morning Herald reports in this article that New South Wales women's prisons are overflowing with women, and some Parliament members are calling for measures to be taken to stop women from being sent to prison. Fortunately, the government is not looking favorably on these suggestions, and is opposed to compromising justice standards. With a forty percent increase in female prisoners over the past six years, something's got to be done, but siphoning female criminals through hostel programs is certainly not fair to society. It's surprising to see how sympathetic the plight of women in this situation is portrayed, and contrast it to, for example, the situation of black men in American prisons.

More news on the male birth control pill: it could be here in 5 years, according to this article, by The New Zealand Herald. The article gives more info about the pill and the researchers working on it, and takes a few jabs at men as liars. Apparently it's believed that most women won't trust a man who says he's "on the pill". Perhaps it's because deep down they know how often women have defrauded men into paternity by lying about birth control usage?

A female professor from Florida A&M University is suing the school for discrimination, saying that black men are favored in faculty promotions. You can read the MSNBC article here. I found this interesting because affirmative action programs were originally intended to help minorities, and women were more or less added to the programs at the last minute. And it is women (typically white, middle-upper class women) who have benefited the most from AA programs, not minority men.

Robert submitted this story from The Age, an Australian media outlet. It discusses the recent statutory rape of a 15 year-old boy in a detention center by his 46 year-old female social worker. The verdict in the trail has been released: the woman was found not guilty. The author of the article talks about the "cult of the moral mother", and the myths about women as morally superior to men which probably influenced the judge's decision. She throws out some misleading DV statistics, but confronts the sexual abuse of children by women, even though she downplays the effects that female abuse of children have vs. men's abuse of children. Definitely not a pro-male article, but this is also a topic that few feminists would touch.

In an article which is pretty demeaning to young men, Maggie Gallagher criticizes teen boys for not being eager to join the rat race, er, get summer jobs when they're young. She seems to think that educational summer camps and getting involved in the Arts is inappropriate for young men, and that they should all be slaving away at summer jobs instead. Why?: "Boys who can't be bothered to earn enough money for movies and some hot dogs haven't shown enough oomph to deserve your [daughter's] company." This is another of those not-so-subtle ways in which men are reduced to wallets and providers, starting from an early age.

Anonymous Hero submitted this link. It's an excellent WorldNetDaily article by J.R. Nyquist which challenges the notion of patriarchy and male dominance that feminists often use to silence men. He discusses this in the context of the common "men are pigs" comment which few people bother to object to, but should. This is one of those topics that hits close to the center of the men's movement, and should be read by all.

John O'Sullivan recently wrote an article for Canada's National Post, Lament for the Days of Manly Men. In it, he criticizes the way men's roles have changed, their current lack of authority, and the decline of courage, duty, and chivalry. He also believes that men are by nature immoral and irresponsible, and that they need to be socialized for these qualities, which the traditional male role did quite well. I have some mixed feelings on this article, but I thought it would be of interest to the readership because of its somewhat controversial nature. Feel free to share your thoughts on it through our comment boards!

The Washington Times printed this piece on the existence of bias against men in sexual harassment investigations in the U.S. Army. It discusses how a military career can be destroyed with a simple accusation in which men are generally assumed guilty until proven innocent, and in particular examines the 1996 incident involving Lt. General Claudia Kennedy. As bad as real sexual harassment is, the sensationalism and hypersensitivity surrounding it without regard to physical or verifiable evidence is undoubtedly doing an equal amount of damage.

A student at Aberystwyth, a university in Britain, has accused a male undergraduate of raping her two years ago. No physical evidence exists, and from her own quotes it is not clear that she even made her intentions clear to the young man. She said in court, "I was willing at first but it got a bit uncomfortable." I feel a bit of sympathy for the young man who is going to be vilified for this, knowing that these accusations can have a profound effect regardless of whether you know you're innocent. The UK Telegraph has the story here.

Kim writes "On August 26, 2000 a group of choice for men supporters will be demonstrating on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. We will be located in the West Front of the Capitol building from 11:30am to 5:30pm. You are invited to come and join us. We need you and you need us!
We will be holding up signs advocating equal reproductive choice for men. What you put on your sign is up to you, however you should try to be respectful. Ideally, your slogan should be kept to 8 words or less and should be written with big dark letters on a light background. We will have a table for pamphlets and bumperstickers.
We all look forward to seeing you there! Sincerely, Kim" Please contact Kim if you have any further questions about the demonstration or are interested in attending.

Rod Smith, a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, was sentenced to two years probation and more than half a year of counseling for domestic violence. This was despite the fact that his accuser, the mother of his two children, recanted her story. From the details of the alleged abuse, one might think that there would be physical evidence, but no mention of this is made. It looks like another case of believing a woman only when she claims victimhood, and disregarding her words otherwise. Sportserver has the article here.

Tony Kornheiser of the LA Times recently experienced the loss of his father. He decided to write his usual column as a tribute to his father, talking about their relationship and his dad's love, humor, and the quirks that made him who he was. I thought the article was moving and written in a very masculine mode of writing. Although the article is about loss, I see it as an important positive thing to think about fathers and what they mean in this way. You can read the article here.

More news from Canada: The National Post reported on a story about both the bio father and stepfather being forced to pay child support for a child, referred to as 'double dipping' (since the child/mother gets twice the support). The ruling is being challenged in the Canadian court system. An outline of the situation is kind of complicated, so I won't summarize it here. One thought occurred to me, though: the boy who is the recipient of child support from both men has a sister, and does anyone really think the boy should be financially supported better than her? It's an absurd concept, to say the least.

The Orange County Register printed this news story about bureaucratic errors in the child support collection system - and men who are labeled 'deadbeats' when they are really current with their payments. One man is suing a District Attorney's Office to compensate for damages he suffered while he challenged child support debts he never owed. It should be no surprise that more accountability needs to be built-in to this system to allow errors to be corrected.

Ed Bartlett from Men's Health America has distributed the announcement for "Round 3" of the action plan to get the Men's Health Act of 2000 passed by Congress. Please click "Read More..." below to see what you can do this week for the cause of men's health in America.