The UK Times reports that a man who was accused of rape had the charges thrown out of court after producing tapes of phone conversations with his accuser where she pleaded for him to renew their relationship. Read the article here. The details of the investigation are disturbing - the police expressed no interest in hearing the tapes, and when they finally did so, continued to prosecute him. He also lost his job because of the accusation.

As you can see, The Men's Activism News Network is on a new server, and I've given the site a facelift. There is only one problem I've run into, and that's the URL you're seeing at the top of your web browser. It's supposed to say, "www.mensactivism.org", but it's showing my real IP address, which changes frequently!. So don't try to bookmark the site, because it won't work for long. I'll stick some Javascript link to automatically insert a correct bookmark at some point this evening. Thanks for your patience... Update: I haven't found a solution to this yet, and will be doing more research on it tomorrow. Another update: I have a solution to the problem, but it's going to take a few days to implement it. The site will be down at various times this weekend while I work on it.

Thomas Lynch wrote a terrific op-ed piece in The New York Times about male reproductive rights. The essay is well thought out and he covers all of the issues surrounding choice for men, including the concept that forced paternity affects a man's body just as much as pregnancy affects a woman's body. This, I feel, is the crux of the argument for reproductive rights for men. Free registration with NYT is required to read the article.

Click on "Read More..." to view the National Coalition of Free Men's e-mail newsletter, the NCFM E-Zine. The National Coalition of Free Men (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. Their web site can be found at http://www.ncfm.org.

This article from The Washington Post gives a mixed message with regard to the gender "wage gap". Several fields are mentioned where women make more than men, but the author is quick to say that women still earn less than men in many jobs. It looks to me like this author is on the fence - and it would be a great opportunity to write to The Washington Post and give them some well researched facts. (Such as these, for instance?)

Andrew Sullivan laments the lack of intellectualism among men today, and asks what needs to be done for masculinity to be seen as something more than what is printed in "men's magazines". His ideas: the revival of all-male institutions and for men to meet together regularly and form strong relationships with one another. I believe this article has some good thoughts on issues that successful men's organizations are addressing. An occasional reference to men being more powerful than women is outweighed by the relevance of the article to men's issues. The New Republic printed the article here.

Many people are unaware of the incredibly low percentage of male teachers in early childhood, elementary, and middle school education. This Associated Press article discusses the issue and talks about the importance of male teachers as role models for young children, especially boys.

The New York Post reports that schools in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan have adopted outrageous guidelines regarding sexual harassment - which apply all the way down to preschool-aged children. Actions that can be identified and treated as sexual harassment under these rules include sexual jokes and teasing. Certainly sexual harassment can be a legitimate issue in high school and even middle school, but I think in the context of 4-6 year olds an "unwanted kiss" shouldn't be identified as "sexual harassment". The article can be read here.

In Australia, thousands of police officers have been asked to offer samples of their DNA to rule them out as suspects in crimes. But many of them are refusing for the specific reason that they don't want the genetic information used against them in paternity suits! Apparently the police are well aware of the immense power that child support agencies have, and are frightened for good reason about it. The article was found in The Daily Express Micro Edition, and can be found here.

First we had Kathleen Parker's commentary on Central Park, and now Cathy Young has written this story in the Jewish World Review. More insightful views on the way gender has been superimposed upon the event by the powers-that-be (in particular, NOW).

Salon magazine has printed a controversial article which looks into the possibility that circumcision can help prevent the spread AIDS. The evidence mentioned in the article does not prove the relationship 100%, but does suggest that more research be done to examine the effect that circumcision has on the transmission or contraction of AIDS.

Some very encouraging news on men's reproductive rights: Maryland's highest court ruled that men have the right to modify or nullify their paternity agreement if a DNA test proves they are not the father of the child(ren) they are raising. Read this article from The Nando Times. In most states, a father is still required to pay child support for children that are not his if he doesn't challenge his paternity status within a certain time period from the child's birth. This situation unfairly benefits women who fraudulently deceive men into becoming parents, and is not a rare phenomenon. It's good to hear that unknowingly enslaved men have some way out of such an unfair situation, at least in Maryland now. Update: There's another article from The Washington Post here. It adds several details to the story, including the fact that men will not be allowed to demand repayment of past child support payments.

There is an article in the Orlando Sentinel by Kathleen Parker about the recent attacks on women in Central Park. Parker tries to defuse the gender blame-game that's going on right now, and look at it not as any norm of male behavior but as the despicable event that it is, independent of gender.

As you may know, Elian Gonzalez has permanently returned to Cuba with his father. The saga has come to and end. Here are several news reports on the event and the Supreme Court decision: CNN, ABCnews, Reuters, and Associated Press. Rather than write my own comments on this story, I've received permission to re-print Ed Bartlett's e-mail, The Mirror of Elian Gonzalez, which I feel sums up this ordeal very well.

Joe submitted this interesting article from The Boston Globe in which a unique compromise was made for child custody between two divorcing parents: one parent will have the child on weekdays, the other on weekends, and this arrangement will be reversed every year for each parent. Could this be a reasonable compromise for child custody disputes?