About a month ago, MANN was contacted by a college student requesting responses to a number of questions pertaining to the MR movement. Having written the reply and sending it back last month, I decided today to upload it to FileDropper and make it available for general review. Feel free to use some or part of it any way you see fit, if you think it worthwhile. In addition, if you think there is anything in it worth discussing, refuting, etc., please post in the comments. I like feedback, whether it be agreement or disagreement; I always learn something from it whether I concur or not. The document is here. Be sure to click the grey "Download This File" graphic under the "URL:" and "Embed:" boxes. (Clicking the green "DOWNLOAD" button will take you to another site that tries to get you to download some sponsored trialware.) You then have to type in the prove-you're-human characters, click "Download Now", and the file download box will appear. The questions include:

1. What are the focal topics of MensActivism?
2. Do you feel women do not have equal rights/are discriminated against in any way (in modern-day American society)?
3. Do you feel men do not have equal rights/are discriminated against in any way (in modern-day American society)?
4. What are your thoughts on feminism?
5. What laws exist that are discriminatory to men?
6. What is your perspective on the wage gap?
7. In what instances have you witnessed gender discrimination of either or both genders?
8. Do you believe that the double standards held by modern society should be removed? If yes, please explain which double standards.
9. Have you been a victim of gender discrimination? If so, may I ask about the details of this incident?
10. Which conflicts between feminism and the men's movement are avoidable, and which are bound to happen. Is there a way for them to coexist?

Article here. Excerpt:

'OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The weekly meetings of Mouthing Off!, a group for students at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, always start the same way. Members take turns going around the room saying their names and the personal pronouns they want others to use when referring to them — she, he or something else.

It's an exercise that might seem superfluous given that Mills, a small and leafy liberal arts school historically referred to as the Vassar of the West, only admits women as undergraduates. Yet increasingly, the "shes" and "hers" that dominate the introductions are keeping third-person company with "they," ''ze" and other neutral alternatives meant to convey a more generous notion of gender.

A MANN reader alerted us to this Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Recovering-Feminist-Support-Network/465210383598375

To make it easier to share around, this is the TinyURL re-direct link for the site page:

http://tinyurl.com/RecovFemSupptNetOnFbook

Story here. Excerpt:

'A professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is demanding an independent investigation about two complaints she filed alleging sexual harassment by the school’s student newspaper.

The first article appeared in The Sun Star, the campus rag, on April 1, 2013. The April Fool’s Day piece heralded the construction of the “Kameel Toi Henderson Building,” which is “a new building in the shape of a vagina.”

The satirical piece suggested that the building would be a tribute to “UAF’s 59 percent female demographic.” “Courses such as Home Economics, House Cleaning 101 and the Perils of Feminism will be offered each semester.”
...
School officials also concluded that the article did not create a hostile environment on campus and does “not meet the definition of sexual harassment.” They further noted that the piece is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Sun Star journalist who wrote the April Fool’s piece, Lakeidra Chavis, noted that her goal was to poke fun at the number of buildings at UAF shaped at least vaguely like penises.
...
Lakeidra Chavis is a female, according to her Facebook page.

A few days after filing her complaint about the April Fool’s Day piece, Anahita filed a second complaint. This one alleged “hate speech” and another hostile environment in a different Sun Star article about the UAF Confessions Facebook page.

Chavis noted that the newspaper did nothing illegal when it published screenshots of the Facebook page and reported on what was in it.

“It was a public Facebook page,” she said.

School officials again concluded that the newspaper did nothing wrong.

Article here. Excerpt:

'So, who’s right? Those who say censuring circumcision is a manifestation of anti-Semitism, or those who say it’s a necessary step in child protection?

I think the latter are right, but I also understand why some think it’s anti-Semitic: Circumcision is a profoundly meaningful Jewish practice imbued with great cultural value. Consequently, attempts to limit it have sometimes been part of broader efforts to suppress Jewish practice. ...
...
Understandably, this has left its imprint on Jews’ collective memory. It makes sense that the journalist Tanya Gold asked whether the recent motion is “an attempt to achieve with paper what other methods could not – the removal of Jews from Europe?”

These are grave concerns. But do they stand up to scrutiny? It seems ethnocentric given that two thirds of the world’s circumcised males are actually Muslims and only 0.8 percent are Jewish. ...

Rather than prejudice against religion, I think it makes more sense to interpret criticism of circumcision as the consistent application of human rights to both boys and girls. ...

It’s true that censuring circumcision could curtail the expression of an until-now definitional Jewish practice. But the right to manifest one’s religion is not absolute – it is limited by the harm caused to others. In 2011, 11 boys under the age of one were treated for life-threatening hemorrhage, shock or sepsis relating to circumcision in Birmingham Children’s Hospital in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it’s estimated that 100 boys die as a result of circumcisions every year. Can religion per se justify this?

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Brown County Sheriff’s Department may tweak its hiring process in hopes of attracting more women and minority officers.
...
The agency’s assessment could prompt changes to the physical agility test. Dozens of female applicants have failed the test due to a lack of upper-body strength, Sanborn said.
...
Madson is aware some women have trouble passing physical agility tests, and said NWTC offers all academy students a course on fitness and will help them prepare for tests, which can include climbing a 5-foot wall.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Listed companies in the European Union must work toward a 40 percent quota for women in non-executive board positions by the year 2020, according to legislation approved by European Parliament last week.
...
According to parliament's figures, only 17.6 percent of non-executive board member seats are held by women in 2013. Under the new rule, listed companies must take effective and binding steps to ensure equal access to non-executive board positions. While qualifications and merit remain the primary criteria, preference must go to the woman candidate when candidates of equal qualifications are presented.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'One reason men make more money than women is because they work so much overtime.

The gender gap in pay persists due to the fact that men are more likely than women to work 50 hours-plus a week, found a recent study (pdf) published by the American Sociological Review. The extra hours—known as “overwork”—result, on average, in an extra 6% in hourly wages across all occupations. This difference has exacerbated the gender pay gap by around 10%, the study claims.

In 2000, 19% of men worked 50 hours or more per week, compared to 7% of women. The researchers suggested that women are less likely both to enter a job that demands overworking and to stay in it. And despite moves toward equality, women still tend to be more responsible than men for housework and childcare—hours that hardly count on the job but make them plenty overworked, too.'

Also see this article.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Over the last 12 months, the tech industry added 60,000 jobs, and 36,000 -- or 60% -- of those positions went to women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Usually, men make up 70% to 80% of the new hires, but according to the BLS, the tide seems to have turned in the last year.

"Overall, it's a surprise to see there's a sudden increase, and obviously, it's too soon to know if a few months is a trend," said Shravan Goli, president of Dice.com. "There's been so much awareness building and activity from companies to pursue diversity, plus you've got the Sheryl Sandbergs and Marissa Mayers of the world -- I think all of that is starting to result in increased awareness and an attraction toward technology roles for women more than ever before."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Doctors in America are usually circumcised or married to men who are circumcised. They have little experience with normal, intact, healthy penises. They also are often ill informed about the risks of the procedure.

“What did they do to you?” a Scandinavian woman asked an American man while they were making love. She was upset that part of his penis had been amputated. Taking off the foreskin deprives the penis of both length and width. The foreskin protects the glans of the penis, keeping it moist and sensitive. A circumcised penis has a head that has hardened (“keratinized” is the medical word for this). She couldn’t believe it when her American lover told her that circumcision was considered normal in the United States.
...
So it is no wonder that Maggie Rhode, an African American mom from Memphis, Tennessee, thought she was bringing her 3-month-old son in for a safe operation in August. The circumcision at Christ Community Health Center, the doctors told her, would take only 20 minutes.

Instead it lasted three hours. Not only did the doctors botch the circumcision, they handed Rhode her son, who was screaming in pain, without telling her that anything had gone wrong.

“After I went home and I discovered that my son’s penis was not there, I immediately froze, like, oh my God,” Rhode, who is speaking publicly about what happened to Baby Ashton, told My Fox Memphis. Ashton went to the doctor with healthy genitalia, now he has a partial penis. He urinates through a hole in his penis and screams in agony, his mom said.

Complications from circumcision, though rarely this extreme, are more common than parents realize.

One in 500 boys will experience acute complications from circumcision, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, and that is probably a conservative estimate.
...

A very happy Thanksgiving to MANN readers and their friends and family! Especially, thoughts go out to parents (these are of course mostly fathers) who can't be with their kids today for whatever reasons, be they court-related or not.

Some of the low-down on how this came to be a national holiday in the US is found here. Be prepared to have a few long-held beliefs tossed out.

Also, in case you didn't know, today is the very rare convergence of T-giving and Hannukkah, hence "Thanksgivukkah". Extra Hannukkah gelt for those good kids who finish their turkey, maybe? :)

Article here. Excerpt:

'The "knockout game" -- and the media underreporting of it -- combines the breakdown of the family with the media's condescending determination to serve as a public relations bureau for blacks. The "game" is a dare in which a young man -- all the perps appear to be male people of color, mostly blacks -- tries to literally knock out an innocent bystander with one blow. Both National Public Radio and The New York Times say these reports of the "knockout game" being widespread are overblown and do not represent a trend. Really?
...
So why is this happening? Look to the family.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In time, “never depend on a man” turned into the full-blown belief that men are superfluous. In 2010 Jennifer Aniston claimed women needn’t “fiddle with a man” to have a child.

This may strike you as an isolated case of stupidity, but Aniston’s willingness to put it out there speaks volumes about modern cultural attitudes. No actress would have said such a thing in the 70s, 80s, or even early 90s.

Fortunately, most women come to the realization that they do, in fact, need a man—at least if they want a family.
...
This is the conclusion to which most women have come. Research shows that what women want more than anything else is not to work full-time and year-round but to live balanced lives.

How will they do it? That’s the number-one conversation among women today.

... The answer is obvious.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Husbands who secretly watch Internet porn will have to confess to their wives when new family filters come in, UK Prime Minister David Cameron says.

From next year people will have to opt in if they want their Internet service provider to allow them access to pornography at home.

Asked by BBC Radio what that would mean for those who may access such content without their partner knowing, Mr Cameron said they were "going to have to have a discussion" about their surfing habits.

President Barack Obama is closely watching Britain's moves to block abusive images from being seen, and to track down those responsible for making them.'

Story here.

'A former NFL cheerleader accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in his Murfreesboro home received probation Monday as part of pleading no contest to a reduced charge of felony reckless endangerment.

Elizabeth Leigh Garner, 42, who cheered for the Tennessee Titans in 2005, 2006 and 2008, received 18 months probation and a $500 fine when she appeared in court in October.

She was originally charged on March 14 with aggravated sexual battery and solicitation of a minor for rape of a child, according to her arrest report.

As a condition of Gardner’s probation, she is required to attend Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous twice a week, have no contact with the victim and his family, and submit to drug testing.'