Link here. Excerpt:

'The Initiation Ceremony

Manners soon learned that they were practicing for an initiation ceremony, a rite of passage that is all about enduring pain.

Elly Kipgogei, 19, remembers going through the ceremony at age 15.

First, he says, he had to crawl mostly naked through a tunnel of African stinging nettles. Then he was beaten on the bony part of the ankle, then his knuckles were squeezed together, and then the formic acid from the stinging nettle was wiped onto his genitals.

But all that was just warm-up; early one morning he was circumcised, with a sharp stick.

During this whole process — the crawling, the beatings and the cutting — Kipgogei was obliged to be absolutely stoical, unflinching.
...
Manners says that this enormous social pressure placed on your ability to endure pain is actually great training for a sport like running where "pushing through pain" is so fundamental to success.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last July, National Parents Organization agreed to serve as a founding member of “Two Homes: The International Platform on Shared Parenting.” This is an umbrella organization with representatives from fourteen countries in Europe and North America. Of these, National Parents Organization may be the only component group with a major grassroots presence. The other organizations consist primarily of child development experts, social scientists, psychologists and lawyers who wish to promote better lives for children through shared parenting after separation or divorce of the parents. Our Founder and Chairman of the Board, Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S., was asked to serve on the Scientific Committee of the new umbrella organization.'

Read about "Movember" at http://us.movember.com/ and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember. And, I'd like to say mea culpa for not giving the heads-up on Movember in time for readers to participate by securing sponsors, etc. But it's still just the start of November; if you are inclined, you can always grow your 'stache and when asked why, talk about "Movember". Excerpt from their Vision, Values, and Goals page:

"Campaign Strategy & Goals:
We will get men to grow moustaches and the community to support them by creating an innovative, fun and engaging annual Movember campaign that results in:

Article here. Excerpt:

'The entire month of October's broadcasting has been focused on the topic of Domestic/Relationship Violence and we are continuing this with a look into the deep silence of our society on the topic of MALE VICTIMS IN RELATIONSHIP/DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

Please join with Trish as she speaks with Author/Researcher Philip Paris about excellently written book, 'Men Cry Alone'. How is when a man has grown up being abused and then goes into a releationship/marriage which then becomes abusive? What about the situation where they have been together forever, suddenly his sweet wife is becoming violent because of her illness, Dimentia? How about the man whose wife has taken complete control of his world & his finances, but he cannot reach out in society, where is he to go, who will help him, who will listen to him, what about his children?????'

Article here. Excerpt:

'There will always be those who say the decline in male college enrollment is “not a big deal.” It is especially unfortunate when the president and founder of an economic and financial analysis firm who is regularly cited by the mainstream media says it.

According to his website, Dr. Ray Perryman is the founder of Perryman Group (an “economic and financial analysis firm”), is “cited by major media as ‘a world-class scholar,’ is ‘the most quoted man in Texas,’” and is a senior research fellow at the Institute of the University of Texas. He has also authored thousands of academic articles, trade articles, and presentations collectively.

Story here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Despite health benefits, routine circumcision in newborn males is on the decline in the U.S.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 79 percent of American men report being circumcised. Many parents of boys are opting out of the age-old tradition despite a recent study from the University of Illinois-Chicago that found a link between male circumcision and a decreased risk of HIV contraction.
...
Van Note and her fiancé, Grant Hammond, are part of a new generation of parents who don’t see a circumcision as a necessity; a movement helped along by educational programs put forth by the many ‘pro-intact’ advocacy groups currently popping up around the country.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has become the first filmmaker to win the Nordic Council’s Film Prize twice after The Hunt (Jagten) collected the $64,000 (DKK 350,000) award at a gala ceremony in Oslo’s Opera House.
...
The jury commented: “Through the allegory of The Hunt, Vinterberg’s film explores how the individual can be persecuted even in a well-meaning and well-functioning society, when it suddenly turns on one of its own.

“This remarkable story is carried by Mads Mikkelsen’s powerful performance, the striking score and haunting and beautiful imagery.”
...
The Hunt tells the story of a teacher (Mikkelsen) in a small provincial town whose life is turned upside-down after a young girl accuses him of abuse.'

---
Trailer on YouTube here.

From http://www.malecare.org/:

"What Went Wrong: Eliminating Mistakes in Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer" is a cancer research project sponsored by Malecare and led by John's Hopkins researcher Channing Paller. We only need $4,120 to complete our funding!

In 1988, about 20% of men with prostate cancer had metastatic disease on first presentation; today fewer than 4% first present with advanced disease.

Yet more than 9,000 men still present with metastatic prostate cancer every year, and black men are far more likely than whites to be among them. We believe that for all of these men, something truly did go wrong and that determining the reasons why requires stringent and diligent surveillance, examination, analysis, and response. If we can find the reasons, we may be able to help ALL prostate cancer patients.

From Intact America:

Earlier this month, more than fifty intactivists gathered outside Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio to protest its circumcision clamp study... and boy did we make an impact!

Link here. Excerpt:

'Men have been asked to join in the fight against female genital mutilation ( FGM) to eliminate the vice in communities still practising it.

Abdi Omar of the Kenya Pastoralist Network for Children noted that children continue to suffer as a result of FGM and early marriage.

“Since almost all pastoral communities practise FGM, the government must prioritise its elimination to advance children’s rights to education, health and development,” said Mr Omar.
...
“It can be arrested if men say they are not going to marry circumcised girls anymore,” he said, adding that only 34 per cent of children in arid north- eastern areas are in school.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'After investing as much as $250,000 in tuition, why would fathers watch proudly as their daughters graduate from college, and then expect them only to work for a year or two before exiting the workforce to raise a family?

Why would these same fathers feel that their daughters are not entitled, through hard work and accomplishment, to an equal opportunity of building a lucrative and rewarding career?

Why would the vast majority of husbands who have experienced economic downturns -- those who have suffered their own job loss or watched others struggle with unemployment -- discourage wives who want to work and believe that only one income is a wise long-term financial strategy?

Where are the men who feel that any company is justified to pay a young daughter less than her male counterpart for an entry-level job?

Which men think it's OK for their well-qualified wives to be passed over for a promotion or a raise because she's not one of the guys?

Article here. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) is on the rise. Some more suspicious people feel it is a code word for laziness for it often strikes people when they are confronted with the severtity of their work. It strikes women to men in a ratio of 6 to 1. First, I cannot help but think that if this "struck" men, we would be laughing stocks. Second, despite the fact that there are now seven national centers for women's diseases and none for men, that funding will be taken from men's disease research to research this. Finally, I cannot help but wonder if the suspicions are true: that some women in the traditionally male disciplines, just cannot hack it (not all, mind you, but some). For that is the news we would certainly here if the genders were reversed. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some 100 years after Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under a horse in the name of equality, isn't it perverse that those who would wish to subjugate me are the firebrand feminists who pit sister against sister, denying my view credence? How ironic, I thought, as I scrolled through my Twitter feed, that those who claim to champion women want to bully me for saying I don't believe in a cause they have bastardised.

As a university-educated woman who combines a fulfilling career as a journalist and broadcaster with my role as a homemaker for my husband and four children, I have better things to do than spend my days mirthlessly lamenting the lot of women, which is what most feminists seem to do.

Indeed, what the sour Lefty Twitterati won't admit is that all the great battles on which feminism was founded have been won - including political representation, and equality in education, the workplace and other areas of public life.

What's left is an ugly vacuum occupied by those who will only let you join the sisterhood if you agree to pander to a petty hunt for signs of oppression. Look no further than the campaign by The Women's Room, who railed against the Bank of England for the lack of women on our bank notes, citing this as evidence of discrimination.

Spectacularly pointless, surely? An emancipated, financially independent woman couldn't care less whether Jane Austen is emblazoned on a tenner. I don't: I just care that I'm being paid enough of them.
...
Today's feminists appear to be living behind a smoke screen of their own construction, blind to the reality of female achievement in the 21st century, when girls outperform boys at GCSE and in further education. Around 20 per cent more girls make it to university than boys.

Article here. Sounds like a headline from The Onion, but a lot are like that these days. Anyway, imagine if kids in a school were wearing "Nuts" bracelets and the school tried to nix it. Would there be a concerted push-back or a collective agreement that indeed, such was positively lewd? Well, we'll probably never know since the likelihood of school kids taking up the cause of testicular or prostate cancer research is pretty slim. After all-- men just ain't as important. Excerpt:

'EASTON, PA. — A free-speech case involving a Pennsylvania middle school principal, Breast Cancer Awareness Day and a pair of rubber "I (heart) Boobies!" bracelets may be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.