It was a very good year

As 2003 fades out to make room for the new year, a lot of us are asking ourselves where we're at, where we're going, and where we've been. Normally we ask those sorts of questions about our finances, our relationships, our career goals, etc. but this year I encourage everyone here to set aside a little time to review what all we've accomplished as men's activists as well. We've accomplished a lot, and I know most of us are looking forward to bigger and better things from the movement, but let's not forget to stop and reflect on what all we've accomplished already and give ourselves a well-earned pat on the back before charging ahead.



See *read more* to look back at men's activism in 2003.2003, at it's beginning, did not promise to be an extraordinary year for the men's rights movement. The creation of the New Hampshire Comission on the Status of Men was being fought tooth and nail by people who wanted to see it blocked. Providian Insurance had launched another of their horribly misandrous "voodoo" commercials. Boys were facing sexual harassment suits for making anatomically correct snowmen. And with talk of the war between the US and Iraq it seemed like the last thing people we're going to be interested in was men's issues.



Things weren't all bad however. More websites, yahoo groups, and internet dialogues were seriously focusing on men's issues. Mini-protests were conducted against the "Vagina Monologues". Martha Burk's protest, designed to shame Augusta, instead proved that people are now willing to stand up to feminist social pressures, even ridiculing them. And articles telling the real story of domestic violence were becoming more commonplace in mainstream sources then ever before. The Status of Women Canada decided something needed to be done. That something, they decided, was to create a report lambasting the men's movement, categorizing men's activists as "hate crime" perpetrators and to drive them off the net silencing them for good.



Whether it was a result of this attempt at censorship or not we can only speculate, but for the rest of the year men's activists were more vocal than ever before in our letters, protests, internet activities, and any other way we could think of, and it hasn't shown any signs of stopping. And we've been more successful than ever before. Here is a list of some of the major men's activists accomplishments of 2003.

Martha Burk's protest showed the impotence of feminism.

Glenn Sacks started the "His Side" radio show, now syndicated in multiple cities.

Gordon Clay opened the first Men's Issues Library.

A Paternity Fraud bill was passed in California.

Dozens of new websites were created focusing on men's issues.

The New Hampshire Comission on the Status of Men went into operation depite the opposition.

Tom Leykis took a stand and mentioned Kobe Bryant's accuser's name, Kate Faber, on the air.

Several celebrities spoke out about men's issues including Mike Ditka and Bob Geldof.

More and more, men's rights concerns were being taken seriously by various mainstream media publications.

Warren Farrell became the first men's rights gubernatorial candidate.

Fathers 4 Justice organized several protests which brought major news, most notably David Chick's Spiderman Protest and the two Santa Clause protests, one of which drew 200 men's activists!

The "Boys are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them" t-shirts were removed from many stores.



Feel free to add on anything that I missed because I'm sure there's a lot I did, but one thing is for certain, it was a very good year!

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