Yes, it's time again for our weekly chat - last week's was very productive, and the list of pro and anti male companies should hit the web site later today. Tonight, our topic will be strategies for promoting men's rights. What new and unorthodox methods need to
be tried in this arena? Are there any special tricks or techniques in
the traditional methods (letter writing, etc) which you feel helped to
get your voice heard? Join our discussion and learn how to maximize
the effectiveness of your activism! Click here to go to our chat page at 9:30 PM Eastern Time tonight.

There's an excellent article here at the Alberta Report about "a growing male mutiny against marriage." It turns out that men are becoming very aware of the ways they are treated unfairly with legal marriage, and are avoiding it like the plague. They look at several factors contributing to this including the comments of Greg Kershaw, founder of the father's group Fathers Are Capable Too (FACT). The article well worth bookmarking in my opinion.

Trudy W Schuett and an Anonymous User both sent in this essay from Lew Rockwell.com. Ilana Mercer directly examines the ways society denies that women have a violent nature and the double standards which perpetuate it. She also notes that "Women's aggression is different to that of men, which is why it so easy to misconstrue" and concludes, " the old stereotypes must be replaced with a nuanced understanding; one which recognizes that if women can match men in almost every way that is good and fine - then so can they harbor the potential to be as sinister as men."

Ned Holstein from Fathers and Families sent out an update on the public hearings on the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines, which are up for review. We reported on this earlier and included it in our Activism Projects page - thanks to everyone to participated! To read Ned's message, click Read More below. Apparently the first two meetings went extremely well.

Steve writes "In this article from HealthScoutNews, Adam Marcus reports that men who use the drug methamphetamine may have an increased risk for brain damage if their mothers abused that drug. New research shows the increased risk affects male laboratory mice, but does not affect female laboratory mice. Methamphetamine is a widely abused drug and is known by the slang names 'crank' 'ice,' and
'chalk.'"

A babysitter who allegedly had sex with an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old boy now claims in this article from The Salt Lake Tribune that the young boys forced her into it. A female judge has delayed the babysitter's sentencing so the woman can "undergo psychological counseling." Male defendants convicted of molesting and then blaming young girls are routinely sentenced to prison. But on Friday, 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis delayed Nelson's fate for 90 days, and ordered her to undergo a psychosexual evaluation by prison psychologists. "I need to know what happened here," Lewis said. Click Read More for information on contacting Judge Lewis.

This article from AskMen.com follows one man through his workday and social life as he details every ounce of discrimination he faces. This reads a bit like fiction, and it may be, but it is still an account of problems with which we all identify. It's depressing. And I think we've found another commercial to add to the list of male bashing companies we discussed during last week's chat: Radox Bath Salts. Update: Found a strikingly similar article here at bigpond.com. I don't know, now, if this is the same author, plagiarism, or spoof.

Fox News' regular PC Police feature offers a couple of stories of interest for men, including a quote from Julia Kristeva, the so-called matriarch of political correctness. "Kristeva now says she and her work have been misunderstood by groups that held her out as an icon of feminism and multiculturalism. She believes the group identity adopted by some feminist, gay and ethnic leaders is "totalitarian" and that freedom of the individual should take precedence over communitarianism; that political assertion of sexual, ethnic and religious identities eventually erodes democracy."

Christian Science Monitor ran this article about a growing Latino men's movement. This movement seems to have adopted the feminist notion that men are predatory and women and children are victims. While it is laudable that these men should want to become more in tune with their families, it is disconcerting to hear them say things like "most of us were beaten by our fathers."

The Portland Press Herald printed a story about controversy stirring over a registry of people who have been investigated for child abuse cases, which is routinely used for background checks by employers. Just recently the people who were in the registry no longer have to be contacted about it, and there are many people in it who have been wrongly accused for child abuse or neglect. The article can be read here.

This report on Excite News claims that prison inmates who are mentally ill often go untreated, and that the number of mentally ill people in prison is underestimated. It also says that female prisoners are treated at a higher rate for mental illness than their male counterparts. Anyone surprised?

cheddah sent in this AP article, which as the title states is about a woman who received 45 days in prison and must stop teaching for having sexual contact with two 17 year-old male students of hers. The teacher's lawyer was quoted as saying "[his client] was worried about being treated fairly by the courts because of her gender and the publicity surrounding the charges, but was satisfied with the outcome."

Kathleen Parker wrote a great article for TownHall.com in which she discusses the recent WI court decision barring a "deadbeat dad" from having any more children. While the idea makes sense on the surface, there is a lot more at stake when it comes to our civil rights, as Parker clearly points out. The ruling also reinforces a gender double standard, "This court ruling is just one more message that men are no-count predators while women are hapless victims. Women choose; men lose." And this is how it's been so far in the history of men's reproductive rights.

Ken sent me a few articles about a boy who died while attending a reform school/camp for troubled youths. These camps are often harshly physically abusive to children in an attempt to scare them out of their antisocial behavior. And of course, these camps are populated almost exclusively by boys, something not pointed out in any of these articles. A story from the New York Times (free registration required to read) can be read here, and there are two other articles from the Arizona Republic, article1 and article2.

Alan Carr has created a site and a movement idea called the International Men's Network. The idea is that the network grows by each participant finding two other men to join, and each "cell" of three men writes in protest or support of a particular cause each month. I think it's a neat idea. His web site was pretty hard for me to read, and I've been told he's had problems with some people's browsers but not others, so check it out and if you are having trouble reading it just e-mail Alan at pc006a0002@blueyonder.co.uk and I'm sure he'd be glad to explain.