Mensactivism.org is proud to announce a new feature for the site: an on-line chat page. The only requirement to participate is a web browser with Java enabled, no one even has to sign up for user accounts to use the chat room. Our first official chat session will be held on Thursday, July 5, starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time. The session will last for as long as people participate. We'll have weekly chats on Wednesday nights at the same time from then on (next Wednesday is July 4, hence the exception). On top of that, there will be another special announcement during next Thursday's chat session including some free giveaways!

Nightmist writes "This article on Excite News details new gene therapy trials which could turn protstate cancer cells into targets for anti-cancer drugs. The therapy involves inserting a modified virus directly into the cancer cells."

Trudy W Schuett writes "Marc Angelucci's short-but-sweet Letter to the Editor suggesting more equitable coverage of domestic violence issues appears in today's LATimes. Way to go, Marc!"

Nightmist writes "This article on Fox News gives little detail on the charges against Paula Poundstone, who has been arrested for "three counts of committing a lewd act on a girl under the age of 14 on May 19 and June 6, as well as endangering two other girls and two boys on June 6, Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said in a statement. She could face a maximum of 13 years and four months in prison if convicted of all charges." It is interesting to me that in most cases of child endangerment involving males, the charges and details of those charges are laid out in black and white in the story. Here (even though police reports are public record in most states) we are told the D.A. isn't releasing details... interesting."

Matthew writes "This is a story that I found at www.gendercide.org (a great site for unbiased international news on gender issues). The story is from BBC News and gives a brief history of the massacre. What the story fails to mention is that all the prisoners killed were men. The gender imbalance in the criminal justice system (all over the world) is an issue that doesn't get discussed as often as it should and when something like this happens (to men) the gender aspect has almost always been completely ignored. Part of the problem, I feel, is that organizations that pay the most attention to these issues (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Peace Brigades International, etc.) tend to have a feminist perspective. It would be beneficial to the people who depend on these organizations if more 'masculists' got involved with these organizations. On a final note I do think that it is to their credit that these organizations are beginning to progress to a more unbiased view of the world. It's just feels agonizingly slow to me."

Andrew sent me this disturbing article from Yahoo! News. It begins: " William Gregory spent eight and a half years in a Kentucky Prison for a rape he did not commit - leaving his son on state child support. But with his freedom came a twist straight out of Kafka: not only did he get no compensation, but the state then sued him for the child support it paid while he was in prison." Gregory was quoted as saying he was sleeping in the streets after being freed, and was given nothing to help get him back on his feet, despite the fact he was falsely imprisoned.

Marc Angelucci writes "The LA Times spit out yet another anti-male piece on DV from a purely male=perpetrator perspective. You can read it here. The title says it all: "Helping Boys Be Boys, Not Abusers: A group called Mothers and Adolescent Sons aims to break the cycle of violence that often stems from fathers." They just can't seem to get off their gender-profiling kick. If you can, please write them a few lines at letters@latimes.com with a name, address & phone no, even if out of state."

Trudy Schuett's DesertLight Journal, Volume 1, Number 6 has been released and can be read here. Trudy has also created a page where you can view archived past issues of the e-zine, which focuses on father's rights and domestic violence against men. Update: Trudy also had a letter printed recently in the Phoenix New Times decrying the abuse of restraining orders.

frank h sent me this story from the National Post. It's about the increasing sales of home DNA "paternity testing kits" in which tiny samples of genetic material are collected from the father and child and sent to a lab for testing. The company can then establish with certainty the paternity of the child. "although the test was aimed at men, the firm had been surprised at the number of women applying to find out who was the father of their baby...[The lab's director said]:"We make it clear that it's better if all parties are informed, but we do not insist."" This, to me, is what I find most disturbing. Genetic testing without consent seems very much like a violation of privacy rights to me.

Nightmist writes "This article on Excite News details how about half of African American men responding to a survey felt discriminated against by law enforcement. Notice that fewer black women reported feeling discriminated against, hinting that not only do some law enforcement officers racially profile, but they also profile by gender."

I'd like to thank everyone for being patient for the past five days in which Mensactivism.org was down for the system upgrade. From running out of space on my backup tapes to pulling my hair out trying to configure sendmail, to the lack of responsiveness from the DNS servers which direct the mensactivism.org domain to the correct server, it was a very stressful five days. But with new hardware, a less buggy version of the Slash web engine, and a fresh operating system, The Men's Activism News Network is now prepared for further expansion and some new ideas I've been working on. One of them is a weekly on-line chat session, which I'll release more details about this Friday. It's good to be back!

Nightmist writes "This editorial which ran in the Daily Illini and was reprinted on Excite News, offers some mainstream media support for building domestic violence shelters for men. It mentions the controversy over the numbers (battered women v. battered men), but then makes this well-stated point: "Whether there are 20,000 physically abused men or 20, they should have access to domestic-violence services. Family violence is harmful and wrong, no matter which gender is doling out the abuse.""

Nightmist writes "According to this article on Excite News, black men all over the country and poverty-stricken men of all races in the rural south are more likely to die of heart disease than their white or more affluent counterparts. From the article: "The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report on heart disease the results showed the need to reduce inequalities in social environments.""

Neil Steyskal writes "Today's Christian Science Monitor has a good letter about a very important issue: boys and schools. Read the letter here, titled "Let those kids move around!"" From the article: "When the education system doesn't meet the needs of boys or require them to endure its hardships for its promise, many boys learn that it is not for them. Instead of trying to direct boys (and girls) into a sedentary mold, and allowing large numbers of men to be marginalized in their social contribution, shouldn't we attempt to make society more people-friendly?" I thought this quote sounded particularly Warren Farrell-like. The letter makes some excellent points.

Bill Kuhl sent in some commentary on a recent report by the CBS Evening News: "Last night's broadcast of the CBS Evening News contained a segment on the law's handling of testimony by frontline health professionals in rape trials, especially "he said/she said" cases where the outcome hinges on whether the sex was consensual or not. The report stated that in three separate Virginia rape trials, testimony by sexual assault nurses who had treated the women alleging rape was thrown out..." Click on Read More to view the rest of his comments.