The Death of Manliness at the University of Wyoming

This article is an excellent example of the hypocrisy evident in Universities. Not just the University of Wyoming but pretty much all of them.  The feminist mythology of women as still a minority and victim still prevails.MJM

February 03, 2010 By Ashley Thorne

Wyoming is one of only five states in America with more men than women. Apparently, however, the University of Wyoming is biased against men.

 

As a student at Monterey Peninsula College, Marine Lance Corporal Aaron Graham took a course called “Literature By and About Men,” taught by English professor and NAS member David Clemens. The course, on “depictions of maleness, manhood, and masculinity in essays, films, short stories, and poetry either by men or about men,” focused on a variety of topics, such as “theories of sex or gender difference, the nature of boyhood, the experience of fatherhood and the experience of sons, men and war, male codes, misandry and machismo, competition and teamwork, the man of letters, love and marriage, and manly aging, manly death.” 

“Manly” is a lonely word on college campuses today. Although recovering the lost art of manliness is gaining interest in the nation at large, colleges and universities do their best to stifle it. Most institutions offer degrees in women’s studies but not men’s studies, and they have women’s centers but not men’s centers. The University of Wyoming is an example. Its women’s center website answers a frequently asked question, “Why isn’t there a men’s center?”: 

Few schools have men's centers because it's generally recognized that men already have full access to educational and employment opportunities as required by law. A large body of research exists which clearly documents gender-based discrimination against women. Traditionally, American and world history have focused primarily on the achievements and contributions of men and have largely excluded those of women. 

The argument is that the men have had their day and it’s now the women’s turn to dominate. But the phrase “men already have full access to educational and employment opportunities as required by law” is disingenuous. Women do not yet have full access to education and employment as required by law? Really? Last year, women comprised 46.5% of the workforce and 57.2% of higher education enrollment in the United States. 

Colleges seem to want to keep women back, to make them retain victim and minority status when they are no longer a minority. Ironically, in doing so, they victimize and invite discrimination against men. This idea appears to have been the reason behind one category of U Wyoming’s required courses for English majors. Students pursuing an English degree must earn three credit hours in “Emerging fields and approaches” courses. These courses include “Non-Western Women Writers,” “Gender: Humanities Focus,” “African American Novel,” “American Indian Literature,” Studies in Chicano Folklore,” “Studies in Ethnic Literature,” and “Women’s Studies.”  

When Aaron Graham, an English major, transferred to the University of Wyoming this year, he requested to transfer credit from the “Literature By and About Men” course at Monterey Peninsula College to fulfill the English department requirement. A few days later he received the petition back. The faculty committee representative, Leslie Rush, denied the request. In the space given for her to provide a reason, she wrote simply, “List II courses should be on literature by and about women, not men” (see refused petition). 

The common procedure for such requests is that colleges with degree requirements bend them to suit the spirit of the requirement, not the exact letter. UW wanted English students to take a gender-focused literature course, and that was just what Graham had to offer. It hoped to empower minorities facing discrimination, but by making this closed-minded, set-in-its-ways decision, UW ended up positioning men as a minority facing discrimination. Graham is currently planning to appeal the rejection. 

Back in 2004, the University of California rejected the transferability of the same course, saying that it had a “narrow focus” and that there was “no comparable course in lower division” at any of the University of California’s campuses. At the time, Professor Clemens noted on the NAS online forum: 

While I don't question U.C.'s woeful admission that not even one campus offers a course in literature by and about men, U.C. does accept, for lower division transfer from community colleges, such English courses as "Images of Women in Western Literature" from Saddleback...and "Literature By and About Women" from Shasta, among dozens of other clearly gender specific literature surveys. 

By what process can U.C. analysts find "Literature By and About Men" not comparable to "Literature By and About Women"? Apparently, U.C. sees comparability as defined only by gender, not by level or type of course, thereby applying a standard of gender discrimination that produces an inequitable, politicized curriculum and differential treatment based solely on sex. 

Clemens’ appeals to the UC administration were ignored, but after NAS and NoIndoctrination.org drew blogosphere attention to the situation, the university voluntarily reversed its decision. Clemens’ course was then and may still be the only one in California higher education to focus on literature by and about men.  

When held up to the light of common sense, the University of California couldn’t justify its biased rejection of the course. Let’s help the University of Wyoming to reach the same conclusion. After all, if you can’t find manliness in Wyoming, where can you find it? 
* * *
Correction: This article originally stated in error that Leslie Rush is the University of Wyoming English Department Chair. Professor Rush is in fact a Professor of English Education Adolescent Literacy.

http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=1161

Ireland establishes Parental Alienation Group

 

 

 

Group in call to aid family harmony

 

 A new support group for parents and children alienated from each other has called for 100 mothers or fathers affected by the problem to come forward.

PAS Ireland said it wants to carry out world leading research into the damage done by manipulative parents who abuse children by turning them against current or ex-partners.

The group, which will be addressed on Monday by family lawyer and Government child protection tsar Geoffrey Shannon, claimed children are severely damaged by the tactic.

Donnacha Murphy, PAS Ireland organiser, said it can happen within marriages as well as between separated or divorced couples.

"It is a psychological state that children suffer from when one parent is the target and manipulated," he said.

"Unless the syndrome is dealt with it becomes part of the child's lifestyle it manifests in their own life and they tend to treat their own children the same way.

"Children find it hard to trust, express themselves and stay in relationships. They tend to live in two different worlds."

The group, which is being formally launched on Monday, claims children end up psychologically damaged by one parent manipulating them and turning them against the other parent.

It is estimated children affected by the tactic on average miss out on 12 years of a relationship with a parent.

A US study also claimed the syndrome is passed on from one generation to the next.

A conference to mark the launch of the PAS Ireland society is being held in the Red Cow Inn in Dublin on Monday and also to mark international parental alienation awareness day.

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/group-in-call-to-aid-family-harmony-2151576.html

PARENTAL ALIENATION AWARENESS DAY: Proclamation City of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS Parents could cause children to suffer from Parental Alienation;
and
 

WHEREAS Some of the behaviours of Parental Alienation interfere with
parental communication and time together; and
 

WHEREAS These behaviours can interfere with a loving parent and child bond,
depriving children of their right to love and be loved by both
parents; and
 

WHEREAS Awareness, education and understanding, play an important role in
preventing the effects of Parental Alienation:
 

NOW THEREFORE, I, John Rowswell, by virtue of the power vested in me as
Mayor of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, do hereby proclaim and pronounce April
25, 2010 "PARENTAL ALIENATION AWARENESS DAY" in the City of Sault
Ste. Marie.  

Signed,

John Rowswell, MAYOR

5th Annual Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Friday, April 23, 2010

Press Statement

5^th Annual Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Sunday, April 25^th marks the 5^th Anniversary of Parental Alienation Awareness Day. This day is marked on calendars around the globe to educate and bring awareness to the terrible abuse children suffer when they are alienated from a parent.

As an affiliate of the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization (PAAO), the Canadian Equal Parenting Council (CEPC) marks this day as a time to measure progress, socially and politically. The CEPC is a coalition of 42 family rights organizations with the common mission to secure every child's right to be equally parented when the relationship between the father and the mother breaks down.

While PAAO promotes awareness and support, the Canadian Equal Parenting Council lobbies for political change in how the laws deal with families in turmoil. A Joint press conference was held by the two organizations on Friday, April 23^rd at 10:00am at Queen's Park, Ontario with special guests Jill Egizii, author of The Look of Love, a novel about parental alienation and federal MP Jim Karygiannis.

"Education is key, but it must be backed up by action. There have been some very note worthy events in the past year and some public figures deserve credit for what they are doing right," says Kris Titus, Co-President of the Canadian Equal Parenting Council.

In Ontario, 130 family court judges and many mental health providers were trained and educated in how to recognize and deal with parental alienation.

The province also introduced their annual Family Day to reflect the benefits to society of healthy children and healthy families, and the Office of the Children's Lawyer has participated in coordinating workshops and conferences about dealing with high conflict divorce including parental alienation in whole or in part.

Federally, the Canadian Equal Parenting Council recognizes MP Jim Karygiannis for the introduction of motion M-267 in the House of Commons that reads as follows: "That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize Parental Alienation Awareness Day and designate April 25 as National Parental Alienation Awareness Day in order to raise awareness of the magnitude of this problem and its devastating effect on children."

MP Maurice Vellacott is honored for his Private Member Bill C-422 to amend the Divorce Act to protect parent/child relationships through presumptive equal parenting. The bill also encourages judges to take into consideration if there is manipulation or influence on the child when making custody decisions and encourages dispute resolution instead of ongoing conflict in family law cases.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: Kris Titus, Co-President – Email: Co-President_K_Titus@canadianepc.com, 905-987-5777
     Brian Ludmer, VP Legislative Affairs – Email: brian@ludmerlaw.ca, 416-781-0334

 

Déclaration à la presse
5e édition de la Journée de sensibilisation à l'aliénation parentale

Dimanche 25 avril marque le 5e anniversaire de la Journée de sensibilisation à l'aliénation parentale. Cette journée est marquée sur les calendriers du monde entier pour éduquer et sensibiliser la population sur les terribles abus dont souffrent les enfants quand ils sont aliénés d'un parent.

En tant que société affiliée de l'Organisation de sensibilisation à l'aliénation parentale (PAAO), le Conseil de l'égalité parentale du Canada (CEPC) marque ce jour pour évaluer les progrès accomplis, socialement et politiquement. Le CEPC est une coalition de 42 organisations oeuvrant pour les droits de la famille avec la mission d'assurer le droit à tout enfant d'être élevé également par ses deux parents lorsque la relation entre le père et la mère éclate.

Bien que PAAO encourage la sensibilisation et le soutien, le Conseil de l'égalité parentale du Canada intervient pour un changement politique dans la manière dont les lois traitent les familles dans la tourmente. Une conférence de presse conjointe a été tenue par les deux organisations, le vendredi 23 avril à 10h00 à Queen's Park, en Ontario, avec des invités spéciaux Jill Egizii, auteur de « The Look of Love », un roman sur l'aliénation parentale et le député fédéral Jim Karygiannis.

"L'éducation est essentielle, mais elle doit être soutenue par action. Il y a eu quelques événements dignes de mention dans l'année écoulée et des personnalités publiques méritent d'être saluées pour ce qu'ils sont en train de faire », dit Kris Titus, Co-présidente du Conseil de l'égalité parentale du Canada.

En Ontario, 130 juges des tribunaux de la famille et de nombreux dispensateurs de soins en santé mentale ont été formés et instruits dans la façon de reconnaître et de faire face à l'aliénation parentale.

La province a également présenté la Journée de la famille, un événement annuel pour promouvoir les avantages pour la société d'avoir des enfants et des familles en bonne santé, et l' « Office of the Children's Lawyer » a participé à la coordination des ateliers et des conférences sur la conduite à tenir lorsque les gens sont aux prises avec un divorce très conflictuel, y compris l'aliénation parentale, en tout ou en partie.

Au fédéral, le Conseil de l'égalité parentale du Canada reconnaît l'initiative du député Jim Karygiannis pour la présentation de la motion M-267 à la Chambre des communes qui se lit comme suit: «Que, de l'avis de la Chambre, le gouvernement devrait reconnaître la Journée de sensibilisation d'aliénation parentale et désigner Avril 25 comme Journée nationale de sensibilisation à l'aliénation parentale afin d'accroître la conscience sur l'ampleur de ce problème et ses effets dévastateurs sur les enfants. "

Le député Maurice Vellacott est honoré pour son projet de loi privé C-422 modifiant la Loi sur le divorce afin de protéger les relations parent / enfant grâce à la présomption égalité parentale. Le projet de loi encourage également les juges à prendre en considération s'il y a manipulation ou d'influence sur l'enfant lors de décisions sur la garde et encourage le règlement hors-cour des différends au lieu de recourir aux tribunaux en droit de la famille.

-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Contact: Titus Kris, Co-Président - Email: Co-President_K_Titus@canadianepc.com, 905-987-5777
Brian Ludmer, vice-président des affaires législatives - Email: brian@ludmerlaw.ca, 416-781-0334

PARENTAL ALIENATION AWARENESS DAY: 'It's a sad situation when your children are turned against you in family court'

Very good work by Sharon and Paulette. Congratulations! Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of Paulette's climb to the top of the Cookstown Mall Tower to bring greater awareness of Parental Alienation.

Group targets divorce fallout PARENTAL ALIENATION AWARENESS DAY: 'It's a sad situation when your children are turned against you in family court' Posted 7 hours ago Sharon Mawhinney hates to see her children upset. Unfortunately, as a result of her divorce, that's exactly what has happened.  But the Barrie mother of four said her children aren't the only ones hurting. The process and the mud-slinging have been hard on her, too.   "I'm a victim of parental alienation, and two of my children have been alienated," said Mawhinney, a member of Parental Alienation Awareness Ontario.   "My stage of alienation is severe and it's a sad situation when your children are turned against you in family court."   Mawhinney's personal experiences within family court motivated her to create an awareness event --  Parental Alienation Awareness Day (PAAD) -- to speak out against parental alienation and the emotional strain divorce puts on children.   The city's first PAAD event takes place Sunday at Centennial Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.   "A lot of people don't take the high road in family court, and the children get caught in the middle," she said.  "This event is about creating a public awareness about stopping this alienation of parents and kids. I'm fighting for parents' and childrens' rights.   "We're also encouraging people to speak up when they hear a parent bad-mouthing their ex-partner in front of their children," Mawhinney said. "Parents shouldn't be putting their hatred and their attitudes about each other on the kids."   Dr. Ken Marek couldn't agree more. The Barrie clinical psychologist said often when families split up, children will be affected on some level.   "There's often an incredible amount of emotion that comes with divorce and the kids do get caught up in it all or they become collateral damage," said Marek, who specializes in individual, couple and family counselling.   "The reality is, as much as divorcing parents attempt to make it an easy transition, it's always going to affect the kids somehow.   "Children often blame themselves for their parents splitting up, or try to think of ways to get them back together, or they'll start acting up," he added. "The more communication and civilized action there is between the parents, the children will adjust faster."   Mawhinney said she received approval from Barrie Mayor Dave Aspden to proclaim Sunday as Parental Alienation Awareness Day in Barrie.   The event is open to parents, children, grandparents and friends affected by alienation through divorce.   An information table will be set up with relevant books for sale, and children will be invited to blow 'bubbles of love' at noon during the event.   The bubbles symbolize a child's freedom to love both divorced parents, without feeling like they must chose a side, she said.   A similar event will be held in Alliston on Sunday, at 11:30 a.m. at Riverdale Park, near Stevenson Memorial Hospital.   Organizer Paulette MacDonald has been promoting the day for the past five years, and this year's event will include testimonials, singing and those same 'bubbles of love', which will be blown at noon all across Ontario and the world at these events.   "Those bubbles signify the ever rising love of our children and you can't contain the bubbles, just like they can't contain their love for their family," MacDonald said. "We're letting children know it's OK to love both parents." MacDonald said even through her own divorce, that was the message she gave her children.  "I'm a divorced parent, and we decided to put our children first and didn't set foot inside a family court room," she said. "I just assumed that's the way all parents did it, to keep their children from getting caught up in everything."   After meeting her current partner in 2005, MacDonald was introduced to the more common way of divorce settlements.   "My partner's ex-wife began dragging them, and myself and my children, through the whole process," she said. "That's when we were all introduced to parental alienation and the emotional impact it has on children.   "Parental alienation usually occurs when there's an ugly divorce," MacDonald added.  MacDonald felt so strongly about this issue last year, that she scaled the water tower of the Cookstown Outlet Mall, dressed in a Batman costume, and hung a flying banner promoting parental alienation awareness.   "I also held a pre-event last year, before April 25 and we had a bunch of people come out to celebrate," she said.   The goal of both MacDonald and Mawhinney is to end this type of alienation among families, and have family court laws changed to prevent this from happening.   "The biggest problem is not enough people know this is happening in their own communities," she said. "It's going to take us years to get family laws changed, but we have to start somewhere." MacDonald said character lessons at Simcoe County schools are helping prevent this problem.   "The school boards are doing a great job with character education," she said. "I want to see that bumped up."   http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2548713 ncruickshank @ thebarrieexaminer.com

Copyright © 2010 The Barrie Examiner

Female newlyweds flock to join cheaters club

The phenomena of wives cheating is not new as the author would have you believe. Every heterosexual relationship has two, sometimes more, parties. The women involved are often married and they cheat on about the same par as men.

They are far more discreet though and this service gives them that further outlet. Wives initiate 75% of divorces in Canada, a significant indicator they grow out of love far more frequently than the husband. If it isn't a new Barby Doll as a child its a new partner or more as an adult plus all the entitlements of sole physical custody (90%), child support, 50% of all property and often alimony  Under those circumstances its best for dad to let her cheat and keep his fingers crossed she doesn't move in with the guy permanently..MJM

 

 

 

Infidelity service Ashley Madison says the honeymoon is over fast for GTA newlyweds, particularly women, as they hunt affairs

Published On Wed Apr 07 2010

Ashley Madison has seen female newlywed membership in the GTA jump from 3,184 to 12,442 in the past year - an almost 300 per cent increase.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Nicole  Baute, Living Reporter

Susan first dipped her toe into the murky cyberpool of infidelity two years ago, when she was bored at home on a day off from  her part-time fitness job. Her husband, a business executive seven years  her senior, was working, as usual.

Sexually frustrated and a little lonely, the 25-year-old started Googling “sex club” and “swingers club” before stumbling upon AshleyMadison.com, advertised as a “discreet dating service” for people in relationships. Like most Torontonians, Susan, who did not want her real name used, heard about it before.

Three months and more than a 1,000 profiles later, she sat at the bar at a Hooters restaurant with Michael, a 23-year-old with a 31-year-old wife. “He understood where I was coming from and we had the same expectations,” she says. After about two hours, they got a hotel room.

That was what she was really looking for.

According to Ashley Madison statistics, the number of Toronto-area female newlyweds on their site has skyrocketed in the past year. In March 2009, there were 3,184 women who had been married for three years or less actively using the service. A year later, there were 12,442.

Since he founded the service in 2001, it was clear to CEO Noel Biderman that attracting men would be easy. But he and his team thought their female clients would be desperate housewives or dedicated mistresses looking for “lifestyles and fun and sex and gifts.” They deliberately targeted women with everything from the name of the brand to the colour scheme of its advertising was designed to attract aspiring female cheaters.

They soon realized they had overlooked a robust and active demographic: “These were young women who, from their self-description ... were only married a year or two and seemed to really be questioning the institution, their next step, entering into parenthood, staying with  that partner,” Biderman says. They called it their “newlywed marketplace.”

So much for those happy early years — the seven-year itch has shrunk to three or four and wives, not just husbands, are increasingly stepping up and sneaking out.

Infidelity is tricky for researchers to quantify because surveys largely rely on self-reporting, and people are inclined to lie according  to the medium (online, on the phone or in person). And there is no one definition for infidelity — sometimes emotional and online affairs, and committed couples who are not married are  included, other times not.

“There’s an overall increase in female infidelity in general,” says Ruth Houston, a New York-based infidelity expert. Houston’s research began more than 16 years ago, after she unintentionally recorded her husband’s phone conversations with three other women while working as a journalist from their home.


Houston is convinced we’re “in the midst of an infidelity epidemic” and goes by the often-cited stat that  infidelity by women has increased  by 50 per cent in the last 10 years. But the U.S. National Opinion Research Center report on American Sexual Behaviour offers much smaller figures: In 2004, 20.5 per cent of men and 11.7 per cent of women admitted to cheating on their spouses, a change from 21.3 and 10 per
cent in 1991.

Houston believes these numbers are deceptively low and that women are definitely catching up to men. She says today’s women are much more exposed to possible partners than their mothers and grandmothers. They’re out working and on the Internet, the top two places to cook up an affair.

“I just think that women are stronger and coming into themselves and following their own path,” says Toronto relationship therapist Nancy Ross.

She says infidelity is often what brings couples to seek therapy and that, increasingly, men are initiating therapy.

Biderman thinks female newlyweds are looking for more than a fling —  that many of them are sizing up their husbands and questioning whether they really want to start a family with him. And, in a pragmatic move not unlike job hunting, they might even want to line up a new partner before leaving their current one.

“As more and more people get married later and later in life, does it really surprise you that a 30-year-old woman who just got married a year or two ago, but has a very robust career and is very independent, is really going to tolerate the same kind of failed expectations that someone two generations removed from her (did)?” he asks.

Or maybe it’s the digital era that is making young people so eager to move on, Biderman says. After all, past and future lovers are all just a mouse click away.

Susan, now 27, says she loves her husband and does not plan to leave him. More than that, she’s convinced Ashley Madison has helped her  marriage: she’s made many friends who understand her, both male and female, and she’s now had four very satisfying affairs.

“I come home smiling after and I’m just fulfilled, which kind of cuts up my resentment toward my husband, because I just feel better — physically, emotionally, everything.”

Infidelity
Business is booming for Ashley Madison
Ashley Madison membership is growing madly, which founder Noel Biderman ties, at least in part, to the economy. “Martial discord is very closely tied to economic issues,” Biderman  says. “If you’re having challenges around your family finances, it’s  really hard to all of a sudden turn on the intimacy dial and go upstairs  and make passionate love to one another.”


Membership figures as of March 2010:
In the GTA:
159,611 members (up from 82,959 a year ago)
111,202 male
48,409 female

All of Canada, U.S., U.K. and Australia
5,410,347 members (up from 2,802,664 a year ago)
3,898,468 male
1,511,879 female


http://www.thestar.com/living/article/791851--female-newlyweds-flock-to-join-cheaters-club#article

Fathers 4 Justice UK leads charge for Family Law reform in the UK election

The move by the Conservatives  is very good news even from across the pond in Canada. It's gratifying to see the O'Connors back in the advocacy campaign for families and children's rights to have both parents in their lives.

The only question remains why did they have  Facebook sites shut down as noted in the comments here and what are the motives behind this late move. If you read the Facebook page O'Connor has running on F4J you would think he was God's gift to both marketing and children.MJM

Tory backing for family law change

12:33pm Saturday 10th April 2010

THE reformed Hampshire-based Fathers 4 Justice campaign group has won Conservative backing for a change to family law.

The Tories have agreed a ten-point action plan which includes legal backing for shared child contact between separated parents.

They are promising to include the family law reforms in their general election manifesto next week.
Nadine O’Connor, wife of Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O’Connor, has taken over the running of the controversial organisation which became known for its high profile stunts which saw costume-wearing dads scale Buckingham Palace, disrupt Parliament and take over a live National Lottery broadcast.

Nadine, who lives in Romsey, said: “This is the game-changing announcement we have been working towards.

“We look forward to working with the Conservative Party on ensuring this commitment becomes a reality for the thousands of children and families whose lives are blighted by the family courts.”


Romsey and Southampton North Conservative candidate Caroline Nokes is backing the move.
She said: “Families really are the bedrock of our community. I welcome the announcement and look forward to the ten points being implemented after the election.”

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/politics/election_2010/romsey_southampton_north/news/8092306.Tory_backing_for_family_law_change/

Small Step for men ~ 'Male studies' the answer to overcoming 'lace curtain,' scholars say

The men's studies Profs quoted in this article are decidedly pro third wave feminist and are sycophants towing the 3rd wave line that men are abusers and women perpetual victims. They are pro-gender studies  in terms of males but their focus is gay males. If you visit their web site you will find them decidedly pro-gay, pro feminist but only on their terms.  Masculinity for heterosexual males is not on their agenda.

The Profs who arranged this first historic seminar are very brave and have received copious criticism from feminists who see their entitlement based agenda as a zero sum game.  In Ontario boys in JK to 12 seldom  get a male teacher and may be feminized by the time they get out of high school.  In the age group 20-30 female teachers outnumber men by over 4-1 and the trend is toward greater disparity. Boys are suffering from this and need a different teaching regime to deal with their energy not medication like Ritalin or more punishment.

Here are a few stats. Men are outnumbered in degrees grant by about 60%-40%, the federal and provincial public service is 55% female and with their emphasis on minorities white males are less inclined to be favoured, health care is dominated by females, social work is 95% female and this includes child protection, the latter are aligning themselves with the VAW feminist camp which will further marginalize dads, moms get 90% sole physical custody, dad is marginalized as a visitor but pays through the nose, but the boyfriend can move in for 24/7 access to the kids raising the chances they will be harmed. Single moms are the most likely to kill or harm the child. Its time for a new paradigm dealing with equality of gender not Zero Sum identity politics.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Small step for men

'Male studies' the answer to overcoming 'lace curtain,' scholars say

Janet Whitman,  National Post 

 

Retrodisk

Worried about "the declining state of today's male," a group of leading scholars gathered at the bucolic campus here this week for a mini-conference to tackle the problem.
But before the panellists could begin their discussion on the increasing powerlessness many men and boys feel, the symposium got pushed from its planned venue to make way for the announcement of a new men's basketball coach.

Miles Groth, a Wagner professor specializing in the psychology of being male and the event's host, shook his head.

"We planned this thing three months ago," he said on the sidelines of the alternative site as the conference was gearing up to go live online to participants in five different continents.

The ironic indignity might just be the first of many slights and obstacles as the academics attempt to establish what they say will be a first for modern man: a male studies program. Their hope is to begin offering degrees in the new academic discipline at a major research university -- perhaps a Harvard, a Columbia, a Stanford --within the next couple of years.

When word of the conference started spreading on the Internet last week, some observers wondered whether it was an April Fool's joke. After all, isn't most of what people read in newspapers, watch on the news and study at university about men?

But Wagner's Prof. Groth said that view fails to appreciate the well-documented decline of the state of men and boys, particularly those under the age of 35, over the past 15 to 18 years.

"It's just now beginning to surface in the job market, in academe and in the offices of counsellors and psychologists," he said. "[Male studies] is not to look at a few men who are CEOs and have a tremendous amount of money. I'm talking about what Australians call a bloke. Today's five-and six-year-old boys into their 20s just don't know who they're supposed to be."

While not exactly an endangered species, men are in danger of becoming an underclass, the panel of PhDs specializing in boys and men warned.

In the latest recession, 82% of pink slips handed out in the United States went to men, and a good chunk of those jobs won't be coming back. Boys and young men commit suicide at a rate of more than four times that of girls and young women. Boys are far more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and put on Ritalin. In the United States, women outlive men by an average of seven years. In Eastern Europe the gap is 15 years. At universities in the United States and Canada, women make up about 60% of the student population, men only 40%, a dramatic reversal from the early days of feminism.

Amid this growing divide between the sexes, 90% of the academic resources for gender studies are devoted to women, said Prof. Edward Stephens, chairman of the newly launched Foundation for Male Studies, which aims to raise US$2-million or more to endow a chair for the discipline at a major university.

"What are the ethics of devoting 90% of academic resources to one gender?" he asked the gathering and the roughly 250 participants listening in via videoconference. "What are the unintended consequences of the failure of our academic institutions to consider the 21st century needs of males?"

As a young psychiatrist, Prof. Stephens gave his daughter a gender-neutral name -- Jarret -- so that she might have an easier time breaking through the so-called glass ceiling many women encounter as they try to advance in the workplace.

Now, he said, there's a new phenomenon: "the lace ceiling" or "the lace curtain."

"We as men and males can see through it, but we can't get through it," he said.

Christina Hoff Sommers, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men, told the story of how her son went to a camp where the kids were asked to go off each on his or her own into the desert with a pencil, a notebook, a candle and matches to write a journal about their feelings.

The girls did exactly as they were told, while the boys went in a pack and built a bonfire with the notebooks and pencils.

The creative-writing sensitivity trainer "thought they were sociopaths," Ms. Hoff Sommers said. "I'm concerned that male-averse attitude is widespread in the United States, that we're in a society where masculinity is politically incorrect."

Enter the need for male studies.

Only in its infancy, the proposed field of study has already attracted some dissention -- from men. Specifically, from professors in "men's studies," an academic subfield that started emerging in the 1980s as part of women's and gender studies programs.

Robert Heasley, president of the American Men's Studies Association, rejected an invitation to sit on the panel because of what he viewed as a combative attitude toward feminism. "If what they're presenting -- that feminism has hurt men and oppressed boys -- had some data to support it might be fine," he said in an interview. "It's not like men don't have challenges, but they tend to present it in a way that says feminism has done this to men. Men's rights are like having whites' rights."

Panellist Rocco "Chip" Capraro, director of Men's Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., said vast teaching and research about men already is underway and ought to remain "pro-feminist" so the reality of sexism is acknowledged.

The rest of the panel scoffed at both notions. They argued men's studies is generally limited to sociology and filtered through a feminist lens. The upshot: Boys can't necessarily just be boys. Instead, they argued, boys and men are considered to be inadequate girls and women.

The scholars of boys and men behind the proposed male studies program said they have no interest in replicating women's studies or men's studies programs.

Unlike men's studies programs, male studies -- assuming it ever gets off the ground -- will be offered as a major course of study. It will not only include sociology, but also take into account biology, evolution, history, literature, anthropology, education, law, medicine and psychology.

The program will have to do a certain amount of bashing of some strains of feminism, particularly the ideological kind, said Paul Nathanson, a professor of religious studies at McGill who cowrote books on misandry -- the hatred of boys and men.

"The fact is that much of this misandry is being generated by feminists," he said. "Not all feminists. [But] there are some fundamental features of ideological feminism over the last 30 or 40 years that we need to question."
Even egalitarian feminism can unwittingly deny men the possibility of establishing a healthy collective identify because, by saying men and women are equal, the implication is that men and women should be the same, Prof. Nathanson said.

Women's studies programs got their start in the late 1960s as part of the second wave of feminist activism. But they've been on the wane in the past several years. Some programs such as Guelph University's have shut down altogether, while many others have changed their names to add more inclusive words such as "gender," "sexuality," and "social justice."

The male studies advocates on the panel said that women's studies programs and women's institutes are still going strong and can pose a danger to men and boys because they often teach that women live in a state of siege.

One of the first things teenagers get when they leave home to go to college is a rape seminar, said Lionel Tiger, a Montreal native who is the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University in New Jersey and author of The Decline of Males and Men in Groups. "Male students are informed right at the outset that they are predatory and dangerous organisms, and women are informed that they are potential victims."

He described feminism as "a well-meaning, highly successful, very colorful denigration of maleness as a force, as a phenomenon."

Ms. Hoff Sommers, the author of The War Against Boys, said although she's critical of the feminist establishment, male studies proponents could learn a lot from its members.

When girls had a serious deficit in math, for instance, feminists galvanized around the problem and test scores in the subject strengthened.

By imitating feminists, in the same way, boys could become stronger in reading and writing, she said. "But we don't have to imitate the ideological extremes in denigrating the opposite sex."

Meghan Carboni, a senior psychology major with a minor in gender studies at Wagner, said she found the college's gender studies program too focused on females.

Wagner offers only one male studies class: the psychology of men, taught by Prof. Groth.
"It's the best course I've ever taken. That's what made me realize what's being left out," Ms. Carboni said. "Everyone loved the course. They didn't realize how big an issue it was."

Prof. Stephens, the Male Studies Foundation chairman, said the group plans to wait until it has a US$2-million cheque in hand before approaching colleges about having a chair endowed for the program and a faculty established.

"Two million is on the low side. I've been thinking bigger numbers because the work to be done is so immense," he said in an interview. "What's happening right now because of this lace ceiling is you can't even get a hearing."

In the meantime, the foundation is putting together a marketing plan and will hold its first major conference in early October at the New York Academy of Medicine. The group will introduce Male Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal next year.

jwhitman@nationalpost.com

© 2010 The National Post Company. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2785510#

One of the Toronto Red Star's Feminists - Delacourt does Analysis: More woman trouble for Stephen Harper and his cabinet

The Toronto Red Star's Delacourt, below, is bringing out the I am woman, therefore here is my victim card  whining about the demise of Helena Guergis, the proven incompetent Minister for Feminist Canada. Guergis was less than stellar as a Secretary of State but still got bumped up to Junior Minister of female entitlements (AKA Status of Women Canada - SOW Canada). Recall her performance in Mexico when another woman, a criminal, was in a Mexican jail, and the MSM jumped all over it as though being a female and criminal in Mexico was somehow a great sin. Did we ever  see such a concerted campaign for a convicted criminal man in Mexico?  Guergis did not visit the woman saying if she did that she would have to visit everyone. Go figure the logic but the MSM had a martyr in this jailed and criminally convicted woman and would not let go.

She was an affirmative action appointment, as are others, and some just cannot function very well at all.  When affirmative action starts at the grass roots and many more qualified people are overlooked it will become pronounced if these appointees are given actual responsibility. Guergis is good eye candy and female but clearly she is not able to operate at the necessary level.  She has proven her inability to judge well by getting tied up with the sleazy Rahim Jaffer, the smooth talking name dropper and high flyer wannabe who got himself mixed up with some criminal  types whilst bragging about his ability to get in the door of the PMO and the Prime minister.

They are both shallow and rely on charm and looks which can't earn you a living in the real world on a continuous basis without substance unless it is under the table.

Delacourt admits the Conservatives have more females in Cabinet proportional to their membership but still whines, forgetting that Conservative male Ministers are subject to greater criticism on an ongoing basis.

She keeps the victim mentality of women alive as though they are no more than children.

The far left  socialist party  in Canada, ironically called the New Democratic Party, copied from the American left wing party, had this to say as quoted by Delacourt, an apparent socialist sycophant.

"On Friday, the New Democrats' critic on women's issues, Irene Mathyssen, issued a news release to argue that the Guergis "fiasco" is proof of the Conservatives' lack of commitment to women. "

This translated means, the sky is falling and women are again the victims of the cruel tyrants in the Conservative Party. This despite the over representation of women in Cabinet. She too brings out the victim card and the upshot is she implores we want no damn Junior Minister for women - we want a full blown bigger, more comprehensive, more expensive, and more entitlements for a single gender.  It is, as always, a zero sum game.

There is no Status of Men, Canada and there is no dedicated fund to assist men with their 4 times higher rate of suicide, their 8% chance of getting physical custody of children while moms get it in 90% of cases through social engineering by lawyers and family court judges, (many of the latter appointed by this same Conservative government.)  Men live 5 years less than women, have far fewer health care treatment/screening tests available under socialized medicine,  are falling further behind in university placements (its approaching 60% women getting degrees and 40% males, and through the misandry evident in the feminist camp (supported by the tax dollars from the same Conservative Government) fewer men are available to teach our sons. In Ontario female teachers in the 20-30 year old category outnumber men over 4-1. Part of the reason for this is the feminist branding of men as abusers and potential pedophiles. Boys, as a result, are highly feminized, seldom ever encountering a male teacher, and because their energy levels are higher than girls punished far more frequently for being "boys."

Delacourt further whines, "or the harsh discipline of strong performers who err." What harsh discipline for strong performers. Is she alluding that Guergis is one such person. If so Delacourt is seeing the landscape through an ideological and gender imposed prism. What is she smoking, I wonder.

Here is an interesting but all too frequent occurrence as opined by Delacourt: "There was no discernible outcry from women's groups on Friday, for instance, about Guergis's departure. It's doubtful that she'll be missed. Just last month, while she was at the United Nations boasting of progress Canada had made on women's issues, strong women's advocates in Canada were sending withering, dissenting reports to the UN to undercut her message.

These "strong" women's advocates are Marxist professional feminists living off, in most cases, the largess of Canada's taxpayers. I call them dead beat feminists who do not have - nor could they likely ever - land a real job in the private sector. The self same SOW Canada from which Guergis was ejected likely funds the seditious Marxists whining about their victim hood.

This has a purpose as the professional feminists at SOW Canada use these sycophants to ensure they are not cut further in their budgets. Self funded perpetuation. Give money to the professional whiners to ensure the government giving the money is castigated for not doing enough. Pretty simple, pretty seditious but pretty effective. The Marxist feminists are not stupid but they are miscreants and mendacious.MJM

Published On Sat Apr 10 2010

Susan Delacourt


Ottawa Bureau


OTTAWA–It isn't easy to be a female cabinet minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government.

Just ask Helena Guergis, ousted as minister of state for the status of women on Friday, and also ejected from the Conservative caucus – a particularly severe form of punishment, unused to date against a Harper cabinet minister.

Or ask Rona Ambrose, the public works minister who will take overGuergis's responsibilities – as part of her slow rehabilitation after adisastrous run as environment minister in Harper's first year of power. Or Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, who was demoted from her natural resources ministry in the last shuffle after brutal gaffes surrounding missing documents and awkward, recorded conversations about "sexy"isotope crises.

Even the quietly competent and experienced Diane Ablonczy,relegated seemingly forever to junior status within Harper's cabinet,has been tagged as troublesome – losing her right to announce tourism programs last summer after she posed for pictures with drag queens while handing over funds to Toronto's Gay Pride parade.

Trouble, when it comes to Harper's government, often appears tocome in female form, whether it's the promotion of women who disappoint, or the harsh discipline of strong performers who err.

Maxime Bernier lost his job as foreign affairs minister in 2008 because of his attachment to Julie Couillard, an ex-girlfriend with alleged ties to biker gangs in Quebec. After weeks of controversy over possible security concerns in the Bernier-Couillard relationship, the minister finally lost his job when Couillard went public with the news that he'd left secret documents at her apartment.

Bernier was allowed to remain in caucus, however – a privilege not extended Friday to Guergis, which prompted speculation about what could be worse than a potential national-security breach.

Or is it simply a case of different discipline for different genders?

Harper's Conservatives have long been wrestling with suggestions that they are female-unfriendly. Belinda Stronach's explosive defection from the Conservatives to the Liberal cabinet in 2005 may have been an
early warning that this leader would have trouble with prominent females in his circle.

The recent political storm over the place of family planning and abortion in promoting maternal health – prompting a rare public reproach from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – only further sealed an
impression that the Harper government is more preoccupied with hockey and winding down the gun registry than appealing to women and their concerns

(Ed note: Much is made of Clinton's undiplomatic talk but she could not get such measures through her own congress. It is Left Wing hyperbole.)


.Among parties in Parliament, the Conservatives have the smallest percentage of women in their caucus – just 16 per cent – but Harper has made sure women are overrepresented in cabinet, filling 27 per cent of the ministers' positions with women from that small pool.

Yet apart from Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, women are not in charge of the departments the Conservative government considers a priority, getting shuffled instead around the second-rung posts, junior
ministries or ministries of state.

Guergis's old department and Ambrose's new responsibility – status of women – has always stood on shaky ground as well with women's groups around the country. Ambrose comes to the job with a few more
credentials, having cut her teeth as a staunch volunteer for women's shelters in Edmonton before entering political life.

Yet the Conservatives' decisions to abandon a national child-care program, as well as cutting advocacy dollars to women's organizations and the equality mandate of status of women, has not helped any minister
in that post build strong constituencies of support across Canada.

There was no discernible outcry from women's groups on Friday, for instance, about Guergis's departure. It's doubtful that she'll be missed.

Just last month, while she was at the United Nations boasting of progress Canada had made on women's issues, strong women's advocates in Canada were sending withering, dissenting reports to the UN to undercut her message.

On Friday, the New Democrats' critic on women's issues, Irene Mathyssen, issued a news release to argue that the Guergis "fiasco" is proof of the Conservatives' lack of commitment to women.

"This government has proven through its actions, time and again,that women in Canada simply do not matter," says Mathyssen. She argues that by giving the status of women job to Ambrose, it has been further
downgraded to a part-time concern.


"We need a competent, capable, dedicated minister responsible for the status of women; not a junior minister and not `postscript' in someone else's portfolio."


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/793273--analysis-more-woman-trouble-for-stephen-harper-and-his-cabinet

The Canadian Father Involvement Initiative - April newsletter

April 2010 Web version | Unsubscribe | Subscribe | Forward to a friend

Seeking Award Nominations FII-ON is looking for people who have made a difference for father involvement - either as an individual, an agency, or in the corporate world.  The first annual Fernand Lozier Award for Excellence in Father Involvement Practice will be given out mid-June.  Do you know a person or a program or a business who has made a difference for dads in your community or across the country?  We want to honour them!  You can find more details on our website.  Deadline for submissions is May 15, 2010. Read more >>> First Nations Poster Series - reprint There is a new series of First Nations posters for sale.  Many people have been looking for these that show aboriginal fathers with their children.  If you are interested,  please go to our store. See them all here >>> Pass this newsletter on to your networks or other people you think may be interested in what FII-ON is doing.  Encourage them to sign up for our newsletter.

FII-ON Appoints Provincial Coordinator This is an important step for FII-ON as we work to stay focused on supporting fathers. Read more>>> Dads ConferencesTwo unique opportunities for fathers in two communities are coming up.  Check out these one-day conferences for dads: Windsor, ON The Greater Toronto Area Training Opportunities Interested in taking part in some training event FII-ON is part of?  Find out where we will be over the next couple of months. Read more >>>

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In OZ ~ Class Action in Federal Court - Domestic Violence laws inciting Perjury and False Allegations

 

Media Release: Class Action in Hobart’s Federal Court.

Monday 12 April, 10.00am

In an unprecedented Legal action against the State Government of Tasmania the noted Constitutional Counsel, Dr. John Walsh of Brannagh will represent a large and growing number of families, men, women and children who have been victimised by the unconscionable Tasmanian Family Violence Act of 2004.

Introduced by the former Socialist-Feminist Attorney General Judy Jackson, the Act encourages the incarceration of innocent men in Risdon Prison and women in Mary Hutchinson Women's Prison on a simple unsubstantiated accusation, without evidence and without bail. Unfortunately, it is men who are in the majority who are arrested and released without conviction when their cases come before the Courts, having served unwarranted Remand time based on perjury.

The current legislation is causing the most severe long-term psychological damage to our children, shatters families, destroys reputations, careers and businesses and leads to the increase in the male suicide rate (which is 8 deaths per day in Australia, minimum) as well as demolishes the family unit.  Tasmania is now the suicide capitol of Australia.

J.A.I.L – Juries against Illegal Laws – are demanding the overthrow of the Family Violence Act of 2004 as Unconstitutional and seeks damages of $200 million to be paid to the sufferers of this draconian illegal legislation. In addition to Australian Constitutional issues there are issues with the Separation of Powers, Illegal Police Powers, presumption of innocence and a fair trial. The Act is also contrary to The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Sex Discrimination Act.

This contemptible legislation conflicts with the Constitution of Australia and with the fundamental rights of all Australians.

The divorce industry is now worth a staggering $6 Billion dollars a year to the legal fraternity and their single expert witness sycophant supporters and they will fight tooth and nail to ensure that legislation of this type remains irregardless to the cost to the “Little Man” and the destruction of the family unit.

Mr. Ray Escobar, the Associations President, will be in attendance at the Court with Dr Walsh of Brannagh and a group of representative claimants and supporters.

A peaceful demonstration will be held on the Courthouse steps at 9.30 to 10.30am. Superman will be in attendance. We would urge those who really want to seek justice to support our Association.
Traffic in Davey Street will not be interfered with by protesters.

 “Save Our Families”

 Kindest Regards,
 For further details please contact:
 
Ray Escobar
President
166 Henry Street
Launceston
Tasmania 7250
Phone: 03 63 434173
Email: rjescobar1@bigpond.com
Web Site: www.jailtasmania.com

In Michigan ~ Deny visitation? You could lose your license(s)

By SCOTT AIKEN - H-P Staff Writer

Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010 1:09 PM EDT

ST. JOSEPH - A parent who refuses or neglects to allow an ex-spouse to spend time with their children could lose his or her driver's or occupational licenses.

A new state law allows judges to suspend those licenses, as well as hunting and fishing licenses, for violations of court-ordered parenting time.

Laws that go into effect this month also allow a court to order a parent's car immobilized by "booting" for such violations.

Tom Watson, director of Berrien County Friend of the Court office, said the provisions are among nine new laws enacted in late 2009 pertaining to children of divorced or separated parents.

The Friend of the Court office is responsible for making recommendations to Berrien County Trial Court about child support, custody and parenting time arrangements. The office also enforces court orders for those matters.

Speaking to Berrien County commissioners Thursday, Watson said Michigan is one of a handful of states that require parents who divorce or don't live together to allow former spouses to have designated time with their children.

The times are spelled out in court orders, and for violations, judges now have the discretion to suspend licenses and "boot" vehicles.

License reinstatement requires payment of a $45 fee and a certificate from the FOC stating that the parent is in compliance with the court order.

Other law changes

Another change in the law reduces the maximum income withholding for child support from 65 percent to 50 percent of a payer's net disposable income.

Legislation also eliminated an automatic assessment of surcharges for unpaid child support. Starting Jan. 1, 2011, courts will have the authority to assess surcharges on a case-by-case basis if there's a finding of willful noncompliance with a court order.

Watson said a law that went into effect in 1996 assessed an 8 percent surcharge twice a year to any unpaid support.

The idea was to give non-custodial parents an incentive to pay support, Watson said, "but it's buried people."

The surcharge amount was reduced in 2006 to tie it to the five-year average of interest rates on treasury notes.

Aside from the impact on individual payers, Watson said, the high interest rate and frequent compounding created a huge statewide total of IOU money that is unlikely to ever be paid.

At the end of 2009, the statewide total of unpaid child support was more than $9 billion, and half of the amount is surcharges. Surcharges totaled $250 million in 2009 alone.

Many people who pay court-ordered child support earn low wages and, for them, the surcharges are particularly burdensome.

Watson said 54 percent of child support payers in Michigan report income of less than $10,000 annually. They account for 77 percent of the total past due support payments.
saiken@TheH-P.com.



http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2010/03/28/local_news/1307403.txt

Law allows judges to suspend driver's, occupational, even hunting and fishing licenses for violating court-ordered visitation

Copyright © 2010 - Herald Palladium

From the BBC ~ Who Needs Fathers? For the Sake of the Kids

A major series to mark 20 years since the passing of the Children  Act, investigates whether its key principle is being adhered to - that  in family breakdown and divorce, the welfare of the child is paramount.



One in three British children have parents who are separated, and  it's their relationship with the absent parent that's the key factor in  their long-term well being. The first film follows two families, one  locked in a long battle in the Family Court, and the other determined to  stay out of court and manage the split themselves. The film explores  the impact of separation on children's lives and how decisions made in  court play out in already troubled relationships.





Episode 1  Part 1 of 6

Each one is approximately 10 minutes.












Part 2













Part 3













Part 4













Part 5











Part 6