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