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 Barbara Kay: You’re male. You must be a pervert
In an interesting news item out of Britain, a man has received about £3,000 in costs and damages combined for sex discrimination by British Airways (BA). Mirko Fischer, 33, and his pregnant wife were on a London to Luxembourg flight in April 2009. Deciding she preferred the window, she exchanged her middle seat with her husband, thus seating him adjacent to a child travelling alone. A flight attendant, who later claimed ignorance of the fact that Mr. Fischer was with his wife, informed him that he must return to his original seat, as it was BA policy not to allow adult men to sit next to an unaccompanied minor. After some discussion, Mr. Fischer did ultimately return to his seat, unwilling to make a spectacle of himself, but felt “embarrassed, humiliated and angry.” For its part, BA conceded fault in not realizing Mr. Fischer was with his wife, but defended the general policy. A spokesman said, “We had 75,000 children fly with us last year and it is an issue we take very seriously.” Read a BBC News article on the story here.
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 Male Studies Conference - survey and call for papers
In her National Post op-ed "Male Studies: A proposed curriculum" on April 14th 2010, Canadian commentator Barbara Kay talked about the exciting new discipline of Male Studies, a historical first, launched recently at Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y., USA.
In order to help The Foundation for Male Studies with its grant requests and fund raising efforts, and to increase its support channels, the foundation has created a brief yet important survey on the need for Male Studies. Please take just a few minutes and provide us with your feedback by visiting http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9TH97BP .
The first official Call for Papers for the First Annual Conference on Male Studies to be held in October, 2010 at Wagner College on Staten Island, New York can be found at http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/37177 .
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Read more...
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The Good Men Project (USA)
The Good Men Foundation is another solid organization taking on what appears to be THE question for the times, What does it mean to be a good man in today's world? Their DVD takes up the very personal stories of 10 real men and the book contains, thirty-one essays by a broad range of men—rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, urban, rural, famous, ordinary—all writing about the challenges, obstacles, triumphs, failures, and defining moments they encounter. It's not often that the world at large gets an in-depth look at the intimate details of what makes a man, or group of men, tic. That's why their campaign is titled, The Good Men Project: Real Stories From the Front Lines of Modern Manhood. Collectively, the stories shared by these men are meant to help us define what it means to be a good man.
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Testosterone won't make you aggro: study
A new study challenges the common belief that testosterone causes aggression in humans and proposes instead that the hormone encourages status-seeking behaviour. The study involving 120 women also showed that folk wisdom about the effects of the sexual hormone is so strong that people behave more aggressively if believe they have been given a dose even if they have not. "It appears that it is not testosterone itself that induces aggressiveness, but rather the myth surrounding the hormone," says University of London economist Dr Michael Naef.
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 Stop attacking the gender gap
Julia Gillard and her fellow travellers are primed to use Labor’s job market reregulation to impose intrusive new concepts of “gender equality” on employers and the economy. They are frustrated that, despite impressive gains in female workforce participation over the past generation, men still earn more than women from paid work. But turning the gender pay gap into a target of public policy confronts several problems.
First, as the “Making it Fair” report notes, Australians do not share the longstanding “anger” of committee chairwoman and former union official Sharryn Jackson. They see pay equity as a “non-issue”. Nearly two-thirds of Australians “incorrectly” believe it is about paying men and women the same for doing the same job. They don’t share the frustration that some occupations remain “segmented” by gender. They accept that some women pass on promotions because they become more reluctant to put in long hours of work after starting a family.
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Boys face compulsory feminism programs in state schools across Victoria
Boys face compulsory feminism programs in state schools across Victoria in a major push to prevent violence against females. Possible classroom activities include students acting out scenes of sexual coercion after which students would suggest more appropriate behaviour. A VicHealth report for the state Education Department calls for teachers to be trained in gender, violence and sexual health issues so they would be comfortable discussing "taboo" issues.
It said feminist theories were best at explaining the link between gender power relations and violence against women, and must underpin the programs. But the authors of the "Respectful Relationships Education" report admitted there was considerable community hostility to feminism, even among teachers and students. Australian Family Association spokesman John Morrissey said boys were already getting feminised education due to the falling number of male teachers in schools. "I'm sceptical if boys will respond to it if it is dressed up in feminist language and ideology," he said. "Strident feminist propaganda won't wash with boys."
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‘Not all men are bad’ (South Africa)
In Orlando, Soweto, hundreds of men gathered to celebrate International Men’s Day. The men teamed up to promote gender equality and to emphasise that ‘not all men are dogs and bad people’.
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