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Claims of bias against women in academic science have been greatly exaggerated. Meanwhile, men are becoming the second sex in American higher education.In 2006 the National Academy of Sciences released Beyond Bias And Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering, which found “pervasive unexamined gender bias” against women in academic science. Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration cabinet secretary, chaired the committee that wrote the report. When she spoke at a congressional hearing in October 2007, she warned that strong measures would be needed to improve the “hostile climate” women face in university science. This “crisis,”...

Researchers found that men preferred the shape of ordinary women, equivalent to dress size 14, than so-called super-attractive models, according to a study that compared the body shapes of ordinary women, Playboy centrefolds, models from the 1920s and 1990s and glamour girls. Professor Rob Brooks at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues, asked 100 male students to judge the attractiveness of 201 line drawings of female torsos with different hip, waist and shoulder measurements.

THE economic crisis is sweeping away men's jobs at a faster rate than women's in the US, heralding the onset of a "mancession". New unemployment figures have revealed the biggest gap in jobless rates between men and women for more than half a century. The shifting pattern is redefining gender roles and challenging the status of men as family breadwinners. Tony Hawkins, 48, was laid off by his truck manufacturing plant in North Carolina after 22 years. "You could kind of feel it coming, but you think, well, you'll be OK, when all of a sudden, boom!" His wife, Johnnie,...

Boys who have a so-called "warrior gene" are more likely to join gangs and also more likely to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, a new study finds. "While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a 'low-activity 3-repeat allele,' play a significant role," said biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver of Florida State University. In 2006, the controversial warrior gene was implicated in the violence of the indigenous Maori people in New Zealand, a claim that Maori leaders dismissed. But it's no...

A man's chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if their bride is between 15 and 17 years their junior. The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 per cent if they marry a woman seven to nine years younger. The study at Germany's Max Planck Institute also found that men marrying older women are more likely to die early. The results suggest that women do not experience the same benefits of marrying a toy boy or a sugar daddy. Wives with husbands older or younger by between seven and nine years increase their chances of dying...

A group of University of Chicago students think it's time the campus focused more on its men. A third-year student from Lake Bluff has formed Men in Power, a student organization that promises to help men get ahead professionally. But the group's emergence has been controversial, with some critics charging that its premise is misogynistic. Others say it's about time men are championed, noting that recent job losses hit men harder and that women earn far more bachelor's and master's degrees than do men. "It's an enormous disparity now," said Warren Farrell, author of "The Myth of Male Power" and...

The US recession has opened up the biggest gap between male and female unemployment rates since records began in 1948, as men bear the brunt of the economy’s contraction. Men have lost almost 80 per cent of the 5.1m jobs that have gone in the US since the recession started, pushing the male unemployment rate to 8.8 per cent. The female jobless rate has hit 7 per cent. This a dramatic reversal of the trend over the past few years, where the rates of male and female unemployment barely differed, at about 5 per cent. It also means that women...

Studies Cast Doubt on Usefulness of Common Test for Disease Men are being urged to carefully consider risks before undergoing prostate cancer screening in the wake of two large, long-awaited studies that did not produce convincing evidence that routine testing significantly reduces the chance of dying from the disease. The PSA blood test, which millions of men undergo each year, did not lower the death toll from the disease in the first decade of a U.S. government-funded study involving more than 76,000 men, researchers reported yesterday. The second study, released simultaneously, was a European trial involving more than 162,000 men......

Turning on the Tears: Should Men Cry? Controversial 'Bachelor' Sparks Debate on Men Tearing Up By ANDREA CANNING and LEE FERRAN March 4, 2009 — The final tear-soaked episode of "The Bachelor" was remarkable for the star's dumping the winning bachelorette for the runner-up, but what really has people talking is the endless waterworks -- and the tears didn't come from the women. Jason Mesnick is likely the weepiest bachelor ever. He sloshed through the final episode, tearing up at least a dozen times, raising the question: When is it OK for men to cry? Mesnick's crying has endeared...

"Bad boys" have a bad boy gene. What's more, that same gene makes them more popular than the proverbial Mr. Nice Guy. Hello James Dean, so long Alan Alda

LONDON: Are men becoming the weaker sex? Well, it seems so from a study which has found evidence that pollution is affecting evolution of males by damaging genitals and their ability to father offspring. And, according to the study, the male gender is in danger as a host of common chemicals is feminising the males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including human beings. Those identified as gender-benders as they interfere with hormones in males include phthalates, used widely in food wrapping, cosmetics and baby powders among other applications; flame retardants in household furniture and electrical...

6. Something has happened to the generic American male accent. Maybe it is urbanization; perhaps it is now an affectation to sound precise and caring with a patina of intellectual authority; perhaps it is the fashion culture of the metrosexual; maybe it is the influence of the gay community in arts and popular culture. Maybe the ubiquitous new intonation comes from the scarcity of salty old jobs in construction, farming, or fishing. But increasingly to meet a young American male about 25 is to hear a particular nasal stress, a much higher tone than one heard 40 years ago, and,...

The sweeping Democratic electoral victory has left many conservative Americans concerned about their children's future.  With the federal government, educational establishment, entertainment industry and media thoroughly in the hands of the left, disturbing questions surface concerning the kinds of values our children will begin to accept as "mainstream."  Matters get worse when one considers what might become forced indoctrination in "community service" organizations as a prerequisite for college admission. These concerns were on my mind during a recent outing with my young children to a local playground.  While I watched my kids try to scale walls, climb ropes, and navigate...

Are males becoming an endangered species? That's the question scientists and researchers have been pondering since alarming trends in male fertility rates, birth defects and disorders began emerging around the world. More and more boys are being born with genital defects and are suffering from learning disabilities, autism and Tourette's syndrome, among other disorders. Male infertility rates are on the rise and the quality of an average man's sperm is declining, according to some studies. But perhaps the most disconcerting of all trends is the growing gender imbalance in many parts of heavily industrialized nations, where the births of baby...

Boys? Doing fine. Men? Not so much. By Josh Kahn, posted September 17, 2008 Category * Community Cheryl Miller does an effective job of taking down a pair of juvenile sounding “save the men” books, but I disagree with her basic premise. Men do have major cultural issues right now and ironically this is causing women as many problems as men. Boys need a lot of guidance to develop into something other than barbaric, lazy man-children. Ever spend time around little boys? They like destroying things, playing borderline sadistic games and making the sickest jokes they can think of. Later,...

More men suffering 'Manorexia', health experts warn as size zero pressure hits males By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 10:22 AM on 17th September 2008 There are signs that anorexia is increasing at a faster rate among men than women as the beauty and fashion industry puts a greater focus on males, an eating disorder expert has warned. In recent years designers have promoted sizezero chic for both sexes, with waif-like men in slim-fit clothes parading the catwalks of London Fashion Week. Professor Hubert Lacey, a psychiatric consultant at St George's Hospital in Tooting and the Capio Nightingale clinic...

A second national conference on the negative effects of abortion on men has been held, and more may be scheduled.  The conference's purpose explores the revelation that men experience, according to LifeNews.com, profound regret and grief after an involvement in an abortion decision. Vicki Thorn of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing believes consideration and psychological care for post-abortive fathers is long overdue. "It's time we begin speaking about it, and that was my intent in being able to organize these two conferences -- that we begin to speak through the veil of science about the fact that there's more...

It's "booze o'clock" on a recent Thursday night on New York's Fire Island—a rolling, inexact hour when 10 vacationing guys decide to kick off their nightly binge. Between tequila shots and pulls of beer, the sun-baked twentysomethings roar on the deck of their rented beach house, sounding the depths of maledom: sexual conquests, mastery of fire ("I'll grill that potato salad") and escape from the monotony of girlfriends and work. "I like starting things," says one guy, as if to sum up his generation. "Then it gets boring." The banter may seem like an open dish-session between friends, but masculine...

DALLAS (ABP)—Men are disappearing from the church. According to the Barna Research Group, there are 11 million to 13 million more American women who are born again than there are born-again men. While nine out of 10 senior pastors are men, a majority of regular church attenders are women. Not only are women the majority of born-again American Christians, the Barna Group reports, “Women are the backbone of the Christian congregations in America.” Perhaps indicative of women’s sense of spirituality, 41 percent of women said they have set specific spiritual goals they hope to accomplish in the coming year or...

It may not be inclusive or politically correct, but the unabashed aim of The Grove Church in Peoria, IL, is to attract one hitherto unreached demographic: men. Inspired by David Murrow's Why Men Hate Going To Church, Murrow and Pastor Mark Doebler freely admit they are inventing a new style of worship. "We're not going after low-hanging fruit," said Murrow. "We're building a ladder to reach men, the fruit most churches ignore." The first couple of rungs were hammered together in Peoria, IL, on a September weekend when the Murrow conducted a Church for Men Summit in the city and...