Free Republic

The headline from The Washington Post cele brates yet another milestone: "University of Virginia picks its first female president." Meantime, the data continues to mount that our educational system is massively failing one gender: boys. In a new book, "Why Boys Fail," Richard Whitmire points to a study that tracked every graduate of the Boston public schools in 2007. For every 167 women in a four-year college, there were only 100 men. Gender even beat race as a predictor of college attendance: Black women were 5 percentage points more likely than white men to be in college. And it's not...

November 16, 2009 Payback Time: Why Right-Wing Men Rush to Palin's Defense Eleanor Clift ItÂ’s nothing new when liberal women complain about sexism, but when conservative men take up the banner, calling NEWSWEEK sexist for portraying Sarah Palin on the cover in her jogging clothes, that catches my attention. Why do right-wing men rush to SarahÂ’s side to defend her? My theory is that this is payback time. TheyÂ’ve been called sexist and racist, and subjected to media ridicule of their allegedly retro views. Palin is their way to push back against the elites that have marginalized them. For the...

Automotive 1 | Handle a blowout “Instead of hitting the brakes, maintain your speed,” says Eric Espinosa, executive director of the Maryland-based National Institute of Vehicle Dynamics. Sudden changes of speed can compromise what structural integrity the tire may still have. Steer gently for the same reason. With things fully under control, slow gradually and pull over to the shoulder.

Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturising cream.The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminising male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it....

EL PASO, Texas -- The Sun City has many things to offer, but according to one online magazine, handsome men isn't one of them. Total Beauty.com ranked El Paso No. 1 for the ugliest guys in the country. "I don't think I'm ugly, no I don't," said Corey Keith of northeast El Paso. But the magazine didn't judge men by looks alone. Editors included physical fitness and education. In the article it said, “Nearly 15 percent of the dudes in this Lone Star City have less than a 9th grade education. The city also suffers from a notably high rate...

As a scientist claims modern athletes are weaklings, evidence has been forward that our male ancestors were not only faster, stronger and fitter, even their womenfolk would have wiped the floor with today's emasculated men. That's the central claim of Manthropology, a new book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister. In the book, subtitled The Science Of The Inadequate Modern Male, McAllister presents evidence that pre-historic Australian Aborigines could easily have outsprinted even Usain Bolt, today's fastest man on Earth. The basis of his findings? A set of 20,000-year-old preserved human footprints discovered in the Outback. They belonged to a party...

LONDON -- Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100- and 200-meter record-holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions. Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood. Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle. These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled "Manthropology" and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male". "If you're reading...

Estrogen – from artificial contraception pills, consumed daily by tens of millions of women – is making its way through sewage treatment plants and severely pollutes our waterways with chilling consequences. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reacted to an August report that emissions from coal-fired power plants have led to widespread mercury pollution in our rivers and streams by saying: "this science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation's waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers." Who, after all, wants toxic levels of mercury in our rivers? But mercury is not...

A reader wrote in asking me why most men are "fascinated" with redheads. In this instance, I think "fascinated" is a nice way of saying "obsessed." She admitted to being a redhead, and, therefore, the object of such ardor. Columnist suggests attraction to redheads may be because they are a genetic rarity. She's asked these men why they are so drawn to the crimson-haired, and the best she ever got out of them was "Redheads iz just hawt, yo!" This is true, but it is not the whole truth. I wouldn't say most men love redheads. A sizable majority, sure....

Every time I write about how the modern culture seems dead-set on destroying the confidence of America's little boys, I am swamped with e-mail. It seems that everyone with a son or grandson has a story to tell about how manhood and chivalry are under attack. Last week I heard from a dad, Bill, who echoes the sentiments of many: "The boys are getting emasculated and wimpy/passive as they're now intimidated by girls due to fear of sex harassment charges and pro-female/anti male societal/educational tilts." Sadly, he's right. As a mom of two sons and a youth leader I have...

Ponca City, We love you writes "The Telegraph reports that men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive. This leads to speculation that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks. Psychologists at Radboud University in The Netherlands carried out the study after one of them was so struck on impressing an attractive woman he had never...

Men lose their minds speaking to pretty women Talking to an attractive woman really can make a man lose his mind, according to a new study. Pat Hagan 03 Sep 2009 The research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive. Researchers who carried out the study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, think the reason may be that men use up so much of their brain function or...

COLUMNGame Over, Man?The Big Guy’s Guide to Guydomby Les Sillars Dear Big Guy, Dude!!!! We are so totally BUSTED!! It started last night. I was chillin’ with the guys, you know, watching some porn, playing a little poker, drinking some brews. And then Ms. Wet Blanket comes in and says we should turn it down a little. Well, like any Guy, I told her where to go, and Mom totally freaked out on us. We were in her freakin’ house, in her freakin’ living room, she shouldn’t have to put up with this at 3 a.m., what was that on her...

Middle-aged men who strongly idealize masculinity are almost 50 percent less likely than other men to seek preventative healthcare services, according to a study—the first population-based analysis of men's masculinity beliefs and preventative healthcare compliance—to be presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. "This research strongly suggests that deep-seated masculinity beliefs are one core cause of men's poor health, inasmuch as they reduce compliance with recommended preventative health services," said Kristen W. Springer, the study's primary investigator. Springer is an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, as well as a...

A study from the University of Bristol in England shows that men with short legs are at increased risk for heart attacks. Men with short legs have higher blood levels of triglycerides, lower blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks and are more likely to store fat in their bellies, signs of not responding adequately to insulin, that causes late-onset diabetes. The authors feel that something that happened before a man was born caused both his short legs and his insulin resistance. Women who do not get enough to eat during the first three months of...

When I snapped out of my left wing trance last year, I was lost in space. I had no conservative friends and was clueless about web sites and books. I had heard something vaguely about Talk Radio. So I scanned my AM dial and found Michael Savage. (It took several months, and a chat with a rather bemused new friend, before I even realized there were other hosts as well.) Being a lifelong liberal, I'd never heard anybody like Savage in my life. He yelled; he called people "vermin." He was unbridled masculinity, not the touchy feeling kind I was...

Scientists have long suspected that the sex chromosome that only males carry is deteriorating and could disappear entirely within a few million years, but until now, no one has understood the evolutionary processes that control this chromosome's demise. Now, a pair of Penn State scientists has discovered that this sex chromosome, the Y chromosome, has evolved at a much more rapid pace than its partner chromosome, the X chromosome, which both males and females carry. This rapid evolution of the Y chromosome has led to a dramatic loss of genes on the Y chromosome at a rate that, if maintained,...

What is a mancession, you ask? It's a recession that hurts men much more than women, and we are allegedly in the worst mancession in recent history. Eighty percent of job losses in the last two years were among men, said AEI scholar Christina Hoff Summers, and it could get worse. Here some graphs provided by Mark Perry, an economist from the University of Michigan who coined the term mancession that, with any luck, is not long for our world. Unfortunately this trend doesn't look to be reversing itself any time soon. How do we explain this? The decline in...

When does a boy become a man? The answer goes far beyond biology and chronological age...

A "man-cession." That's what some economists are starting to call it. Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men. Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan, characterizes the recession as a "downturn" for women but a "catastrophe" for men. Men are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis because they predominate in manufacturing and construction, the hardest-hit sectors, which have lost more than 3 million jobs since December 2007. Women, by contrast, are a majority in recession-resistant fields such as education and health care,...