Men

Men who have lost jobs due to the recession may discover their domestic roles are shifting, a study finds. Researchers conducted interviews with 20 unemployed men to see what impact losing their jobs had on their roles as fathers, husbands, partners and providers. While many were devastated by their loss of jobs and income, they found ways to cope and survive, using various strategies. One shift seen by the researchers was the men's attitude toward the work their wives and girlfriends did. Twelve of the men in the study, presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Assn.

I was truly moved by "Boys to Men" (by Camille Peri, Dec. 20) on the Omega Boys Club. Jack Jacqua and Joe Marshall have put together a program that addresses a problem apparent to many. We should all pay attention as the nuclear family continues to disintegrate. DIANA LAMB Rowland Height s

I think the July 14 column by Bill Boyarsky ("GOP Could Use a Road Map for Abortion Issue") was very good. He addressed some of the abortion issues related to the upcoming election. However, I think there is an issue that he should have mentioned. Probably more than 90% of the anti-abortionists (a more accurate term than pro-life) are men, or women who are under the control of men. As a man, I will never impose my will on a woman when it is an issue that affects her body or her life.

This observation won't startle a lot of you, but when it comes to watching television, men are idiots. Programmers at the networks, at least, have reason to think so, as they try to satisfy a creature with the attention span of a flea at a dog show. To them, men are a source of nagging frustration, seldom committing to programs that don't feature touchdowns, explosions, a person being mauled by a wild beast, flatulence-related humor or Pamela Anderson in skimpy attire.

Are men fast becoming obsolete? Are women seizing the reins of power in the nation, becoming the major breadwinners and decision-makers? Are women naturally suited for the new economy while old-fashioned males thrash about, clueless? Today, the idea that men are fading and women rising frames the latest scary story of the sexes in newspapers, magazines, on the Web and in bestselling books. Hanna Rosin writes in "The End of Men" that the U.S is fast becoming a "middle-class matriarchy" as women become the major breadwinners.

Xeni Jardin would like to have a word with the New York Times. “Men invented the Internet,” the paper's David Streitfeld wrote in a Saturday story about sexism in Silicon Valley. The article, at its core, was about the “group of 21st-century men who may be hard at work building the 22nd century but, when it comes to dealing with women in the workplace, are stuck firmly in the caveman era - or at least in the 1950s.” Jardin, the iconoclastic co-editor of the blogging hive known as Boing Boing, took issue with Streitfeld's opening assertion.

It's a "he-cession" out there and, man, it's brutal. Today's government employment report is expected to bring bad news about job losses in a tough economy. The pain will be worse, however, for one gender more than the other. To a much greater extent than in past recessions, men are bearing the brunt. In December 2007, when the economy started tanking, unemployment ran nearly even at 4.4% for men and 4.3% for women. In February, that tally had shot up to 8.8% for men and 7.

A request by American women's skiing star Lindsey Vonn to compete in a men's World Cup downhill race has been rejected by the sport's governing body. The International Skiing Federation council met Saturday in Oberhofen, Switzerland, and ruled that women are not entitled to compete against men, and vice-versa, during World Cup events. "It's very clear," said Sarah Lewis, FIS secretary general, in an interview with the Associated Press. "It's called the men's World Cup and the ladies' World Cup. The men race the men's World Cup and the ladies race the ladies' World Cup. FIS and World Cup points are not transferable from one circuit to another.

Wanting to know what the mostly Asian American class considered desirable, professor Darrell Hamamoto asked: What posters are on your bedroom walls? After an uncomfortable silence, Hamamoto got the names he expected -- celebrities such as Brad Pitt. There wasn't an Asian among them, which reinforced what he has long believed: that cliches and stereotypes about Asian men have rendered them sexual afterthoughts.