When I was younger and had never seen the inside of a caughtroom, I thought legislation guided judges, in rather clearly defined manner. Having seen several caught cases proceed, I eventually came to the conclusion that more often than not, Parliament and legislation is several years behind changes in judge’s behaviour. Tail wagging the dog? […]

FYI, information about the launch of a new campaign at parliament grounds this Friday 31 August. We invite supporters to join the campaign with a $5 donation; they will receive a black ribbon that can be worn alongside or instead of the white ribbon. MMA MINISTRY OF MEN’S AFFAIRS MINITATANGA MO NGA TANE PO Box […]

As expected the reply from the Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne was a fob off, in response to my clear expose of anti-male gender bias by the Ministry of Health in the way it reports and responds to suicide. I publish Mr Dunne’s letter here for all to see the extent to which it […]

The Tip of the Iceberg: Male Suicide and the social determinants of health Keynote presentation by Professor John Macdonald President, Australasian Men’s Health Forum. Co-Director MHIRC UWS The tip of the iceberg theme will be used to suggest that we need to look beneath the surface of things, in many areas of life: often we […]

Dr. Annette Beautrais has returned to NZ and is now employed at Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland University, at the Middlemore Hospital Complex. Friday 28th September 2012 She has organised a Suicide Prevention Conference, to follow on from a World Injury Conference, a few days earlier in Wellington. (As quite a lot of […]

FYI, here is my letter to the Minister of Health concerning his ministry’s latest report on suicide, due for public release on 24 May no doubt with Peter Dunne crowing about the achievement. It’s a serious indictment on the NZ government concerning its prioritization of women and neglect of men even in this area that […]

Sometimes when I read postings on this website, I get a bit depressed, quite a bit depressed. My old fiends, clonazepam and temazepam usually help, but if relied upon, can drop me very hard. Alternating with benzedrine usually helps, but he too can have a sting in his tail. Nortriptoline can help, if I know […]

2012 INTERNATIONAL MEN’S DAY: HELPING MEN AND BOYS LIVE LONGER, HAPPIER, more satisfied, HEALTHIER LIVES In the run up to International Men’s Day 2012 (Monday 19th November) we’re (Men’s Health Australia and Greg Andresen) asking supporters of the day to focus on five key challenges that will help us improve the health and wellbeing of […]

This brand new publication by a group of Australian, Canadian, European and American scholars contains research essays, opinion pieces, and book reviews on all aspects of the male experience.

This topic is not discussed sufficiently. Although men are sometimes derided, for getting women into the situation where an abortion may be “needed”, men may experience strong feelings of loss and hurt. If these are not understood, they may come back as psychological problems…. This difficult topic is well covered, in my opinion, on Life […]

Separating Parents Sentencing Their Children To Death Quote #1: In an eight-decade study, parental divorce in childhood was the strongest predictor of early death in adulthood. Quote #2: The early death of a parent had no measurable effect on children’s life spans or mortality risk, but the long-term health effects of broken families were often […]

More evidence of “Market Failure” in the Marriage Contract market- From Wall Street Journal: Where Have The Good Men Gone? Kay S. Hymowitz argues that too many men in their 20s are living in a new kind of extended adolescence. “nearly seven in 10 25-year-olds were married; by 2000, only one-third had reached that milestone” […]

I and other contributors on MENZ have criticised NZ suicide researchers for showing relatively scant interest or care in younger middle aged men’s suicides, particularly if not coloured. This criticism seems to apply to all NZ suicide research published in the last 20 years. Although some commentators put this down to callous disregard for men, […]

On 23rd September my wife Felicity delivered her Inaugural Lecture at Auckland University’s Tamaki Campus. This is now available on video. In parts one and two she talks about how her career has developed and the projects she is currently working on, which will mostly be of interest to those of you who have met […]

New book by Bettina Arndt Across the world, the story is the same. Sex scandal. Media frenzy. Another prominent man caught with his pants down. So why do men take such risks for sex? Sex therapist Bettina Arndt’s new book, What Men Want–in bed is all about why sex matters so much to men. Over […]

I am concerned at the angst showing in many recent posts on these pages. Some men are taking too long to climb out of their hurt and see all of the faces of the world surrounding us. Are they taking responsibility for the hurts that they may have given? 12 Steps shows a good path, […]

Milk fractions to treat metabolic syndrome The University of Auckland Human Nutrition Unit is inviting overweight male volunteers to take part in a dietary study. What is the aim of the study? The aims of this study are to determine whether two novel fractions from cow’s milk can treat symptoms of the metabolic syndrome in […]

I have just been advised that MenzShed is getting set up in Kapiti. It has achieved registration as an incorporated society this past week so it can now raise funds for this charitable purpose. The first meeting to formalise the group of people to operate the place will be 3.00 pm tomorrow Tuesday 22 June […]

A MAN set himself on fire outside of Brisbane’s Supreme Court complex after an unfavourable family court decision, according to witnesses at the scene. It sounds like he sat down for a while and thought about it quietly. Then he set himself alight. 90 percent of his body was burned. He was taken to hospital […]

If feminism is about equality then why don’t feminists ever talk about retirement issues? For example males in NZ used to have a life expectancy 7 years less than women until very recently. The gap is now down to 4 or 5 years. Even so this is significantly less. In addition males in retirement tend […]

Approximately one half of committed relationships (marriage or de facto) result in separation — that’s a lot of separated adults. Between August 2007 and July 2008, the Family Court in New Zealand granted 10,000 divorces — and that doesn’t account for all of the de facto relationships that ended during that time. The breakup of […]

MP Peter Dunne from United Future political party opened the Wairarapa Men’s Health meeting very well, ..I thought. I particularly liked the way he addressed lots of areas where work is needed and included men’s issues spoken on men’s sites. I know some of his wording won’t go down well but I also know it’s […]

A Men’s Health meeting has prevented women from taking part in a two-day conference on male suicide rates. The National Council of Women supported the decision, saying it was about participants feeling they could open up. The Human Rights Commission said there was nothing illegal or discriminatory in the way the conference was being promoted […]

A leading men’s health organisation in Australia claims that the Minister for the Status of Women, Hon Gail Gago MLC, misled Parliament by maintaining that false statistics on the Government’s Don’t Cross the Line anti-violence campaign website are accurate, back in October 2009. The Minister defended the misleading statistics in Parliament, claiming that “the data […]

Hi MENZ Readers, I work out of the Canterbury Men’s Centre which supports guys by telling them about local useful services and sets up projects relevant to men. I find myself advocating for men in different government forums and I found this course really useful for me to make a solid case for men in […]