MAN News is the email newsletter produced by the Men’s Advisory Network (MAN) and goes to a distribution list of over 1,200 organisations and individuals. MAN is the peak body for service providers, organisations and individuals concerned with men’s health, wellbeing and other issues affecting males of all ages in Western Australia. It receives financial support from the Department of Health.

The articles and comments contained in this newsletter are considered as making a useful contribution to the understanding of the issues discussed.
The views expressed in these articles do not necessarily have an official endorsement or recommendation by MAN.
Nor does MAN necessarily endorse any of the services that are featured.
It is the reader’s responsibility to check to see that the comments and/or services provide what you are seeking.
Before taking any action, you should consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to your individual objectives, financial situation and needs.


This is a short newsletter as Bevan Sharp, our volunteer newsletter editor, is also involved as a volunteer in overseas economic development projects with Australian Business Volunteers. He recently returned from Cambodia and on Tuesday leaves for the Solomon Islands. We wish him a safe journey and successful project.

MAN could not function without the very valuable assistance of several volunteers.

In this issue:
Men’s Health Seminars
Research Volunteers Sought
Pathways Foundation
Three DVDs to help dads
Coping with chronic disease
Cancer vaccine begins trials on men
Child support reforms
Princesses and Porn Stars - What’s happening to our girls?
Old age is a gift
The Paradox of our time
WANDA Newsletter
Our furthest away subscriber?
What is MAN Doing?
National Conference
National Peak Body
Intimate Partner Abuse of Men
Feedback

Men’s Health Seminars
The Freemasons are holding seminars with a focus on men’s health issues in the Perth metropolitan area and WA country areas throughout 2008.
These seminars, although organised by the Grand Lodge of WA, are presented for the benefit of the whole of the community. The objective of the seminars is to raise awareness of men's health related issues and to provide accurate information from qualified health professionals on prevention and early diagnosis. Partners and family will also benefit from information of the possible impact of men's health problems
For more information - click here.

Research Volunteers Sought
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry
The Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry (CCRN) is currently seeking healthy men and women to participate in some of its research projects.
You should ideally be aged between 18 and 60 years, with English as your first language, and have no immediate family history (parents, brothers and sisters, children) of diagnosed mental illness.
To read more - click here.

Pathways Foundation
Pathways Foundation is seeking a partnership with a landowner to share the land with the Pathways Foundation in Western Australia for the purpose of:
- running contemporary Rites of Passage for young men and women, and
- nurturing the land through on ground work during Pathways camps and reunions.
If you can help, or would like to read more about Pathways Foundation - click here.

Three DVDs to help dads
The Fatherhood Institute in the UK have released three DVDs:
Hello Dad! - Dad’s involvement from birth and the early months.
Dads Matter Too - Made BY young dads - FOR young dads.
Expectant Fathers - Expectant fathers and dealing with the first few months.
For full details - click here.

Coping with chronic disease
Half of all Australians over 65 have a chronic illness. What makes some succumb to despair, and others adjust and even improve their lives?
Are you getting on in years, and are you worth a few bob? Do you have grown children who are anxious for you to drop off so they can claim their inheritance?
Tell them there's bad news, and even worse news. The bad news is that they'll have to wait – people are living longer and longer. The worse news is that the longer you go on, the more care and attention you'll need from them, and they better get used to it.
To read the article - click here.

Cancer vaccine begins trials on men
Over 700 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in Australia each year. But that number will decrease significantly thanks to the Gardasil vaccination program of teenage girls. Now research is being conducted in Australia into what the drug can do for men.
To read the transcript from the ABC’s 7.30 Report - click here.

Child support reforms
The Australian Government released an analysis of the third stage of the child support reforms introduced by the previous government, including the new child support formula.
An analysis of 691,000 child support cases shows that most parents will see a change of less than $20 per week as a result of the reforms, and in a large proportion of cases, the changes are less than $10 per week.
To read the Minister’s Media Release - click here.
For the full analysis and more information - click on this link:-
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/family/childsupport.htm

Princesses and Porn Stars - What’s happening to our girls?
Many dads are struggling to deal with feisty, determined and often headstrong young daughters, trying to encourage them to be independent and successful young women at the same time as hoping like hell they don't turn into man haters.
Told from an early age they can do anything and be anything, young women today are very different to the women of only a few generations ago.
Dads on the Air talks to Emily Maguire (‘Princesses and Porn Stars’) and Maggie Hamilton (‘What's Happening to Our Girls’); both are authors of confronting and challenging works.
To read the interview - click here.

Old age is a gift
I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day...if I feel like it.
To read more - click here.

The Paradox of our time
“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.”
To read more - click here.

WANDA Newsletter
To read the WA Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies newsletter - click here.

Our furthest away subscriber?
“I subscribe to your MAN newsletter, and read it with great interest. I'm in Rockport, Maine, USA... almost as far EAST in the U.S. as you can get. I have two men's groups, am a Steering Committee member of UUMEN (www.uumen.org). I haven't found anything out there as comprehensive and interesting on men's issues anywhere else. Keep up the good work”.
Frank Mundo
Thanks, Frank - it’s always interesting to receive feedback.
We will soon have a facility on the web-site for receiving comments and feedback from readers.

What is MAN Doing?

National Conference
Our Second National Conference on the theme From Babies to Blokes: the Making of Men
was held from 3rd to 6th August 2008. Over 170 delegates attended.

This conference had the same theme and streams as the 2006 conference:
• Conditioning of infant boys
• Development of boys
• Transition from boyhood to manhood
• Men and work
• Men and relationships
• Men and ageing

In 2006 key note speakers were selected to speak on each stream. This time they were given the theme and streams and interpreted it for themselves. It was interesting that the three “outside” speakers, Sue Gordon, Karl O’Callaghan and Graeme Mabury chose to give personal accounts, which provided a great deal of richness to the conference.

Four very brave men also provided their own personal story. Thanks to Gary Williams, Tim Marney, Patrick Toohey and Brian Curtis.

The other key note speakers, who have a professional involvement with issues that impact on men and boys were brilliant. They were Maggie Hamilton, John Macdonald, Arne Rubinstein, Maggie Dent, Lawrie Moloney and Julian Krieg.

Another highlight was the address by Carmen Lawrence at the official opening.

Thanks to the other people who made 54 presentations and workshops.

An interesting observation was that in 2006 we had great difficulty in finding a key note speaker to address the first stream of conditioning of infant boys. At both conferences there has not been a single presentation in this area in response to the call for papers. We obviously know very little about the gender differences in our young children.

If you were not there you missed out on a great experience.

National Peak Body
MAN Executive Officer, Gary Bryant, is the convenor of a steering committee to establish a national peak body concerned with the wide range of issues that impact on men and boys. The MAN Chairperson Julian Krieg, is also a member of the steering committee. Over 70 other people from various organisations throughout Australia are involved in a website discussion forum.

Intimate Partner Abuse of Men
In partnership with the Family and Domestic Violence Unit, MAN has established a steering committee to investigate the extent and nature of intimate partner abuse of men. Lotterywest has recently approved a grant to undertake this research. Professor Alfred Allen and Dr Greg Dean of the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University have been selected as the research partners to undertake the study.

Feedback
Please let us have your ideas on any of these issues.

Men’s Advisory Network
MAN is the peak body for service providers, organisations and individuals concerned with men’s health, wellbeing and other issues affecting males of all ages in Western Australia. It receives financial support from the Department of Health.

The primary role that MAN plays is in resourcing the sector through supporting service providers, organisations and professionals from various disciplines, who work with males of all ages. In addition, MAN provides information to individuals about appropriate services and professionals, plus provides general community education and raises awareness of the issues affecting males of all ages.