Men’s E-News takes a look back at what we consider the top men’s issues stories of 2022.
1. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7065 into law on April 11, 2022, creating the “Responsible Fatherhood Initiative.” The law will provide $60 million in support of father programs, a rare nod to the importance of fatherhood and one of the most pro-male pieces of legislation in recent memory. Men’s E-News contributor Warren Farrell’s book The Boy Crisis inspired Florida speaker of the house Chris Sprowls to spearhead the legislation.
2. Johnny Depp trial: A defamation suit by the famous actor Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard brought two major men’s issues to light: 1) Male victims of domestic violence, as evidenced by this photo of Depp’s sliced finger (Warning: Graphic), and 2) Male victims of false allegations. Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages plus $5 million (later reduced to $350,000) in punitive damages from Heard due to her fabrication of claims he abused her. Heard then settled for $1 million in December with Depp pledging to donate the money to charity.
3. Stanford University accused of multiple anti-male Title IX violations, as featured in Forbes. While common misperception is that Title IX is only to protect women, the truth is that the purpose of the Title IX statute is to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex. In practice, institutions across the country have female-only programs and scholarships which have been running contrary to Title IX for years, and only recently have they begun to be called out. Also in 2022, the Biden administration accepted inputs on potentially changing the way assault allegations are handled on campus under Title IX, which is an issue to watch in 2023.
Update: Mark Perry, a leader in Title IX policy who has submitted numerous complaints and was featured in the Forbes article above, recently tweeted a list of successful outcomes from 2022.
4. Gender-neutral selective service registration, also known as “Draft our Daughters,” was again pulled from the annual National Defense Authorization Act. For years various men’s organizations, such as NCFM, (and some women’s organizations, including NOW and the ACLU) have been working in support of requiring everyone, regardless of gender, to register for selective service in the U.S. Failure to do so incurs harsh penalties, including lack of access to federal college support, and possible jail time. This issue is also an interesting one in that advocates and opponents do not fall along party lines.
5. Male-only conscription in Ukraine-Russia conflict. In both Ukraine and Russia, men of all ages have been drafted to participate in the conflict. In March, it was reported that men in Ukraine were not allowed to leave the country, while women and children were allowed to. In Russia, later in 2022, conscripts began to rebel against being forced to participate in the conflict
6. Male issues were debated in the UK Parliament on International Men’s Day, as a result of the work of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Issues Affecting Men and Boys – a groundbreaking political group that focuses on male issues. In the U.S. the city of Ellensburg in the State of Washington also officially recognized International Men’s Day
7. Richard Reeves poked a hole in the “Lace Curtain” with multiple interviews regarding his popular and informative book, Of Boys and Men, including being featured in this David Brooks opinion piece in the New York Times, CNN, PBS’s Amanpour and Company, and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher
8. Ohio resident Dean Gillespie was awarded $45 million after being wrongfully incarcerated for 20 years. While the total number of wrongful convictions is not known, it is clear that the vast majority of the wrongfully incarcerated are male. Gillespie was originally freed from prison with help from the Ohio Innocence Project. We hope that civil awards of this size will help serve as a deterrent to future wrongful convictions.
9. An Australian dad, Mick Reynolds, learned that he was the victim of paternity fraud after the death of his son. It turns out that the son died of a genetic condition that neither he nor the mother had, at which point it became clear that there was a different biological father. In addition, Reynolds had supported the child financially to the tune of $110,000. It was also clear that the mother knew that Reynolds was in fact not the father, and she lied to him the entire time.
10. Male advocates in the State of Washington got a bill to the floor for a Commission on the Status of Boys and Men; the bill did not pass but will be introduced again next year. The Washington state-based Equality for Boys and Men, working with Representative Mary Dye, worked hard to bring the bill to life, and created a website for the campaign. We will keep you updated on the progress in 2023.
In Memoriam: Men’s E-News lamented the passing of YouTuber Kevin Samuels at the age of 53. Kevin possessed a great sense of style (he was a professional stylist) and an intelligent, yet playful, persona in his videos. You can view his YouTube channel where he had amassed 1.65 million followers.
Do you have any top stories that didn’t make the list? Let us know at: editor-in-chief@mensenews.org
