Welcome to A Voice for Male Students

This site has now effectively become “active.” It will begin featuring regular news stories and blog entries, open up commenting, network with like-minded groups and individuals, call for article submissions, distribute videos to as many sympathetic eyes and ears as possible, and other things. Allow me to briefly show you around and tell you what this site is about.

The domain was registered in November of 2012 following a discussion on the A Voice for Men forums and has served largely as a placeholder for future content until May of 2013, when I began fleshing out the main pages in earnest in preparation for the fall 2013 semester. Approximately one month before its activation date (August 20th), this site had been walled off to revise old content and add new pages and elements, a list of which may be viewed at the end of this post.

My name is Jonathan Taylor. I am a former instructor of composition and argumentation at A&M and an advocate for educational equity for men and boys. With the support of fellow advocates and others I have constructed this website, as well its adjoining Facebook page, YouTube channel and video series, as well several of the iconic graphics for this site.

Mission, Values, and Scope

You will notice that the motto of this website is “educational equity for men and boys.” That’s right: this website advocates an equitable arrangement of affairs along the lines of gender, and while its focus happens to be men and boys, there is no reason why such an arrangement should not ultimately benefit both sexes. I would like to stress that the leading line of the title of this website is a voice, not the voice, and that is no accident; as much as I wish it were otherwise, there is no way for any one person or website to have all the answers, and it is best to acknowledge our human limitations upfront. Other sites giving a voice to male students are listed above the header for this page for quick reference.

I would also like to stress that this website is for male students – e.g., set up in their behalf (although we will occasionally discuss male teachers as well). That is why this site exists. That is why there are pages dedicated to extensively covering the issues they face, to hosting a list of resources for pro-male student groups and those in abusive relationships and at risk of suicide, and so forth. Such resources will be increased in the future.

As stated in the mission and values page, the first mission of this site is to raise awareness of the structural and cultural inequities men and boys – and in particular male students – face at all levels in our education system and promote advocacy and activism in their behalf. Those issues, as you may see in the Summary of Issues page (which features an extensive degree of research), are broken down into three main categories:

1. Educational Attainment & Well-Being
2. Academic Culture – Misandry & Conformism
3. Rights & Protections

Those unfamiliar with men’s advocacy in general may also be unfamiliar with the word misandry – prejudice against men and boys. No fear – I have provided a summary page explaining the basic perspectives and concepts of the Men’s (Human Rights) Movement, as well as some relevant links in the “Sites on Men’s and Education Issues” page and a short list of must-read books in the Recommended Reading page.

The mission and values page also describes in detail the nine values that will guide the functions of this site. In brief, they are:

1. True Equality
2. Nonviolence
3. Freedom of Speech and Expression
4. Compassion and Fairness Regarding Victims of Rape and False Rape Accusations
5. Due Process
6. Youth Engagement and Education in Men’s Issues
7. Provocative Tactics and Direct Action
8. Non-Partisanship
9. Evidence-Based Inquiries and Solutions

Since creating a community of shared values is essential to furthering any cause, commenting is welcome and encouraged. Given that some intervention is necessary to enhance the experiences of everyone genuinely interested in furthering the mission and values of this site, refer to this site’s commenting policy before you begin commenting. Note: all users who were previously registered have been removed from this site at 12 AM of this date, meaning that if you were previously registered you will need to re-register to comment. If you would like to submit an article to be published at this site, see the article submission guidelines.

Here is this website’s official logo:

There are always costs to maintain this website, as well as exercise and promote the activism featured here. If you like the content, activities, and direction of this site, please donate to the cause by donating or volunteering.

I have tested and re-tested the functions and links of this site but expect that there will be a few things I may have missed. Please do not hesitate to report all broken links or egregious errors in functionality that you observe on your desktop or mobile devices via the contact form or in the comments section, and please bear with me as I fix any errors that are discovered. At this point the only problem I am aware of is the visibility of the drop-down menu on mobile devices. I am currently looking into a solution, the buttons on the main menu bar should still work just fine on mobile devices and allow access to the other content.

Please remember to subscribe to the adjoining YouTube channel and Facebook page to gain access to the broader presence of this project and thank you for visiting.

Additions and changes between 7/20/13 and 8/20/13

Old content on this site was substantially revised, and new content was added, during the last month that the site was unavailable. If you were an earlier visitor and are wondering what is new or if you’re the kind of person who likes to know some of what goes in to making a website, here is a list of additions and changes while the website was unavailable:

• New pages:
  • The Men’s Human Rights Movement – Core Issues
  • A Voice for Male Students – Introduction
  • Guide: Priority of Issues for Men’s Issues Groups
  • Donate and Volunteer
  • Freedom of Information Act Requests
  • What to do if you are Wrongly Convicted of Sexual Misconduct (in a university hearing)
  • Create and Submit a Poster
• Substantially revised pages:
  • Summary of Educational Equity Issues for Men and Boys
  • The Men’s Human Rights Movement – Basic Perspectives and Concepts
  • Downloadable Posters
  • Sites on Men’s and Education Issues
• New features/website elements:
  • All former links to research documents in PDF format that exist on external sites have been changed. All linked PDF files have now been directly uploaded to this site to prevent future broken links and maintain constant availability of accurate information. This change especially affects the Summary of Educational Equity Issues page, as well as the page The Men’s Movement – Core Issues.
  • Revised menu bar with CSS customization and social media links
  • Added all new sidebar widgets (“Featured Videos,” “Support this Project,” post categories and archives, and “Recent Comments”).
  • Created dedicated account (yes, bank account) for all “donate” links
  • Added social media “share” and “like” functionality on all pages and future posts
  • Added webpage background (grey circular border)
  • Added new security plugins
  • Added/customized SEO plugins
  • Added XML sitemap plugin
  • Added/customized commenting filter and anti-spam plugins
  • Added option to subscribe to comments/blog
  • Added top menu (“Voices for Male Students”) and bottom “main pages” menu

More to come. Stay tuned!