The men's movement seems to consist only of a small number of men who won't accept the feminists lies because they can't stand the dishonesty or have become a victim of that dishonesty. Other men either buy the lies or more often keep quiet perhaps more because they will get an earful if they don't than because they believe what they are being told. This means that there are small numbers of men actually challenging the feminist status quo. Feminist influenced media means that any attempt to discuss men's issues is immediately challenged and never allowed to blossom. There is however one medium that is open to all. That is the Internet.

The Internet has numerous advantages. It has a lot of men on it, quite a lot of them young, a group needed for the future of men's movement. It is open and worldwide so that men around the world can see that there really is a men's movement, which is often invisible. Of course it does have feminists on it, but they don't control the medium and can often be ignored. The UKMM does have a website but websites are primarily one-way like printed media. The strength of the Internet lies in interactivity, the fact that you can respond or contribute. There are a number of ways of doing this. The one I am going to mention now is newsgroups.

Newsgroups are like a message board where everyone can put a message on. They each have a particular subject such as comp.lang.java if you interested in the computer language called Java or rec.puzzles if you are interested in puzzles. There are a number that are about men including alt.fashion.men and alt.men.politics but the two that concern the men's movement are alt.mens-rights and soc.men (soc mean "society" not "hit"). Before discussing them here's a little help in getting them.

1) You must have a computer and modem. (If not, put down that chisel and stone tablet and buy one).

2) You must have a connection to the Internet. (If you haven't, you could get a free connection to the Internet by getting a free CDRom from one of a number of places that includes Dixons, Tescos, Asda, Tempo Computer Stores, The Sun newspaper. Other supermarkets and computer stores are regularly being added to this list so ask locally. All provide free access to the Internet but you pay for a local phone call (except Tempo that can make it completely free if you switch your telephone line to them.). Once you have this CDRom follow the instructions to install it. All of them have a telephone support line to help you but this is a chargeable line (usually 50p a minute) so avoid that if you can).

3) You now should have a Web browser and a news/email programme on your computer. These will usually be Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. I will assume Outlook Express from now on. Most other programmes are similar.

4) Open Outlook Express or your news/email programme. Click these four menus:

Start - Programs - Internet Explorer - Outlook Express.

5) Open the news server. In the folders panel on the left there will be the name of your news server. This is usually news.name.something where name is your Internet provider name, e.g. in my case I use freenet and my news server is news.freenet.co.uk. Click on this. (This should have been set up by your CDRom otherwise you will have to click on the main menu Tools - Accounts - Add - News and give your email address and the news server name. You may have to call the chargeable support line if needed).

6) It may open up the newsgroups list automatically. If not click on Tools - Newsgroups. If you haven't done this before it may insist that you connect to the news server. You will get a window called Dial Up Connection and you will have to click on "Connect". Once your computer has dialled into the Internet, you should see a message about "Downloading Newsgroups". This may take a few minutes.

7) You now have a window marked Newsgroup Subscriptions. If the box marked Newsgroup it has a list of all the newsgroups can subscribe to. This can be a 10,000+. For now just try 2. In the box marked "Display Newsgroups Which Contain" type alt.men (That's alt-dot-men (dot is full stop)). It will display a list of newsgroups starting with alt.men. Click on alt.mens-rights and click on "Subscribe". Backspace to remove alt.men and type soc.men (soc-dot-men). Click on soc.men and click on subscribe. Click on OK.

8) Click again on the news server name in the folders panel and click on Tools - Synchronize Account. Outlook Express will now download messages from the newsgroups. This can take some time, 5-20 minutes is not uncommon.

9) Click yet again on the news server name and then click on the newsgroup name, say alt.mens-rights. You will now see a list of messages. Click on one of the messages. If you have the whole message and not just the header (basically the title and other info) you will see the message in the lower panel. If you only have the header, it will now try to download the message from the Internet.

These messages include such titles as "In Fear of Father" and "Child Custody or Child Abuse" plus some not really relevant. Some messages are on their own. When these messages are replied to, it is called a thread. There is a thread in alt.mens-rights called "Men are victims of feminist myths". Replies have "Re:" added to the title. There are currently 6 messages in it. One is clearly from a feminist. The others appear to be from reasonable people. You can read this and potentially thousands more. Some of them refer to websites. You can add to a thread by clicking Message-Reply to Group or start a new thread by clicking Message-New Message. Messages should be relevant to the newsgroup or thread and not abusive, but you can still be critical. One to look out for is "alt.mens-rights Frequently Asked Questions FAQ" as this contains web addresses and information about the newsgroup. Soc.men probably has a "FAQ" as well.

Have a look at these newsgroups. They should at least give food for thought.