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Fathers' rights movement

The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mothers—either after divorce or marital separation. The movement includes men as well as women, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law.

Demographics
The fathers' rights movement exists almost exclusively in industrialized countries, where divorce has become more common. It emerged in the West from the 1960s onwards as part of the men's movement with organizations such as Families Need Fathers, which originated in the 1970s. In the late twentieth century, the growth of the internet permitted wider discussion, publicity and activism about issues of interest to fathers' rights activists. Factors thought to contribute to the development of the fathers' rights movement include shifting household demographics brought about by rising divorce and falling marriage rates, changes in the understanding and expectations of fatherhood, motherhood and childhood as well as shifts in how legal systems impact families.

Fathers' rights groups in the West are primarily composed of white, middle or working class, heterosexual men. Members tend to be politically conservative but do not share a single set of political or social views and are highly diverse in their goals and methods. Members of the fathers' rights movement advocate for strong relationships with their children and focus on a narrowly defined set of issues based on the concerns of divorced or divorcing men. Women, often new partners including second wives or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law and mothers without custody, are also members of the fathers' rights movement, and fathers' rights activists emphasize this. Two studies of fathers' rights groups in North America found that fifteen percent of their members were women.

The fathers' rights movement organizations Families Need Fathers and the Lone Fathers Association have campaigned for fathers' rights over many decades. Longer lasting organizations appear to result from the longterm dedication and commitment of key individuals. Other fathers' rights groups have tended to form and dissolve quickly. Internal disagreements over ideology and tactics are common, and members tend not to remain with the groups after they have been helped.

Political and social views
The fathers' rights movement has both liberal and conservative branches, with different viewpoints about how men and women compare. Although both groups agree on the victimization and discrimination against men, they disagree on why men and women differ (nature versus nurture) and traditional gender roles. The liberal version believes the differences between the genders are due to culture and supports equality between men and women; in contrast, the conservative branch believes in traditional patriarchal/complementary families and that the differences between genders are due to biology. Ross Parke and Armin Brott view the fathers' rights movement as one of three strands within the men's movement that deal almost exclusively with fatherhood, the other two being the good fathers' movement and groups forming the Christian Men's movement – the Promise Keepers being the largest.

Warren Farrell, a veteran of the women's, men's and fathers' movement since the 1970s, describes the fathers' rights movement as part of a larger "gender transition movement" and thinks that, similar to women in the 1960s, fathers are transitioning from gender-based to more flexible family roles. Farrell also believes the movement helps children by increasing the number who are raised equally by both parents, which in turn increases the children's social, academic, psychological, and physical benefits—in his opinion it becomes a children's rights issue with fathers acting as advocates.

Members of the fathers' rights movement assert that fathers are discriminated against as a result of gender bias in family law; that custody decisions have been a denial of equal rights; and that the influence of money has corrupted family law. The movement's primary focus has been to campaign (including lobbying and research) for formal legal rights for fathers, and sometimes for children, and to campaign for changes to family law related to child custody, support and maintenance, domestic violence and the family court system itself. Fathers' rights groups also provide emotional and practical support for members during separation and divorce. The fathers' rights movement is considered to be a part of the broader manosphere, a set of Internet forums promoting masculinity along with opposition to feminism.

Some fathers' rights groups have become frustrated with the slow pace of traditional campaigning for law reform; groups such as the originally UK-based Fathers 4 Justice have become increasingly vocal and visible, undertaking public demonstrations that have attracted public attention and influenced the politics of family justice. Following protests, some fathers' rights activists have been convicted of offenses such as harassment and assault. Fathers' rights groups have condemned threats and violent acts, with Matt O'Connor of Fathers 4 Justice asserting that his organization was committed to "peaceful, non-violent direct action" and that members caught engaging in intimidation would be expelled. An example of this was in January 2006, when Matt temporarily disbanded the group after it was revealed that a fringe subsection of members were plotting to kidnap Leo Blair, the young son of Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister. According to the police, the plot never progressed beyond the "chattering stage". Four months later the group was refounded.

Legal scholar Richard Collier writes that fathers' rights activists often base their arguments for reform on "anecdotal evidence and assertion" rather than "evidence-backed research", and argues that implementing their proposed changes to the law "may have potentially deleterious consequences" for mothers and children. Collier, along with researchers Martha Fineman and Michael Flood, have said the movement perpetuates negative stereotypes of women as hostile, deceptive, vindictive, and irresponsible as well as the stereotype that women are out to take advantage of men financially. Collier links such negative views of women with ideas of a crisis of masculinity within the broader men's movement, often in tandem with "virulent" anti-feminism.

Family court system
Members of the fathers' rights movement state that family courts are biased against fathers and shared custody. Critics of the movement argue that fathers' groups ignore actual trends in family law that seek to affirm the symbolic importance of fathers within a heteronormative family structure.

Stephen Baskerville, president of the American Coalition of Fathers and Children and fathers' rights advocate, defines court-determined custody as not a right to parent one's children but as the power to prevent the other partner from parenting. He states that the outcome of divorce is overly one-sided and is initiated by mothers in more than two-thirds of cases – especially when children are involved. He also states that divorce provides advantages for women such as automatic custody of the children and financial benefits in the form of child support payments. Members of the FR movement also state that family courts are slow to help fathers enforce their parental rights, and are expensive and time-consuming.

Baskerville has also stated that family courts are secretive, censoring and punitive towards fathers who criticize them. He also claims that employees and activists within the courts support and benefit from the separation of children from their parents and that family law today represents civil rights abuses and intrusive perversion of government power.

Others contest these conclusions, stating that family courts are biased in favor of fathers and that the lower percentage of separated fathers as custodial parents is a result of choices made by fathers rather than bias of family courts. Other writers state that fathers' rights activists incorrectly maintain that the courts are biased against fathers while in reality the vast majority of cases are settled by private agreement and fathers voluntarily relinquish primary custody of their children, which explains the lower percentage of custodial fathers; and that the "bias" of courts is in favour of the primary caregiver, not mothers per se. Collier writes that fathers' rights activists "misread the gendered nature of law's regulation of shared parenting historically". According to sociologist Michael Flood, father's rights activists have exaggerated the disparity in custody awards between mothers and fathers, and ignored the fact that in the vast majority of cases, fathers voluntarily relinquish custody of their children through private arrangements; either because they are willing to do so, or because they do not expect a favorable court ruling.

Custody and parenting
According to the BBC, "Custody law is perhaps the best-known area of men's rights activism". Journal Of Divorce and Remarriage a section written by Linda Nielsen, "One of the most complex and compelling issues confronting policymakers, parents, and the family court system is what type of parenting plan is most beneficial for children after divorce". Stating that "children need two parents" and that "children have a fundamental human right to an opportunity and relationship with both their mother and father", members of the fathers' rights movement call for greater equality in parental responsibility following separation and divorce. They call for laws creating a rebuttable presumption of 50/50 shared custody after divorce or separation, so that children would spend equal time with each parent unless there were reasons against it. They point to studies showing that children in shared custody settings are better adjusted and have fewer social problems such as low academic achievement, crime, substance abuse, depression and suicide, and state that shared parenting is in fact in the best interests of the child. Warren Farrell states that for children, equally shared parenting with three conditions (the child has about equal time with mom and dad, the parents live close enough to each other that the child does not need to forfeit friends or activities when visiting the other parent, and there is no bad-mouthing) is the second best family arrangement to the intact two-parent family, followed by primary father custody and then primary mother custody, and he adds that if shared parenting cannot be agreed upon, children on average are better off psychologically, socially, academically, and physically, have higher levels of empathy and assertiveness, if their father is their primary custodial parent rather than their mother.

Members of the fathers' rights movement and their critics disagree about the correlation of negative developmental outcomes for children to sole custody situations. Social scientist V. C. McLoyd states that father absence covaries with other relevant family characteristics such as the lack of an income from a male adult, the absence of a second adult, and the lack of support from a second extended family system and conclude that it is the negative effects of poverty, and not the absence of a father, that result in negative developmental outcomes. On the other hand, Professor Craig Hart states that although the consequences of poverty and having a single parent are interrelated, each is a risk factor with independent effects on children, and Silverstein and Auerbach state that the negative outcomes for children in sole custody situations correlate more strongly to "fatherlessness" than to any other variable including poverty.

Members of the fathers' rights movement criticize the best interests of the child standard currently used in many countries for making custody decisions, which they describe as highly subjective and based on the personal prejudices of family court judges and court-appointed child custody evaluators,   and that courts are abusive when more than half custody is taken away from a willing, competent parent. Members of the fathers' rights movement including Ned Holstein state that a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting is supported by a majority of citizens. Baskerville writes that proposals to enact shared parenting laws are opposed by divorce lawyers, and he says that "radical feminist" groups oppose shared parenting because of the possibility of domestic violence and child abuse.

Mo Yee Lee, after conducting a study of mothers and children, concluded that there are some advantages to joint custody arrangements; and overall, the degree of conflict between parents impacted the children more than the custody arrangement. Some feminist groups have stated that if shared parenting were ordered, fathers would not provide their share of the daily care for the children. The National Organization For Women also questions the motives of those promoting shared parenting, noting that it would result in substantial decreases in or termination of child support payments.

Stephen Baskerville states that shared parenting has been demonstrated to reduce parental conflict by requiring parents to cooperate and compromise, and that it is the lack of constraint by one parent resulting from the ability of that parent to exclude the other, that results in increased parental conflict. He further states that only when child support guidelines exceed true costs do parents ask for or seek to prevent changes in parenting time for financial reasons, adding that any argument that a parent is asking for increased parenting time to reduce child support is at the same time an argument that the other parent is making a profit from child support.

Stephen Baskerville describes no-fault or unilateral divorce based on no fault as a power grab by the parent that initiates the divorce and he also states that fathers have a constitutional right to shared control of their children and through political action they intend to establish parental authority for both parents and for the well-being of their children. Members of the fathers' rights movement state that a rebuttable presumption for shared parenting preserves a child's protection against unfit or violent parents.

Pro-feminist sociologist Michael Flood states that supporters of shared parenting use it only as a symbolic issue related to "rights", "equality", and "fairness" and that the father's rights movement is not actually interested in the shared care of their children or the children's wishes, adding that fathers' rights groups have advocated policies and strategies that are harmful to mothers and children and also harmful to the fathers themselves. In contrast, social scientist Sanford Braver states that the bad divorced dad image is a myth that has led to harmful and dangerous social policies.

Some fathers' rights activists object to the term "visitation", which they see as denigrating to their level of authority as parents, and instead prefer the use of "parenting time".

Child support
From the source Northwestern University Law Review. Authors Tait, Anderson explained that "child support is a ubiquitous kind of debt, common to all income and wealth levels, with data showing that approximately 30% of the U.S. adult population has either been subjected to pay child support or has received it." Members of the fathers' rights movement campaign for the reform of child support guidelines, which in most Western countries are based on maintaining the children's standard of living after separation, and on the assumption that the children live with one parent and never with the other. Activists state that the current guidelines are arbitrary, provide mothers with financial incentives to divorce, and leave fathers with little discretionary income to enjoy with the children during their parenting time. In the US, fathers' rights activists propose guidelines based on a Cost Shares model, in which child support would be based on the average income of the parents and the estimated child costs incurred by both parents. Laura W. Morgan has stated that it focuses on the relative living standards of divorcing parents rather than the best interests of the children and financially supporting them at the same level after divorce.

Solangel Maldonado states that the law should value a broader definition of fathering for poor fathers by reducing the focus on collecting child support and encouraging the informal contributions (such as groceries, clothes, toys, time with the children) of these fathers by counting these contributions as child support.

Members of the fathers' rights movement state that child support should be terminated under certain conditions, such as if the custodial parent limits access to the children by moving away against the wishes of the other parent, gives fraudulent testimony, or if paternity fraud is discovered, adding that two men should not have to pay child support for the same child.

Stephen Baskerville states that it is often difficult for fathers in financial hardship or who take on a larger caregiving role with their children to have their child support payments lowered. He also states that unemployment is the primary cause of child support arrears, and further states that these arrearages make the father subject to arrest and imprisonment without due process.

Stephen Baskerville states that the purpose of child support should be publicly determined, and enforcement programs must be designed to serve that purpose, observing the due process of law.

Some legal scholars and feminist writers have said that the fathers' rights movement puts the interests of fathers above the interests of children, for example by suggesting that it is acceptable for fathers to withdraw child support if they are not given access to their children, or by lobbying for changes in family law that would allegedly heighten children's exposure to abusive fathers, and would allegedly further endanger mothers who are victims of domestic violence.

Supporters of the fathers' rights movement assert that some women make false claims of domestic violence, sexual or child abuse in order to gain an upper hand in divorce, custody disputes and/or prevent fathers from seeing their children, and they state that lawyers advise women to make such claims. They state that false claims of domestic violence and child abuse are encouraged by the inflammatory "win or lose" nature of child custody hearings, that men are presumed to be guilty rather than innocent by police and by the courts, Lawyers and advocates for abused women assert that family court proceedings are commonly accompanied with allegations of domestic violence because of the prevalence of domestic violence in society rather than as a result of false allegations of domestic violence. They also assert that domestic violence often begins or increases around the time of divorce or separation. Sociologist Michael Flood argues that fathers' rights groups have had a damaging impact on the field of domestic violence programming and policy by attempting to discredit female victims of violence, to wind back the legal protections available to victims and the sanctions imposed on perpetrators, and to undermine services for the victims of men's violence. Stephen Baskerville asserts that when child abuse occurs the perpetrator is not likely to be the father, and that child abuse most often occurs after the father has been separated from his children. Baskerville proposes that domestic violence and child abuse must be adjudicated as criminal assault, observing due process protections, and that government funding for programs addressing these issues must be made contingent on such protections.

Parenting time interference
Glenn Sacks states that some mothers interfere with the father's parenting time and that such interference should be stopped. Sacks and Jeffery M. Leving state that parenting time interference can result from the custodial parent's relocation beyond a practical distance from the noncustodial parent and they campaign for a rebuttable presumption prohibiting such relocations.

Fathers' rights activists have also advocated for the inclusion of parental alienation syndrome, a proposed syndrome developed by Richard A. Gardner that alleges unjustified disruption of the relationship between a parent and a child is caused by the other parent. Neither PAS nor PAD are accepted by any legal or mental health organization. Despite lobbying, parental alienation syndrome was not included in the draft of the DSM manual that was released in 2010, though parental alienation disorder does appear as a "Condition Proposed by Outside Sources" to be reviewed by a working group.

No-fault divorce
Stephen Baskerville states that laws establishing no-fault divorce did not stop at removing the requirement that grounds be cited for a divorce, so as to allow for divorce by "mutual consent"; it also allows either spouse to end the marriage without any agreement or fault by the other. Phyllis Schlafly states that no-fault divorce should be referred to as unilateral divorce.

Stephen Baskerville states that laws establishing no-fault divorce can be seen as one of the boldest social experiments in modern history that have effectively ended marriage as a legal contract. He states that it is not possible to form a binding agreement to create a family, adding that government officials can, at the request of one spouse, end a marriage over the objection of the other. He states that no-fault divorce has left fathers with no protection against what he describes as the confiscation of their children.

Baskerville states that fault has entered through the back door in the form of child custody hearings, and that the forcibly divorced spouse ("defendant") is presumed guilty. Similarly, other members of the fathers' rights movement believe that men fail to get appropriate recognition of their innocence as a result of no-fault divorce.

Stephen Baskerville proposes "reasonable limits" on no-fault divorce when children are involved. Some members of the FRM support the end of the no-fault principle in child custody and divorce decisions. Some members of the fathers' rights movement state that the availability of divorce should also be limited.

Government involvement
Stephen Baskerville states that governments throughout the United States and other democracies are engaged, by accident or design, in a campaign against fathers and fatherhood, which in his view, lies at the root of a larger problem that threatens marriage, destroys families, devastates the lives of many children, and undermines parents, democracy and accountability. Baskerville also states that it is the removal of the father from the family through divorce that initiates problems for which the government is perceived as the solution rather than the problem, and that these problems are then used to justify the continued existence and expansion of the government. Members of the fathers' rights movement state that modern divorce involves government officials invading parents' private lives, evicting people from their homes, seizing their property, and taking away their children.

Parental and reproductive rights
Fathers' rights advocates have worked for the right of unwed, otherwise fit, fathers to get custody if the mother tries to have their child adopted by a third party or if child welfare authorities place the child in foster care. Fathers' rights activists seek a gender-neutral approach in which unwed men and women would have equal rights in adoption issues, an approach that critics state does not sufficiently acknowledge the different biological roles in procreation and pregnancy, and the disparity in society's social and economic structures. In the US, some states have passed laws to protect the rights of unwed fathers to custody. Courts have increasingly supported these rights, though judges often require evidence that the father has shown interest in, and given financial and emotional support to, the mother during pregnancy.

Some fathers' rights advocates have sought the right to prevent women from having an abortion without the father's consent, based on the idea that it is discriminatory for men not to have the ability to participate in a decision to terminate a pregnancy. This option is not supported by any laws in the United States. Fathers' rights advocates Jeffrey M. Leving and Glenn Sacks have stated that "choice for men is a flawed solution." Advocates have also expressed the desire to have a "financial abortion" in which the option exists to sever all responsibility for child support for an unwanted child. Commenting on this, legal scholar Kim Buchanan states, "The only way men's lack of a pregnancy opt-out can be framed as a gender injustice is to accept that men have a right to visit the consequences of unprotected sex (or contraceptive failure) exclusively on their female partners." Some feminists, however, such as former president of the feminist organization National Organization for Women, attorney Karen DeCrow, have supported the "financial abortion" concept, stating "if a woman makes a unilateral decision to bring pregnancy to term, and the biological father does not, and cannot, share in this decision, he should not be liable for 21 years of support... autonomous women making independent decisions about their lives should not expect men to finance their choice.

Parental leave
Pressure from father's rights groups, among others, have in several countries resulted in gender-neutral program(s) eligible for parental leave. While historically, maternity benefits were given to mothers based on the physical biology of childbirth, including the need to protect the health and financial well-being of the woman and child, parental leave benefits emphasize gender-neutral child-rearing, the benefits of the participation of fathers in children's care, and redress discrimination against men who wish to be involved with their infants.

Notable commentators
Public supporters of the fathers' rights movement and their issues include Live Aid founder Bob Geldof, Irish writer and journalist John Waters and Karen DeCrow, former president of the National Organization for Women. Other notable commentators include:

 * Asa Baber
 * Warren Farrell
 * Stephen Baskerville
 * Jeffery M. Leving

Criticism
Advocates of substantive equality argue against formal equality frequently referenced by Fathers' right advocates. The gestation investment is seen by some as one justification for substantive equality between Fathers' rights and Mothers' rights.

title: Fathers' rights movement


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Trust & Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot

Trust & Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot, often abbreviated simply to Siboot (pronounced, ), was a game designed and programmed by Chris Crawford for the Macintosh and published by Mindscape in 1987.

Gameplay
The player, an alien creature named Vetvel, must compete with six other acolytes (each a different alien species) for the Shepherdship. Each of these characters has a distinct personality. Each morning, the acolytes wake up knowing one of each of the three "auras" the others possess. They must trade knowledge with each other in order to try to gain enough knowledge for the "mind combat" that takes place every night, which is basically a fancy Rock, Paper, Scissors game that depends on the aura counts for the players involved. The game is won when a player gets eight auras in all three categories. However, in giving away somebody's aura count, the player betrays that person, which angers them and may make them less likely to trade aura counts with the player. Therefore, a player has to know who to trust and who to betray, hence the title: Trust & Betrayal.

If the player clicks and holds the mouse button on an icon (the game's abstraction of a word), one can see its meaning. The number of icons is small enough, and the pictures intuitive enough, that they can quickly be committed to memory.

The game uses an inverse parser, a method for constructing sentences out of words while only presenting words that make sense for the given context. It also emphasizes facial expressions as form of feedback. Interludes appear through the game present the user with one of several choices which may affect the gameplay. To use an actual example from the game, if game designer Chris Crawford appears and lectures the player, and the player responds "Go to hell, Crawford!", then he or she loses some favor among the other characters, making the game harder to win.

Development
"Siboot", the name of the first Shepherd, is a reversal of the syllables of "Bootsie", a cat which Crawford had. Bootsie had to be euthanized due to an irreparable injury to his jaw. Crawford suffered much grief while contemplating that he was unable to talk to Bootsie in order to try to comfort him before he had to be put down. One day while pondering this, Crawford had a flash of insight: his next game would be Talk to the Animals, which evolved into the very different Trust & Betrayal.

A preliminary IBM PC port was made but never finished.

Crawford considered Siboot the favorite of his games and "the game of which I'm most proud" due to its innovations and creativity.

Reception
Siboot was poorly received in the marketplace and did not recoup its investment. It sold about 5,000 units on the Macintosh. After the game's commercial failure, Mindscape pressed Chris Crawford for a sequel to Balance of Power, and he developed Balance of Power: The 1990 Edition because "I felt I owed them one."

Macworld inducted Siboot into its 1988 Game Hall of Fame in the Best Role-Playing Game category, ahead of runner-up Reach for the Stars. Macworld called the game Crawford's "best effort to date" and praised it as "a landmark in computer gaming, perfectly simpatico with the Macintosh, and deserving of its own cult."

MacUser awarded Siboot 4½ out of 5 mice. The review said that the game's focus on political intrigue and interacting with six distinct artificial personalities resulted in "a brilliant effort to expand the horizons of computer gaming."

The game received a favorable review in Computer Gaming World in 1988, citing the well-written AIs and noting "The context sensitive icon-based language is a technical achievement and deserves praise." In a 1992 survey of science fiction games the magazine stated that the game had "Innovative concepts marred by slow and obtuse game play". In 1994, the same publication reprinted its 1992 review of the game for its survey of strategic space games, adding a rating of two stars out of five.

The game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #150 by Mark D. Veljkov in "The Role of Computers" column. It received 4½ out of 5 stars.

Legacy
In 2013 Crawford publicly released the source code of several of his games, including Trust & Betrayal.

In January 2013, Crawford began work on a redesigned version of Siboot, borrowing the world and premise of the 1987 game and taking advantage of advances in computer power. In June 2015, he launched a Kickstarter project to fund the redesigned game. The project's funding was unsuccessful and Crawford abandoned developing the redesigned Siboot in 2018.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Trust & Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot


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Talk:Tommy Sheridan

Expelled?
The page says before leaving Labour. Wasn't Sheridan one of those _expelled_ for being a "member" of militant? -- Finlay McWalter 12:29, 10 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Also, the page says active in the Militant Tendency inside the Labour Party. This will probably sound odd to someone not familiar with the term "Militant Tendency", so I'd suggest "...the Militant Tendency movement..." or "...the Militant Tendency faction..." or something. I've not put it in myself as the question of whether 'it' was a 'thing' at all was a tendentious matter. -- Finlay McWalter 12:39, 10 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * It was a separate organisation. See Militant Tendency and entryism. Secretlondon 12:42, Nov 10, 2003 (UTC)

 * Well, that's kinda my point. The "kinnockites" said "it's a party within a party" while the "militants" denied this, saying "we're just a random bunch of people who happen to think the same thing".  The Militant Tendency page says faction which seems to be a neutral expression (IMHO). -- Finlay McWalter 12:45, 10 Nov 2003 (UTC)

RSL/Convenor
I presume that RSL stands for Republican Socialist League - but this is not explained in the article.

Perhaps someone could confirm and add note in text?

Also, I had a look at the SSP's site from the link at the bottom and noticed it says that Sheridan is the convenor of the SSP.

Hmmm.... didn't he resign to be replaced by Colin Fox. Or is the SSP site just out of date?

Camillus (talk) 02:36, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Revolutionary Socialist league in fact 193.51.149.216 15:55, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

"Catholic Trotskyist family"
Does this make sense? I would have thought Trotskyist implies Marxist implies atheist implies not Catholic. Does it mean "family of Trotskyists from a Roman Catholic background" or something similar?A Geek Tragedy 16:30, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Yes it does make sense. Have you heard of a Christain Jew or an Christian Arab? My point is clear. The UK does not demand atheism of it's Karl Marx admirers. (82.44.79.85 01:46, 5 August 2006 (UTC))

The comparison with a Christian Arab or a Christian Jew isn't relevant. Jews and Arabs specifically belong to racial/ethnic groupings, not to religions or ideologies. Judaism is the religion of the Jews, which a Jew may chose to follow, or not. A Jew raised in orthodox judaism is still a Jew regardless of his subsequent religious beliefs. There is no greater inherent conflict in being a Christian Arab than a Christian Celt. It is true that the UK does not demand atheism of its Karl Marx admirers, but you will find that the Roman Catholic Church disapproves of Communism in its various forms as an ideology, so the two belief systems are not compatible.

 * Thank you, unsigned. This is roughly what I meant alothough I was thinking more about marxism not liking religion than the other way around. Materialism is pretty central to marxism (if I understood Marx right) and there is the stuff about "opium of the people". A Geek Tragedy 16:58, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

In Scotland or in Ireland, being from a Catholic family is important, whethe ror not you believe in God - it means you are part of the group which is discriminated against 193.51.149.216 15:56, 13 October 2006 (UTC) I wasn't aware anyone had questioned the significance of Sheridan coming from a Roman Catholic family. However, I'm glad POV statements such as yours are confined to discussion, rather than the page itself. I am unaware that being a Roman Catholic in Scotland will mean a person suffers discrimination - it certainly doesn't in politics. As for Ireland, I was under the impression that Ireland is officially Roman Catholic, so where's the discrimination in that? Or do you mean Northern Ireland, and it's just that your kneejerk responses lead you into inaccuracy? JFM

I think you can be a catholic trotskyist and an atheist. In fact, I think I am one. Incidentally anti-catholic discrimination in Scotland and England is not rare. Johncmullen1960 (talk) 07:50, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

well known...Trotskyist family..?
What is all this about? Well known by whom? I have never heard of any other members of Sheridan's family who might be considered well known. Certainly not well known in politics. So, I would contend that it is false to suggest that he comes from a well known family of any kind.

Tommy's mother Alice was leading activist in the anti-poll tax movement, was expelled from the Labour Party for her support of Militant and was a candidate for the SSP on a number of occassions she remains a public spokesperson for Solidarity. His sister was a reaonably well known Militant activist in the 1980's. She is also a practising Catholic (see discussion above). Citation for Alice's role is available in Tommy's autobiography and in press coverage of his trial. She was a significant influence on Tommy's early political development. Green ribbon (talk) 16:14, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

NPOV: Edits by Press officer of Solidarity
I have reverted the edits made by Jim Monaghan assuming that he is the same Jim Monaghan referred to in this article http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1879927,00.html Ms medusa 17:53, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I have again reverted similar edits made by JimMonaghan Ms medusa 21:21, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

I added edits on an upfront basis assuming people knew who I was. I could easily have logged in as a pseudonym like others do and have my edits accepted, but there is no reason to revert my edits unless there is a reason to. I thought it better that I do this in my own name for transparency. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jim Monaghan (talk • contribs) 23:29, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Daddy Dog record
Its true - although I cant find a source for it Ms medusa 16:24, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * OK now found source Ms medusa 16:27, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Shazgal.jpg
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If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 16:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Please note: the second sentence of the paragraph which commences 'Tommy Sheridan claimed in court that the ...' is inaccurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.146.55.192 (talk) 18:03, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Arrest at warrant sale
I think the second line of paragraph two contains an inaccuracy: "and was jailed for six months for trying to stop a warrant sale". As I recall, he was arrested and imprisoned for breaching an interdict forbidding his presence at the warrant sale. His six month sentence was, therefore, not for interfering with the sale but for contempt of the court's order. Cpmac (talk) 13:31, 21 February 2008 (UTC)Cpmac

Why is Sheridan's show-business career being deleted? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.146.54.76 (talk) 12:26, 11 May 2008 (UTC) Because he shouldn't be whoring himself to stuff like Shitlebrity Big Brother. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.31.14.158 (talk) 19:29, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Ahem, if you paid attention you'd see that Sheridan used the money to pay for his time at University. If you could get that amount of money for 5 days work you'd do it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.133.7.38 (talk) 17:40, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

European election
I am not disputing that there have been reports in the press that Sheridan might contest the european election, but I have seen other reports that he has decided not to stand, presumably deciding to concentrate on his legal case. Can anyone clarify? PatGallacher (talk) 13:23, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

He was on the party list for No2EU-Yes to Democracy, a left wing Anti-EU group, that realistically had no chance of winning anything. Sheridan was 2nd on the list if I remember the ballot paper correctly. All I know is that in Scotland they got only 7,000 odd votes, so obviously got no-one elected. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.108.169.73 (talk) 22:54, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Substance Abuse?
"Sheridan denies drinking the champagne and the claim of substance abuse"

He's an adult who, allegedly, imbibed cocaine through free choice. I don't think the term 'Substance abuse' covers this. 'Substance Abuse' is a clumsy term, I believe the term 'Cocaine user' or 'used cocaine' is much more accurate and correct. Thru-a-hoop (talk) 06:47, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

This article, and the one on the trial, is likely to experience a lot of hits on Wednesday. I suggest we give them a careful copyedit before then. PatGallacher (talk) 21:09, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Bug
"In March 2007, Sheridan claimed his car had been bugged. He said he didn't believe MI5 were responsible.[41]" The source cited states no such thing. If he did state this it wasn't in that source. Alan G, 20 March 2011 —Preceding undated comment added 13:48, 20 March 2011 (UTC).

 * This is correct. The citation from the The Herald (Glasgow) says "The Herald understands that detectives are taking the investigation seriously and that the device is not of the kind used by British security services."-- ♦Ian Ma c  M♦  (talk to me) 14:16, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

 * True but the article on wikipedia reads as if there is a quote attributed to Sheridan stating that. The Herald article doesn't attribute the quote to anyone. Sheridan talking about MI5 was received with mockery on various corners of the net and he responded by saying he never made any such claim. Anyone looking into that issue might think this article gives credence to his later claims by implying that from the start he was denying MI5 involvement.Alan G, 22:06, 20 March 2011.

 * The current wording in the article has stuck to what the Glasgow Herald article says. The material that was unsourced was removed.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 07:17, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Sheridan "due to leave jail"
In the news today: "Tommy Sheridan is expected to be released from Castle Huntly open prison - just over a year into his three-year sentence".BBC News-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 07:12, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

 * Apparently he has got to wear an electronic tag for the next six months, but this did not seem notable enough for the article. It is in the citations.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 06:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Coulson's alleged perjury
I've added that Coulson's been charged with perjury to the lead, but it might be better being moved to the illegal surveillance section, where there is earlier info about it. CS Miller (talk) 19:21, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

 * Done. Philip Cross (talk) 20:52, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 09:02, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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First line of lede
Does anyone want to suppor the IP's repeated attempts to insert "and convict" in the first line of the lede? We cover the issue in the article and even in the lede, but it seems WP:UNDUE to me to add this to the first line. Is this really what he is known for? Meters (talk) 05:40, 15 January 2018 (UTC)
 * No, it's just a cheap attempt to violate WP:NPOV and WP:BLP. His main source of notability is as a politician and the libel action and subsequent prison sentence are given adequate coverage in the WP:LEAD. See also Jonathan Aitken.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 05:50, 15 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the confirmation. Meters (talk) 05:56, 15 January 2018 (UTC)
 * I totally agree with . ‑ ‑ Gareth Griffith‑Jones The Welsh Buzzard ‑ ‑ 11:23, 15 January 2018 (UTC)
 * IP has been blocked again, this time for edit warring to add "and ex convict" to the first line of the lede. That's no more acceptable than the first version. Meters (talk) 19:11, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Tommy Sheridan


text:
Jennifer Arroyo

Jennifer J. Arroyo (born March 20, 1975) is an American bassist best known for her tenure in the Canadian heavy metal group Kittie.

While living in the Washington, D.C. area, she was the bassist for the rap metal band Spine. The band released two albums, and was quite popular in the Mid-Atlantic music scene, but did not manage to go much further, eventually breaking up.

Her career in Kittie started after Talena Atfield left Kittie in 2002 without citing any official reasons. Jennifer had previously befriended the band when she was with Spine while filming a performance on the short-lived television show Farmclub.com in Los Angeles. With a vacancy in the band, the remaining band members of Kittie invited Jennifer to join their band full-time.

On March 23, 2005, Morgan Lander made a post indicating that both Marx and Arroyo had left the band. Arroyo's split was amicable while Marx's was a surprise. Financial reasons were cited as well as, in the case of Arroyo, the desire to work outside Kittie full-time.

Jennifer Arroyo is the bassist for the New York band Suicide City. She also runs her own production company, Jenncity Productions in New York City and was featured in the May 2007 issue of Revolver magazine. Arroyo was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards. Her contributions assisted the careers of upcoming independent artists. Arroyo has agreed to continue with her contributions and is a judge for the ninth annual Independent Music Awards.

In July 2012, Arroyo became a contestant on CBS's Big Brother 14. After 67 days, she was evicted from the house, placing fifth in the competition.

Arroyo is openly lesbian.

title: Jennifer Arroyo


text:
Talk:Shared parenting

suggested website
Shared parenting is very common among separated or divorced couples. Despite their maternal issues, they still have an obligation and a responsibility to take care of their offspring. This arrangement is very convenient for both parties as they have the freedom to get actively involved in their children’s lives and mold them to become responsible citizen as they grow up. It may be difficult for the child to get adjusted with the situation and may not like the overall set-up from the beginning, but still, children must learn that both parents must have a shared responsibility for their own upbringing. (Resource: Shared Parenting)

Good enough? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Live larry (talk • contribs) 06:37, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Joint custody not equal to shared parenting
At present, the article says, "In 2006, Italy passed a law that made joint custody the default arrangement for separating couples." What's the relevance of this to shared parenting? 2A02:8084:6A20:4600:748F:B8D9:3C42:564B (talk) 16:02, 20 November 2021 (UTC)

Indeed this entire article appears to use "joint custody" and "shared parenting" synonymously. In Ireland, for instance, "joint custody" means that each separated/divorced parent legally shares custody and legally has equal rights to make decisions about the child. But, the right to actual parenting -i.e. spending time with the children - has traditionally been given to the mother. This means that the family home is also given to her even if in law the father and mother have "shared custody". So there's a world of difference between "shared parenting" and "shared custody" that this article doesn't capture. Here's a US article on the difference:

"Joint Legal Custody: Parents with joint legal custody retain rights to make decisions about the child’s upbringing, such as their education, religious instruction, legal status, and what kind of medical care they receive. Joint Physical Custody: On the other hand, joint physical custody refers to rights regarding where the child lives and how much time they spend with a parent. In most instances, joint physical custody means that the parents will split the maximum amount of time that they can live with a child. The parents may also opt to make different living arrangements (e.g., the child lives with one parent during the school year and the other in the summer)." 2A02:8084:6A20:4600:748F:B8D9:3C42:564B (talk) 16:35, 20 November 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Shared parenting


text:
Mal de debarquement

Mal de debarquement syndrome (or syndrome du mal de débarquement, MdDS, or common name disembarkment syndrome) is a neurological condition usually occurring after a cruise, aircraft flight, or other sustained motion event. The phrase mal de débarquement is French and translates to "illness of disembarkment".

MdDS is typically diagnosed by a neurologist or an ear nose and throat specialist when a person reports a persistent rocking, swaying, or bobbing feeling (though they are not necessarily rocking). This usually follows a cruise or other motion experience. Because most vestibular testing proves to be negative, doctors may be baffled as they attempt to diagnose the syndrome. A major diagnostic indicator is that most patients feel better while driving or riding in a car, i.e, while in passive motion. MdDS is unexplained by structural brain or inner ear pathology and most often corresponds with a motion trigger, although it can occur spontaneously. This differs from the very common condition of "land sickness" that most people feel for a short time after a motion event such as a boat cruise, aircraft ride, or even a treadmill routine which may only last minutes to a few hours. Since 2020, the syndrome has received increased attention due to the number of people presenting with the condition, and more scientific research has commenced in determining what triggers MdDS and how to cure it. This is also due to the fact that MdDs is now officially recognized (2020).

Symptoms
Common symptoms most frequently reported include a persistent sensation of motion usually described as rocking, swaying, or bobbing, disequilibrium with difficulty maintaining balance; it is never accompanied by a spinning vertigo. Chronically fatigued, sufferers can become fatigued quickly with minimal exertion and some might experience neck and back pain. Other symptoms include the feeling of pressure in the brain, mostly around the frontal lobe area, headaches or migraine headaches, ear pain, ear fullness and possibly tinnitus.

Fluctuations in weather also affect sufferers, in particularly hot weather and barometric pressure changes. Many have photo-sensitivity and find it more difficult to walk in the dark as well as other sensitivities to strong smells including chemical smells. Cognitive impairment ("brain fog") includes an inability to recall words, short term memory loss, an inability to multi-task, misspelling and mispronunciation of words, difficulty in concentrating. Many MdDS sufferers report they are unable to use a computer for any length of time due to the visual over-stimulation, and some are even unable to watch television.

Symptoms can be increased by stress, lack of sleep, crowds, flickering lights, loud sounds, fast or sudden movements, enclosed areas and visual intolerance of busy patterns and scrolling movement.

Research reveals MdDS is not migraine-related and many sufferers have never had migraine symptoms prior to the onset of the disorder. However, for some MdDS sufferers there may be have been a correlation between migraine and some pathophysiological overlap or even some other precipitating illness.

The condition may be masked by a return to motion such as in a car, train, plane, or boat; however, once the motion ceases, the symptoms rebound or return, often at much higher levels than when the journey first commenced.

The symptoms of MdDS may be extremely debilitating and fluctuate high and low on a daily basis; it greatly affects the daily life and working capacity of sufferers with many having to relinquish work; it also limits most other daily and social activities. Sufferers can have low quality of life in both the physical and emotional realms, comparable to people who have multiple sclerosis with many symptoms being of a similar nature. High levels of disequilibrium can contribute to suffers not being able to drive a car for a long time or walk far and this can create varying levels of anxiety in some or possibly depression due to the significant level of disability.

Diagnosis
MdDS is diagnosed several ways, one being by the symptoms: in particular, the "constant rocking, swaying feeling" and the abatement of this feeling when in motion again and as a matter of exclusion. There are no definitive tests that confirm MdDS, only tests that rule out other conditions. Tests include hearing and balance, and MdDS is generally diagnosed by either a neurologist or an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

Due to the complex nature of the illness, it can be challenging to be properly diagnosed by a specialist. In the past most that suffer from the condition averaged 2–5 medical visits before being diagnosed. Due to the complexity of MdDs most patients self-diagnose, with access to internet information, and confirm their diagnosis with an MdDS specialist. The lack of knowledge of the condition and limited resources leaves patients with limited options. Those options include benzodiazepines, physical vestibular rehabilitation, and migraine medications. Additionally, patients have seen improvement with non-invasive brain stimulation methods, though the long-term implications of this treatment is still to be seen.

Treatment
There is no known cure for MdDS, as with most balance and gait disorders, some form of displacement exercise is thought helpful (for example walking, jogging, or bicycling but not on a treadmill or stationary bicycle). This has not been well-studied in MdDS. Medications that suppress the nerves and brain circuits involved in balance (for example, the benzodiazepine clonazepam) have been noted to help and can lower symptoms; however, it is not a cure. It is not known whether a medication that suppresses symptoms prolongs symptom duration or not. Vestibular therapy has not proved to be effective in treating MdDS.

Additional research was undertaken by Dr Yoon-Hee Cha into the neurological nature of this syndrome through imaging studies but later withdrawn due to faulty study hypothesis.

Epidemiology
The condition is thought to be under-reported in the medical literature. A study of 27 cases conducted by Timothy C. Hain in 1999 noted all but one patient to be female. The average age in this series was 49 years. This apparent gender disparity, however, may be due in part to the fact that the questionnaire which formed the basis of the study was circulated in a publication with a predominantly female reader base.

Subsequent studies have produced conflicting results with regard to the gender distribution of MdDS. The trends in Hain's report have recently been supported by the MdDS Balance Disorder Foundation, in a study of over 100 individuals diagnosed with MdDS. The female:male ratio was approximately 9:1; the average age of onset was 43–45 years. However, another recent study found that 44% of subjects who had experienced MdDS for 2 years or more were male, suggesting a more even distribution.

It has been shown to occur in excursions of as little as 30 minutes though it has been unclear how long it takes for symptoms to occur. The most commonly reported inciting event was a prolonged ocean cruise (~45%); however, shorter boating excursions (~22%), aircraft travel (~15%), and automobile travel (~8%) have all been described.

Mal de Débarquement syndrome has been noted as far back to the times of Erasmus Darwin in 1796, and Irwin J. A. (1881) "The pathology of seasickness".

Cases of MdDS have been reported in children as young as eight and in both genders. Men may have a more difficult time obtaining a diagnosis due to the disparity of women reported. When sailors and soldiers returned from World War II, the syndrome was reported at a higher rate in males

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
Despite MdDS causing significant disability, therapy for persistent MdDS remains virtually nonexistent. A pilot study has commenced utilizing repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) this being a method of neuromodulation in which a local magnetic field is applied over the scalp to induce an electric current in the cortical structures underlying the coil. Low-frequency rTMS (e1 Hz) induces local inhibition, whereas high frequency rTMS (Q5 Hz) induces local excitation. The TMS studies have proved to help in lowering the symptoms of MdDS if the treatment is ongoing; however, it is not a cure.

Vestibulo-ocular reflex research 2014
At least one clinical trial on readaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex undertaken by Dr. Mingjia Dai from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City produced results for a significant percentage of patients who participated in the program. Dai developed an intervention that provided improvement in symptoms for 70% of the patients in the clinical trial phase. The protocol involved a physical manipulation of the patient intended to readapt the vestibulo-ocular reflex. While the program was no longer in the research phase, Dai continued to accept patients. According to Dai, success was measured as a 50% reduction of symptoms. Since death of Dr. Dai, vestibulo-ocular research are now directed by Dr. Sergei B. Yakushin. During the last nine years Dr. Yakushin published several number of research linked to MdDs such as:

Hormonal Research
Viviana Mucci postulated that MdDs is a hormonal disorder that only occurs in females. This needs further scrutiny due to issues of using only small sample sizes, using only self-reported survey data that they further tweaked within the paper (see table 5's removal of data "Not Sure" that did not fit their hypothesis), and Mucci's belief that there are no men with this disorder. This is why they only surveyed females about menses, ovulation, menopause, and birth control pill usage. They formulated a theoretical mathematic model attempting to explain a theoretical vestibulo–cerebellar loop. The loop between the "right and left vestibular nuclei, and the Purkinje cells of the right and left flocculonodular cerebellar corte" combined with female menses is the origin of the symptoms according to Mucci.

title: Mal de debarquement