Men send out SOS

17.05.49: WHEN CONAN CORNELL married Llewanna Simmons last Saturday, the media dubbed the event 'the perfect 21st-century love story'.

In keeping with the "Marriage Is Not Just for Christmas" movement to which both belong, the couple eschewed the normal 10-year contract and signed up for the 20-year minimum life-term, to gasps from the congregation.

Conan is the son of Marlon X, founder of Fatherland. This was the all-male community that flourished for two decades in the wilds of Manitoba and constituted the most radical wing of SOS (Save Our Sperm). SOS campaigned for men's rights in the early years of the 21st century but membership dwindled once IT had established the point that men's ability to produce life was as precious as women's.

Conan is his father's clone. The woman who gave him away on Saturday, whom he calls mother, is really his grandmother. But because of Fatherland's strict rules, he did not get to know her until after his father's death.

Conan insisted he was not rejecting his father's views.

"My dad grew up at a time when men had little say in the rearing of their children; he gave these guys a life purpose. We are still stricken by the problems of disaffected men, but we've also benefited from having well-trained fathers." MF