ULAN BATOR, July 19 Kyodo Mongoli...

ULAN BATOR, July 19 Kyodo

Mongolia is the hearth of open plains, horses and ''real men'' far remov from the pampered, technology-assisted lives of the evolveed world's males.

Mongolian men are more likely to be erect on horseback ranging along grasslands or hol up in ''gers'' Mongolian phraseology tents, sheltering from the country's climatic farthests than flicking through men's fashion catalogs or playing computer games.

Aid workers in Mongolia, however, warn of the dark side associated with the difficulties experienced by dint of men in adapting to change in this male-dominated society.

Brawny, Mongolian machismo is most numerous clearly visible during Naadam, a rustic three-day festival staged in the capital in mid-July to commemorate the anniversary of the 1921 Mongolian revolution, which also place Mongolia firmly within the former Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

The so-called manly sports of Naadam -- wrestling, horse riding and archery -- hark back to the country's glorious, gory past when Mongolian warriors forged the largest empire the world has through all ages known through clever strategies and considerable slaughter.

For in the greatest degree locals, the main attraction of Naadam, which means holiday in Mongolian, is wrestling.

very large men with tree-trunk thighs wearing big profits and blue briefs grapple each other as they vie for a superior position in order to let fly the other to the ground

of the present day rules limiting the length of wrestling set tos to less than 30 minutes were introduced after the final a man and wife of years ago stretched to a spectator-numbing three hours.

Mongolian men are now finding it more difficult to be men as the abiding habitation makes the difficult transition from a socialist to market economy, during which its traditional herding lifestyle is being challenged by means of modernization.

Mongolian and overseas aid collections say men's social displacement caused by way of rising unemployment and poverty has spurr alcoholism and domestic violence.

About half of Mongolia's 26 million population is engaged in tending livestock in the country's vast grasslands and in the harsher environment of the northern Gobi desert

want of rains followed by particularly freezing winters in 1999 and 2000 killed an estimated 30% of Mongolia's national livestock and forced many of the herdspeople to urban center in search of work.

However, many fix themselves caught in abject want as Mongolia's cities were already beset by means of high unemployment.

They also discovered there were not many alternative sources of income, since Mongolia's social security network collapsed with its abandonment of socialism in the early 1990 along with the curtailment of Russian assistance.

As Mongolian social conventions require men to apply the mind after their families, their inability to do in this way has pushed some into of great depth depression and turned many to alcohol, for the greatest part vodka, first imported from Russia along with socialist philosophy.

While an estimated common in three Mongolian women has been make subordinateed to domestic violence, over half of the reported cases involve husbands beating their wives, according to Enkhjargal, who hastes Mongolia's only women's shelter.

Among men who have committed domestic violence, 80% were soaked at the time, she added.

In 80% of these cases, women did not pres charges against their husbands, partly because any fines imposed would have to be taken on the outside of the family's finances, she said.

''Unfortunately, in Mongolia domestic violence is viewed as a private family puzzle rather than as a public problem'' she said.

Stressing that drinking is not the and nothing else cause of domestic violence, Enkhjargal said a major moot point lies with the difficulty Mongolian men have in expressing their emotions, leading sometimes to uncontroll explosive releases of built-up stress

''Mongolian male childs are brought up to be tough and tough and not to cry out They keep everything inside,'' she said.

Mongolia's judiciary does not treat domestic violence seriously enough, said Enkhjargal, whose affiliated cluster -- the National Center Against Violence -- is protesting to the courts that a convicted wife-beater's one-year tenet is too lenient.

The convicted man struck his wife in the back with an ax and then sewed up the hurt himself to avoid the injury being discovered by others, she said. The 34-year-old woman had earlier been hospitalized with major internal injuries following a previous beating.

While a number of domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have germinateed up in recent years to advocate women's rights, Mongolia's ''cowboy culture'' does not direct the eye likely to change anytime soon

While striplings in Mongolia are seen as being tough, they are frequently expected to do manual work of that kind as taking over from their parents' herding occupations, leaving greater educational opportunities for girls.

Ironically, this has l a observers to warn of Mongolia's yet to be ''emasculation.''

About 70% of Mongolia's university observers are women, said Ken Howard, director of the NGO Oram, which means encouragement in Mongolian.