Velvet gloves to iron fists: how complicit are the wives of dictators?

Article here. Predictably, the question is framed in terms of "patriarchy", etc., and it seems the woman's moral agency is minimized, which happens whenever a writer wants to let her off the hook. Still, it's good the topic is now being addressed. Excerpt:

'Popa is the anti-heroine of The Dictator’s Wife, a debut novel by a young British Indian writer, Freya Berry, that explores how tyrants deploy glamorous spouses to soften their image: velvet gloves to their iron fists.

The book poses an important question: to what extent should such women be judged as complicit in their husbands’ regimes? They are often survivors of brutal patriarchy and lack genuine political power. But do they, too, have blood on their hands?

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Why Americans struggle over the future of masculinity

Article here. Excerpt:

'Attacks on traditional ideas of masculinity threaten not only the civic vigor of a society, but also a nation’s ability to compete with others and defend itself from dangers, these leaders say.

“The left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic,” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said in an address to the National Conservatism Conference last fall. “They want to define the traditional masculine virtues – things like courage and independence and assertiveness – as a danger to society.”

“The problem with the left’s assault on the masculine virtues is that those self-same qualities, the very ones the left now vilify as dangerous and toxic, have long been regarded as vital to self-government,” said Senator Hawley, who has become one of the most outspoken conservative leaders to proclaim that American men are in a crisis. “Observers from the ancient Romans to our forefathers identified the manly virtues as indispensable for political liberty.”'

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The Opioid Crisis: Men Are More Than Twice As Likely To Die From Drug Overdose Than Women

Article here. Excerpt:

'The U.S. now averages about 275 drug-related deaths per day, mostly from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Nearly 92,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2020, which was a 30% increase from 2019. It was the highest annual total on record. Preliminary figures suggest 2021 numbers will be even higher.

But there is a concerning truth that is going underreported… Opioids are disproportionately killing our men. American men are more than twice as likely as women to die by overdose. Men 24 to 34 years old are the most likely among all age groups to die from drug-related causes. You could say that the drug-overdose crisis is a crisis of single men.'

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Andrew Yang Is Wrong About Boys and Men

Article here. Excerpt:

'Yang seems to misunderstand the term “toxic masculinity.” He thinks it’s meant to denote that there’s a problem with men and boys themselves. It’s probably because, like most American men, he has been socialized to experience anything short of praise as a threat to his manhood. Therefore, he responds like an entitled teenage boy who needs constructive criticism to be sandwiched between ego-boosting compliments. Yang pleads for less condemnation of problems and more celebration of “positive masculinity” (which he fails define). However, he’s comfortable disparaging other demographic identity groups; he carelessly launches familiar critical tropes about single motherhood and non-heteronormative family organizational structures.
...

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Between The World And Men

Article here. Excerpt:

'This is a real problem — and it’s wonderful that Andrew Yang understands this, even though the Democrats don’t seem to. And it’s a problem not just for men but for society as a whole. Rearing a cohort of under-employed, disaffected, fatherless men who are alienated from mainstream culture, denied responsible male role models, and robbed of jobs they once took for granted and could support a family with is, well, asking for it. Adding a whole bunch of contempt doesn’t make it any better. In fact, it is making it a whole lot worse.
...

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UK:Deputy police chief quits after 'too many women' comments

Article here. Excerpt:

'Luke Stubbs also claimed at a Hampshire fire authority meeting in December that equality goals "only benefit women and minorities".

The comments were widely criticised and he subsequently apologised.

Mr Stubbs has since stepped down, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned.

He made his comments at a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service authority meeting where plans to hire more women and people from minority ethnic groups were outlined.

Mr Stubbs said: "Government - and I think this is wrong - is bringing in quota programmes across the public sector, but only where it benefits women and minorities.

In areas where it's mostly men it has to be 50/50, but in areas where it's mostly women there's no change."

Stating the fire service's control room was 84% women, he said: "I would like assurance that steps are being taken to reduce that."'

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San Francisco, The Land of the Lotus-Eaters

Article here. Excerpt:

'In Homer’s great epic the Odyssey, the land of the Lotus-Eaters is a place where inhabitants and wayward sailors live in drug-induced states. In this place, men forget about families and responsibilities and drift into a never-ending delirium supported by a never-ending supply of narcotics. The only escape is being forcefully taken away, kicking and screaming, as addicted sailors beg for the sweet lotus. Something we recognize today as heroine and opioid dependency.

San Francisco, the city by the bay, is America’s very own land of the Lotus-Eaters, where thousands go to imbibe in drugs, and many go on to die. “City-funded service providers supervise people smoking fentanyl and meth they buy from drug dealers across the street,” according to a story written by Michael Shellenberger and later confirmed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

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The data are clear: The boys are not all right

Article here. Excerpt:

'The data are clear. Boys are more than twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; are five times as likely to spend time in juvenile detention; and are less likely to finish high school.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t get better when boys become adults. Men now make up only 40.5 percent of college students. Male community college enrollment declined by 14.7 percent in 2020 alone, compared with 6.8 percent for women. Median wages for men have declined since 1990 in real terms. Roughly one-third of men are either unemployed or out of the workforce. More U.S. men ages 18 to 34 are now living with their parents than with romantic partners.

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Charges are dropped against ex- teacher, 26, after she marries student she was accused of having sex with

Article here. Excerpt:

'Prosecutors have dropped charges against a Missouri high school teacher after she married the student she was accused of having sex with.

In February 2019, former Sarcoxie High School teacher Baylee A. Turner, 26, was charged with having sexual contact with one of her male students following an investigation by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, the Joplin Globe reported.

Turner, then 23 years old, was a first-year English teacher at the high school when she was accused of having sexual intercourse with a student in January 2019, leading to her resignation.'

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Men and the Human Papillomavirus

Article here. Excerpt:

'HPV comes in more than 170 forms (with certain subtypes being more ‘deadly’ than others) and typically transmits through sexual activity. Despite it spreading equally easily and causing cancer in both males and females, there tends to be surprisingly low awareness of what HPV is among men. It is unbelievable to me that the term doesn’t even ring a bell among the highly educated male friends in my social circle, with some even confusing it with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). Findings in recent scientific studies appear to align with my anecdotal observations.

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Caitlin Moran: ‘My brother says it’s easier to be a woman – I can see his point’

Article here. Excerpt:

'She says her next book will be about men. “When my brother moved in, he kept saying all these things against feminism. The thing he kept saying over and over again is ‘it’s easier to be a woman these days than it is to be a man’.”

“I started to see it from his point of view”, she says. “If any woman has a problem there is another woman who will be able to talk to her about that problem. We are surrounded by this informal, beautiful sisterhood network that we’ve built up called feminism.”

“Men don’t have anything like that,” Moran continues. “Men can’t talk to each other about their problems. There are no songs about how great it is to be a boy. If you said I want to talk about the problems of men, you would get laughed at.” The void, she feels, is leaving boys open to the influence of “right-wing commentators like Jordan B Peterson who are astonishingly unhelpful for young men”.

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Founder of domestic abuse charity investigated after tweet saying service is for women only

Article here. Excerpt:

'A woman who runs a charity to help victims of domestic abuse is being accused of a hate crime and was interviewed by police after stating publicly that the charity was only for women. Officers told Murray: "We need to speak to you to ascertain what your thinking was behind making your statement." Police have since been accused of investigating "thought crimes" by advocates Roddy Dunlop QC and Joanna Cherry QC.

Nicola Murray, founder of Brodie's Trust, a UK charity intended to support "women who've suffered pregnancy loss through domestic violence or forced termination," was interviewed by police on her comments that Brodie's Trust would "remain a female only service, run by women, for women, and will not be intimidated into changing our stance on this matter," The Times reported.'

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Woman reveals why men shouldn’t ask to split the bill on dates: ‘Make his pockets hurt’

Article here. Excerpt:

'A woman has sparked a debate after she revealed why she thinks women should not have to pay when going on a date with a man.

In a TikTok video posted this past November, Kiera Breaugh claimed that men shouldn’t expect a woman to split the bill on a date. And if they do, it is an “effect of the patriarchy.”

“One of the most insidious and ridiculous effects of the patriarchy is literally women paying 50/50,” Breaugh said.

“Men going around being like: ‘It’s 2021, equal rights, right? You’re going to pay 50/50,’” she continued. “The fact that men expect 50/50 from women when women don’t get 50 per cent of anything.”

She further claimed that, compared to men, women do not receive 50 per cent of the “money,” “safety,” “privilege,” or “space.”'

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Swimming Australia report calls for coach quotas, promotion of gender equality

Article here. Excerpt:

'Among 46 recommendations, the report calls for the establishment of a group to promote gender equality within swimming "to address areas such as leadership opportunities for women as coaches, officials, administrators and executives."

It recommends quotas to ensure the representation of women at the advanced and performance coaching level and calls on Swimming Australia to "never again select an all-male team" to manage national and international competitions.

The report recommends no less than two women when four or more coaches are selected, and at least one woman where there are three or fewer coaches.

The report also addressed Swimming Australia's complaints system, calling for a character test in the selection criteria for coaches and support staff.

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Study: Men more likely to lash out at work over gender challenges

Article here. Excerpt:

'New research out of Oregon State University found men were more likely than women to respond negatively to gender threats in the workplace.

According to the findings, published Jan. 2022 in the Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes journal, male employees were more likely than their female counterparts to lie, cheat, or steal at their jobs when they felt their gender identity had been challenged.

Oregon State University’s Keith Leavitt, who was the lead author of the publication, “Fragile or robust? Differential effects of gender threats in the workplace among men and women,” said in addition to lashing out, men also became less willing to help in workplace scenarios when they perceived their gender had been threatened.'

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