I wonder how women's studies professors can find a way to make this all about the Evil Patriarchy? A female judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs: three prostitutes just chomping at the bit to ply their trade publicly. You can practically hear the gears grinding away as The Machine tries desperately to find some kind of output that has a man to blame for it all. Excerpt:

'A Toronto judge has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws, effectively decriminalizing activities associated with the world’s oldest trade.

“These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Justice Susan Himel of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice said in Tuesday’s landmark decision.
...

Article here. Great mention of the economy, yet no mention of The Great Unspeakable Marriage Strike, but somehow with plenty of misandry squeezed in there, too. Excerpt:

'Fewer Americans are married than at any time in recorded history, according to Census data released Tuesday.

Just 52 percent of adults 18 and older said they were married in 2009, compared with 57 percent in 2000. For the first time, the 46.3 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 who said they had never married outnumbered the 44.9 percent who were currently married.

The recession was causing more adults to linger outside the church before walking down the aisle, experts said.

"Men's employment has taken a big hit, and when the guy doesn't have a stable job, couples are more hesitant about tying the knot," said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, noting that employed men are "not getting drunk on a Wednesday night; work is helpful to civilize a man."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Despite surviving from Roman times, the humour no longer considered acceptable, according to officials at the London Borough of Barnet.

The edict was issued in a 12-page booklet entitled Cultural awareness: General Problems which came to light through a Freedom of Information request.

It states: “Humour can be incredibly culture-specific, and is very open to misinterpretation or even offense [sic] by other cultures. And don’t forget when you don’t know what people are laughing at, it is very easy to imagine that they are laughing at you.”

The guide adds: “British mother-in-law jokes, as well as offensively sexist in their own right, can also be seen as offensive on the grounds that they disrespect elders or parents.”

Barnet, the second largest population of the 33 London boroughs, where women outnumber men by 170,000 to 161,500, had been accused of a “sense of humour by-pass” by writer John Sessions.'

Story here. Two women were recently charged in separate cases. One case involved a lesbian couple. The other involved a woman who convinced a boyfriend to beat up her 62-year-old ex.

Hell does occasionally freeze over. Excerpt:

'Two Denver women were formally charged today in separate domestic-violence cases.

Annette Martinez, 47, was charged with second-degree assault resulting in serious injury. She allegedly kicked her partner of 10 years in the face on Wednesday, breaking her nose, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office.

Sophia Newson-Westlund, 47, allegedly drove to her ex-husband's home on Sept. 19 and lured the 62-year-old out of his house.

Another man who was with Newson-Westlund punched and beat her ex-husband repeatedly. Newson-Westlund was charged with third-degree assault of an at-risk adult.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ontario Chief Justice Warren recently recommended “dramatic” changes to the family law justice system that would deny litigants access to the courts if they didn’t go through mediation or arbitration first.

“(O)nly in the event that the alternative dispute resolution process is unsuccessful would access to the costly, time-consuming, adversarial and sometimes acrimonious court process be available to litigants” Justice Winkler said earlier this month in a speech marking the opening of Ontario courts for the current session.

Apparently fine-tuning the system is of little value and a new approach, “a fresh conceptual approach,” is required.

But a report on family law by the Law Commission of Ontario questioned the effectiveness of mediation. It’s no big surprise that our family justice system was found to be lacking, indeed the title of the report refers to our “Broken Family Justice System.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fathers still have the odds stacked against them when it comes to custody battles in the family court system, but are warring parents forgetting what and who they are fighting for?
...
When Paul returned home from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he found his key no longer fitted his front door.

"My wife had changed the locks on the house I was paying the mortgage on, and my kids were inside with her new bloke," he said. "I can't tell you what I felt, trying to make sense of it all. It was a bad dream. She had a lawyer lined up to talk about money and they seemed stunned when I said I wanted contact.

"I had kids because I wanted to be a dad. I am a dad, not a sperm donor."

His little boys were then aged three and 18 months. He hasn't seen them for almost two years and struggles on with his legal battle.'

Article here. Well I doubt we shall see the very last of her any time soon, but the perilous edge on which the UK teetered it seems has been (at least for now) if not avoided, then delayed. Excerpt:

'It took her 30 years to get to the top of the Labour Party but, after just 137 days, her reign is over. Harriet Harman took a final wander through the grand rooms accorded to the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament last week, looking almost wistfully at the view across the Thames, before vacating in preparation for the arrival of the new Labour leader. She will return to the other end of the shadow cabinet table with her colleagues next month, but at least she will have the consolation of having reached the top of a particularly treacherous career ladder.'

Announced on A Voice for Men here. Excerpt:

'Our good friend Bernard Chapin has come up with a plan for some real activism. A men’s voting block. It is such a good idea that I really can’t imagine why no one has done this before. Here is the Inferno-meister himself to explain it, and a link to the Facebook page under the vid.'

Story here. Well, good for her! Can a boy at that high school run on the girl's track team, too? Excerpt:

'She didn't make a tackle, or even break up a pass. Still, Northwestern (Fla.) High School's Jaline DeJesus made history in the Miami school's 38-12 victory over Hialeah Miami Lakes on Thursday night, becoming the first girl to play in a game for one of the top-ranked teams in Florida's highest division, 6A. In fact, Northwestern stacks up well with the best programs in the entire country, too; the Bulls are currently ranked No. 71 in the RivalsHigh 100.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The men’s movement has long carried with it a strong undercurrent of frustration. We lack organization, have made all but inconsequential progress on the political and legal fronts, and remain on the outside of an impenetrable wall around the mainstream media. Countless times the ambitions of MRA’s start up in a flash and falter as just as quickly. Uncle Zed himself has dubbed our tendency to undermine any emergent leaders, and each other, as The Circular Firing Squad.

In other words, we are doing just fine, thank you very much.

From Abusegate Bob:

This flyer was distributed to all 435 Representatives and 100 Senators on Capitol Hill on 9/23/10. The flyer highlights the fact that mandatory arrest policies in 20 states are the cause of 600 intimate partner homicides each year.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Men, according to conventional wisdom, are stubbornly unwilling to apologize. Countless pop psychology books have referenced this reluctance, explaining that our egos are too fragile to admit we’re wrong, or we’re oblivious to important nuances of social interaction.

Sorry to disrupt that lovely feeling of superiority, ladies, but newly published research suggests such smug explanations miss the mark. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, University of Waterloo psychologists Karina Schumann and Michael Ross report that men are, indeed, less likely to say “I’m sorry.” But they’re also less likely to take offense and expect an apology from someone else.'

Article here. Excerpt:

There was a time when middle-class families would prioritise their son’s education over their daughter’s. After all, a well-brought-up young lady from a good family could marry well, while her brother would be expected to provide for his own family. It’s a tradition most people would assume had long since died out, yet, as the Daily Mail discovered, many modern parents with limited funds are choosing to buy their boy’s education, while putting their girl through the state system.
...
Psychologist Tim Francis says: ‘In the state sector, we have a culture of conformity that does not exist in the private sector. The National Curriculum decrees that all pupils progress at the same level and suppresses individuality and “boisterousness”.

Article here. Excerpt:

Can men and women ever compete fairly in a sport like running? Yes, but it requires a little bit of maths know-how. "What time did you get?" It is the first question runners ask of each other when the race is over. But is it the right question? You see, distance running is unfair.

Men experience this unfairness as they get older. Ten miles into a half-marathon, older men can only struggle on with growing irritation as younger men - men who would not have stood a chance against them in their prime - sail past. For women, the feeling of injustice comes as soon as we start racing.

Story here. Excerpt:

'There now are more collegiate rifle teams for women than there are for men. More schools offer women’s equestrian teams than men’s water polo teams. Quinnipiac has seven sports for men and 14 for women. UCLA has a swimming team for women but not for men.
...
To achieve gender equity amid enrollment shifts and reduced revenue, colleges have been chopping men’s sports, with at least half a dozen on the endangered list and a couple facing extinction.

“Every April, you hear about the spring slaughter,’’ said Minnesota men’s gymnastics coach Mike Burns, whose program is one of 17 remaining in a sport that numbered 124 in 1972.
...
With female students now outnumbering males at most schools and the number of big-roster football programs rising from 497 in 1981 to 633, colleges are finding it more difficult to keep their programs in balance. In 2006, James Madison, which has a 60-40 female-male ratio, dropped 10 sports, including women’s gymnastics, fencing, and archery.'