Article here. If this bill becomes law in India, the penalty for kissing an unwilling victim (i.e. sexual assault) will be identical to the penalty for raping them. Of course, consent is defined subjectively by the victim and need not be substantiated, making such a law rife for abuse. Note the section in the bill which results in life imprisonment for putting one's tongue in the victim's mouth. Excerpt:

'MUMBAI: Drastic changes proposed to strengthen rape and sexual assault laws, so that women have more protection, will almost blur the difference between the two crimes. In fact, reactions to the draft bill, sent to the Union home ministry, have termed it "anti-men" with wide scope for misuse.

While there were indications earlier that the draft might propose a gender-neutral law, the draft uploaded by the ministry to invite responses from the public shows that the amendments specifically target crimes by men against women. Women activists told TOI that the proposals were long-pending and necessary.

Story here. Excerpt:

'An assistant principal at a Florida middle school sent a topless photo of herself to a 14-year-old boy, police say.

Lauren Shreve Tilo, a 30-year-old assistant principal at Middleton High School in Tampa, allegedly sent a cell phone picture of her breasts to the teenager on May 7 after meeting him while playing the popular online game World of Warcraft, MyFoxTampaBay.com reports.

Tilo and the boy were initially just friends before they began exchanging text messages about "conducting sexual acts to one another," according to an arrest report filed in Manatee County, where deputies say they learned of the allegations when the unidentified boy told his guidance counselor.
...
"It concerns us anytime any teacher does anything against the law, but when an adult teacher has this type of interaction with a teenager, it's an additional concern," Cobbe said.'

Letter here.

'Slackers are not only the fathers in divorce cases. When the courts have awarded the father placement of the kids of a relationship, they receive little help from the local child support system.

Kids are the most important part of this equation, and they should have their rights treated adequately. That is not the only abuse that some males are receiving from the state's child support system.

Some of the delinquent parties are women who run businesses in which they hide most of their income so they don't have to fund their children through child support payments.

I feel that the state should look into the treatment of fathers who have been raising their children, not receiving support and not given a fair deal.

I feel that there should be a website, if there is a problem that can be addressed and can be brought out, so each parent and, most importantly, the children can be treated fairly.

James Vanderloop,

Story here. Excerpt:

'Kenyon Eastin, 41, is on day four of a hunger strike from within the Tooele County Jail, protesting the treatment he has received in Utah divorce court.

That's according to man's girlfriend of three years, Niki Hammond, of Stansbury Park (pictured at right with Eastin). Eastin first went to jail for 15 days in January 2009, but was released due to overcrowding. The jail is still over-crowded--Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park even admits the facility is violating people's civil rights due to the crowd--but 3rd District Judge Stephen Henriod sent Eastin back to jail Friday for 30 days for contempt of court and non-payment of child support. Hammond says Eastin can not afford to hire and attorney and has not been appointed one by the court.

Written by Steven J. Svoboda, via email:

Partnership Parenting: How Men and Women Parent Differently—Why It Helps Your Kids and Can Strengthen Your Marriage. By Kyle Pruett, M.D. and Marsha Kline Pruett, Ph.D. Foreword by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2009. 219 pages. $15.95. www.dacapopress.com. Review by J. Steven Svoboda

From Abusegate Bob:

If you don’t sign up for this free Webinar, don’t complain if the VAWA reauthorization doesn’t address the fact that you can’t see your kids because your ex made a false accusation of domestic violence.

Pre-register here: https://www.jwi.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1094. Be sure your questions and comments during the Webinar are polite and constructive!

Scheduled participants include Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women and Judge Susan B. Carbon, Director of the Office on Violence Against Women in the DOJ.

There is no charge for this webinar!

This is your opportunity to ask questions of the leading advisors and federal agencies
on the implementation of VAWA from a funding & policy perspective.

Date/time: Thursday, June 3, 2010 12:00-1:00 PM EST

Register Now: https://www.jwi.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1094. Page reads:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Defendants in rape cases are to be granted anonymity in an unexpected move that women’s groups immediately branded an insult.
...
The announcement over anonymity for defendants in rape trials turns the clock back 30 years to the 1970s, when the Sexual Offences Act introduced anonymity for those accused of rape. It was later repealed. Officials said that details of the change had yet to be decided. It is expected that the ban will be lifted after a suspect is convicted.

The proposal provoked anger among campaigners. Ruth Hall, of Women Against Rape, said that the decision was an insult and a backlash against the rising number of rape reports. “More attention needs to be paid to the 94 per cent of reported cases that do not end in conviction rather than the few that are false,” she said. “If men accused of rape got special rights to anonymity, it would reinforce the misconception that lots of women who report rape are lying. False rape allegations are extremely rare but receive disproportionate publicity.”"

Article here. Excerpt:

'OAKLAND -- From where Mills College students Jessica Brennan and Claudia Cinelli lounged on the edge of the campus' lush Toyon Meadow earlier this week, it's easy to see what's different here from most college campuses: Male students are in short supply. Twenty years ago this month, the meadow was the epicenter of an emotional fight over a proposal to make college undergraduate programs coed. It was a fight that attracted national attention.

Fearing for Mills long-term security if it didn't enroll 1,000 undergraduate students -- it had less than 800 at the time -- the school's board of trustees decided in May 1990 to admit men for the first time in the college's 138-year history. The decision had an immediate backlash: more than 300 students boycotted classes, blockaded administration buildings and sparked a national discussion about the value of women-only education.

Sixteen days later, the school board reversed its decision, and the undergraduate school remained women only. Graduate programs have been offered to men and women since the 1920s.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Proponents of no-fault divorce say that forcing couples to accuse each other of wrongdoing, abuse, infidelity, neglect, can make a difficult process even worse -- not only for the couple but for the children involved and also can lead to tremendous legal costs. "No one cares about no-fault divorce until their marriage is falling apart and they find out, "Oh, my god, there is no no-fault option," said Sen. Liz Krueger, who supports the Hassell-Thompson legislation, "Couples find out they have to allege something that may not really be true."

Bing said the legislation will decrease domestic violence by helping the abused partner get out of a bad marriage quickly. "I think for years there was concern that women in a lesser financial situation than their spouse would be in a bad position," said Bing, "But we've seen it work in other states, and it has reduced rates of domestic violence and the cost of divorce, because people aren't spending years in litigation."

Video here. Essentially, the woman and her lawyer blame the victim and school system for her violent outburst. Her lawyer claims the teacher was not trying to hurt the child but just wanted to get his attention by intimidating him. The teacher also places blame on the boy's mother for not being more active in her son's life. This woman seems void of any sense of accountability and appears to have a million excuses for her actions.

Via email from Philip Cook:

For those interested in tuning in, I will be interviewed tonight (Wed., 5/19/10) at 10PM EST/7PM PST on the G.L. Henderson internet radio show. Subject: Abused Men-The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence. The show airs LIVE every Wed 10pm EST on http://www.artistfirst.com/ to listeners in over 142 nations.

Story here.

'The Batavia Police Department said reports of the abduction of a 14-year-old girl Monday were false and that no abduction occurred.

In a written statement, police said after an extensive police investigation and investigations by the Child Advocacy Center and the Batavia City School District, it was determined the reported victim found herself in a situation where she felt she needed to alter the facts regarding her whereabouts.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Search the University of Toronto faculty for experts on the study of women and you’ll find more than 40 academics with research interests including “women’s mental health,” “women and religion” and even “women’s fast pitch.”

Conduct the identical search for “men” as a research topic and discover two lonely academics, both of whom specialize in gay men.

Of the genders, it seems feminine distinctions have become overwhelmingly more fascinating to the academe.

Witness the well-entrenched women’s studies departments in universities across Canada and the United States — important academic centres of inquiry that have provided a steady pulse for the feminist movement.

Now have a look for men’s studies programs.

Or, don’t bother.

I looked.

As far as anyone in the field can tell, there’s only one in North America, located at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. which offers a minor in the field.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Given that some women will make false rape allegations, shouldn’t the law protect the identity of both the alleged culprit and victim before the courts issue a verdict?
It should, says Dr. Zein Kebonang, a legal expert and former law lecturer at the University of Botswana who is now operations director at Botswana-UPenn Partnership.

It shouldn’t, counters Mpho Mahopolo of Women Against Rape (WAR), a Maun-based NGO.

Kebonang says that once made, the allegation becomes a stigma that attaches itself to the falsely accused for the rest of his life. He suggests that largely has to do with the fact that the court of public opinion is notoriously unforgiving.

Article here. This has been reported a couple times already here on MANN (search on "postpartum" in our search box) but each time, new information is revealed. Good to see interest in it continues. How men are affected when a new baby comes into their lives is important. After all, having babies ain't all about mommy, is it? Excerpt:

'It's not just new moms who get postpartum depression. More than one in 10 fathers become depressed after the birth of their child, too, according to a new study that researchers said underscores the need for more awareness of men's depression.

Postpartum depression in mothers has been well-recognized, but much less attention has been focused on how new fathers fare. That's because women are usually the primary care givers and postpartum depression was considered a condition likely linked to hormonal changes in pregnancy. Experts say treating depression, whether it's in the mother or father, is important because it raises the risk for long-term behavioral and psychiatric problems in the child.