Story here. Excerpt:

'Fathers & Families’ mission is to protect children’s right to the love and care of both parents after divorce or separation. One of the ways fit parents are sometimes driven to the margins of their children’s lives is by one parent using the other parent’s disability or partial disability as a pretext to deny them custody or visitation with their children.
...
Existing California family law codes do not address the issue of disabled parents, leaving the door open for unnecessary and often expensive litigation, even in cases where the disabled parent had been successfully parenting the children for many years prior to the separation or divorce.

SB 1188 will add Section 3049 to the Family Code. It will read:

Blog post here. Excerpt:

'San Francisco’s top public defender, Jeff Adachi, recently called for the city’s crime lab to become independent of the police department. This announcement comes on the heels of a series of scandals in the San Francisco Police Department’s forensic laboratory initiated by the discovery that a criminalist was stealing cocaine from evidence storage facilities. What initially seemed to be a problem with one unethical employee has led to the unearthing of myriad problems within the lab, including two cases of tainted DNA samples. Moreover, a troubling audit was released showing an improper maintenance of chain of custody of evidence, inadequate record keeping, and a lack of cleanliness in the overall facility. Multiple legal challenges raised in the aftermath of the scandal, including a murder case, have pointed to the possibility that police and prosecutors withheld vital information about the drug thefts from defendants’ attorneys.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Washington woman is accused of luring a disabled man into a relationship with promises of marriage and children only to squander thousands of dollars of his money, leaving him suicidal and in debt, investigators say.

Alesha Lair, 23, is charged with theft and domestic violence stemming from what King County prosecutors are calling a "deceptive" two-year relationship with 55-year-old Douglas Lare.

Lare was diagnosed at birth with mild mental retardation and cerebral palsy and has a mental age that ranges between 6 and 12 years old, according to the probable cause report from the Seattle Police Department.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Tampa, Florida (CNN) -- Former middle school math teacher Stephanie Ragusa was teary-eyed Monday as she pleaded guilty to having sex with two underage students.

Ragusa, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced on June 15.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of lewd and lascivious battery in a March 2008 case involving a 14-year-old boy.

She also pleaded guilty to two counts of having unlawful sex with a minor in an April 2008 case involving a 16-year-old student.

Prosecutor Rita Peters said Ragusa had intercourse with the 14-year-old on three occasions between October 2006 and May 2007. Evidence in that case included a phone conversation police recorded with the teen's consent. During the phone call, Ragusa could be heard urging him to keep their encounters secret, Peters said.
...
Ragusa has been in jail since her arrest, and defense attorney Robert Herce said she has spent more time behind bars than several other teachers in Hillsborough County, Florida, who have faced similar charges.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I don't have a son so I've never had to make the circumcision decision. I know which way I'd go, but that's neither here nor there.

And in Madatom blogger Jacob Harper's opinion, it's irrelevant what any mom thinks because moms should not be the ones making the decision of whether or not to circumcise their kid.
...
Harper is one guy who isn't the least bit shy about sharing his opinion. In his blog post "Living the Dream: Uncircumcised in America," he writes about being in the "freaky hooded minority," but says that he's proud not resentful.
...
I do think Harper's post is hilarious and I enjoyed reading about circumcision from his perspective, but what he fails to appreciate is that making decisions that affect their kids' lives is what moms do every day -- on things that go well beyond haircuts. Sometimes it's just not practical to wait 18 years and let your kid make a life-changing decision on his own.'

Article here.

'Durban: In an effort to combat the scourge of HIV and Aids, over two million men will be circumcised in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, BuaNews reported on Friday.

The premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, Zweli Mkhize, said on Thursday this initiative had received overwhelming support from HIV activists and the medical fraternity.

The process will begin on April 11.

Uganda government outlaws female circumcision

In late 2006, two randomised controlled trials on whether male circumcision reduces HIV transmission were halted because interim results showed an overwhelming protective effect, validating the results from an earlier South African trial conducted in Orange Farm.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The White House is stepping up its efforts in the area of Violence Against Women, according to Vice-President Joe Biden who announced an unprecedented $730 million in the President's proposed FY2011 budget to shore up services, help victims find housing and legal assistance, and make sure every call for help is answered.

The United States Vice President, who took his commitment to ending violence against women to Peoria, Illinois where he spoke at the Center for the Prevention of Abuse's Partners in Peace awards, pledged to continue his commitment to change attitudes and to "free women from the oppressive cultural norm that causes them in any way to feel they are responsible for or contributed to their own abuse."

The first Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) hearing was held on June 20, 1990, and over the next four years then-Senator Biden held moving hearings on domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Men in heels and feather boas strutted among an entourage of women carrying signs and chanting on a mile-long loop of downtown Ukiah [link added] west of State Street Saturday morning.

They were taking part in the 9th annual "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event, aimed at making a visual display to stimulate talk in the community about ending sexual violence. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

"It's one of those topics that's taboo to discuss, but Walk a Mile' brings a little humor to it and makes it more approachable for people, so we can address a serious subject and still have a good, uplifting time," said Carissa Johnson, a volunteer coordinator for the inland branch of Project Sanctuary, which sponsors the event. Project Sanctuary is the local battered women's shelter.

One of the organization's board members, Tim Rohan, sported low, red heels and a black tie over a pink shirt and jeans. The pink showed his support for ending domestic abuse and sexual violence, he said.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEW DELHI: In the wake of the raging debate on whether the Domestic Violence Act, enacted for the welfare of women, can be used against them or not, with different high courts expressing "conflicting views", a trial court has set the record straight by holding that female members of a family can be charged under the Domestic Violence Act in case of harassment of a woman.

While giving an interpretation of the provisions for protection of women in the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the court has said that the law provided a wife can file complaint against her husband and his relatives (both males and females). "Section 2 Clause (q) of the Act which provides that ‘an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may also file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner’. The provision includes both male and females," additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said.'

Paper here (.pdf file). Excerpt:

Article here. A great opportunity to leave comments. Excerpt:

Two important developments in the World of Men this week:

Article here. Excerpt:

'FEARS are growing of a generation of young men lost to education after data yesterday showed boys are increasingly turning their backs on the schools system.

While girls remain more likely to continue in full-time education after the age of 16, a report from Careers Wales found that boys are increasingly likely to leave the system altogether.

And though the majority of young people continue with their education once they reach the legal age at which they can leave school, a study found that there has been a slight fall in the percentage of young people expected to go from year 13 into higher education.

The survey showed that, as in previous years, a larger proportion of girls than boys chose to continue in full-time education. The difference is most marked in year 11, with over 6% more girls than boys.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Boys in Kentucky's schools need to work on reading, according to a national analysis of gender gaps in education being released Wednesday.

The Kentucky results generally mirror the national picture, which shows boys trailing girls on reading assessments in most states.

The report, which covers 2007-2008, was prepared by the Center on Education Policy, an independent education advocacy organization. It called the reading performance by boys "the most pressing gender-gap issue facing our schools."
...
In 2008, however, 76 percent of fourth-grade girls tested at proficiency, while the percentage of boys at that level fell to 67 percent.

The difference was more dramatic among Kentucky eighth graders, with 74 percent of girls at proficiency in reading in 2008 compared to just 60 percent of boys. Meanwhile, among 10th graders, 68 percent of girls were at reading proficiency in 2008, compared to only 52 percent of boys.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to reading, boys continue to lag behind girls, according to recent studies.

But it doesn't have to be that way, say a growing number of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky teachers and education researchers. They say schools can close reading gaps by adhering to relatively simple strategies, including:

• Change what boys are required read at school and on tests.

• Give boys more choices.

• Get parents to push reading at home.

• Limit video game time.

• Teach reading comprehension and assign more writing in middle and high school grades; let teachers stray from teaching to state tests.

• Consider separating genders at high school.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The focus was an emerging movement towards men's studies at universities. I think the desire to even out the time and money spent on studying issues unique to each sex -- Women's Studies consume more than 90 per cent of budgets for gender-specific research -- is well intentioned, but I suspect it is ultimately misguided.

What men need most is not to be studied but to be allowed to be men. It is not possible to save or revive masculinity by overanalyzing it.