Article here. Excerpt:

'Boys will be boys. Girls are easier to teach. Boys can't pay attention. Girls listen. We might like to think that access to education has nothing to do with gender any more but these perceptions linger.

Like it or not, there are some accepted differences about educating boys and girls and these become apparent as early as kindergarten.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology Centre for Learning Innovation have found significant gender differences in the quality of the teacher-child relationship present in the first year of school.

They found that teachers - even in the earliest years of school - generally found girls to be more compliant and to display more positive behaviour and approaches to learning than boys.
...
A simple answer is not to separate boys and girls, says Lingard, even though research has shown that boys tend to behave better in a classes where girls are present and that girls do better in same-sex schools.

Article here. Excerpt:

'BOSTON, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A bill calling for prison time and fines for those who perform circumcision on any male under the age of 18 was rejected by the Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts state legislature.

The text of the proposed measure specifically mandated that no exception be given, even though the law would obstruct religious observance of the commandment of circumcision.

The measure also called upon the Department of Public Health to implement an educational program to discourage religious groups from carrying out the commandment of circumcision.

A goal of the legislation, according to an advocate group's website, included enforcement by local police.

Article here. Excerpt:

'NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A wrestling coach sees Title IX being used to discriminate against men. The man who wrote the original legislation thinks it's working well with the numbers of both men and women playing college sports up greatly over the past four decades.

The head of an athletic department in the mighty Southeastern Conference says the biggest problem with meeting gender equity is what he calls the elephant in the room: College football.

"We have 330 varsity athletes, 110 are on the football team," Vanderbilt vice chancellor David Williams said Tuesday night. "So if you want me to get to 50-50, that means I have slots for 55 men other than football."
...
He cited men forced to play club level sports because of cuts in wrestling, track and field, swimming and other sports. He noted Division I has only 17 men's gymnastics programs left, and he gave examples of programs like a wrestling program at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee that recently lost its team despite a $1 million endowment offer.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Long Island, N.Y., woman accused of hiring a supposed hit man for $20,000 to kill her estranged husband has been released from jail after an appeals court reduced her bail last week.

The decision came on the heels of prosecutors' releasing more details about Susan Williams' alleged attempt to have her husband, Peter Williams, killed. Williams has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy in the second-degree and criminal solicitation in the second-degree.

"She's obviously ecstatic to be at liberty today," her lawyer, John Carman, said Friday to reporters outside Nassau County Jail. "She looks forward to being at home to see her children."
...

Assistant District Attorney Jane Zwirn-Turkin argued at the March 10 hearing, and again Thursday, that Williams was a flight risk because of the calculation she is accused of exhibiting while allegedly planning her husband's killing.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The principles and precepts of the American Constitution are once again under attack, this time at the hand of groups that operate under the laudable façade of curbing partner abuse. Aptly taking the name from its signature legislation — the Violence Against Women Act – the self-proclaimed VAWA Mafia is relentlessly working to take us back to an era when persons could be accused, charged, and even convicted of a heinous act without evidence or proof.

These determined women have not only succeeded in passing a gaggle of federal and state domestic violence laws, they have erected a nearly unassailable moral authority that makes it difficult to pose even the most basic questions, like are these programs working? (The answer to that question is an unequivocal “no,” but that’s not the focus of this article.)

It’s well-known that federal domestic violence laws dole out $1 billion a year for programs that often escalate partner conflict and weaken families. But what does that have to do with ignoring the Constitution?

Article here. Excerpt:

'In case you haven’t noticed, America’s boys and young men are in trouble – not doing well in school, lacking ambition, often floundering. Not all of them, of course, but enough to take notice. There's more and more in the news lately about the trouble America's boys are in (“crisis” was the term used in a Newsweek cover story in 2006). As a psychologist with a longstanding interest in gender issues, I have been aware of and upset by this for many years. (And I will freely admit that an important motivator for me is the fact that I have three sons and three grandsons.) What has disturbed me even more has been the response I have often received when I’ve mentioned this issue to female friends over the years. Either they have been unaware of it, surprised to hear that males in college are a distinct minority – now down to 43 percent of college undergraduates -- or they have said something like, So what? You guys had your turn, now it's ours.

From Abusegate Bob:

A new "Abusegate, Investigate!" flyer is now available. The one-page flyer, titled “Distortions, Half-Truths, and Lies” challenges three major myths of the domestic violence industry:

Myth #1. Women are never prone to violence
Myth #2. Domestic violence is caused by sexism
Myth #3. The cure for domestic violence is to break up families

The flyer is suitable for community events, group presentations, to post on bulletin boards, and for other purposes. Groups can print the flyer with their organization's name and address in the lower right hand corner, if desired.

The flyer can be downloaded here (.doc file).

Commercial here.

Let's see if we can get an e-mail campaign against the marketing firm that produced this commercial. How can we find out who made this for Pepto-Bismol?

Kate McCormack

From an IA email:

ACT NOW

No professional medical association in the world has ever recommended infant circumcision. But the Centers for Disease Control is still considering recommending routine circumcision of all infant boys – and they may be doing this very soon.

More than 20,000 intactivists have already added their names to our petition urging the CDC not to endanger our baby boys. Now we're just 3,152 signatures shy of our 25,000-signature goal!

Our plan is to deliver the petitions to the CDC in April to make sure they hear our message. Will you help us reach 25,000 signatures by March 31? Tell your friends, and be sure to share the campaign on Twitter or Facebook.

Story here. Did somebody say females can't be criminals and terrorists? Excerpt:

'For the first time in nearly six years, Chechnya’s Shahidka – or Black Widows – have been linked to a terror attack inside Russia.

On Monday, Russian authorities say a pair of women ignited suicide bombs inside the Russian subway. Nine hours after the morning rush-hour attacks, 37 people were listed as killed in two separate attacks.

News reports have linked the women to embattled northern Caucuses and the Shahidka movement that first sprouted there in 2000. The term is a feminine derivation of shahid, the Arabic word for “witness,” or “martyr.”

The black widows are reportedly Chechen women who have lost husbands and brothers in the fight against Russian military forces. They are generally young, often teenagers. They wear mourning clothes – dressing in black from head to toe.
...
In 2004, during the last terror siege on the Russian capital, nearly all suicide bombers were black widows.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the Noah Baumbach movie Greenberg, out in limited release this Friday, the eponymous main character is having trouble being a man. The 41-year-old Greenberg, played by Ben Stiller, tells his 25-year-old love interest that when he was a kid he dreamed of being an astronaut. Now he can't even drive, much less pilot a shuttle. He sabotaged his career as a musician, so he's trying the old-fashioned, manly pursuit of carpentry. He pretends not to care about his new line of work—he tells his friends he's doing "nothing for a while"—yet Greenberg is seriously wounded when an ex-girlfriend tells him she doesn't remember the bed he built for her. All she recalls are his anxiety attacks.

Story here. Whay aren't they both under arrest and facing charges? Excerpt:

'The father of a 14-month-old child who drowned in a uncovered cesspool in the family's backyard is being held on a $5,600 bond.

Michael Wilson, 20, of Somerton, made his initial appearance in Somerton Justice Court Thursday morning via video feed from the county jail.

"I'm going to hold you on bond due to the nature of the offense," said Somerton Justice of the Peace Jorge Lozano.
...
Wilson's child, Aiden Lee Bailey, fell into an open-pit cesspool and drowned Wednesday, according to YCSO. The child was pronounced dead at Yuma Regional Medical Center after lengthy efforts failed to revive him.

The child's mother, Crystal Bailey, 20, was also interviewed by YCSO deputies. YCSO will be asking the Yuma County Attorney's Office to review the case for potential criminal charges against her as well.

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Millions of white men who voted for Barack Obama are walking away from the Democratic Party, and it appears increasingly likely that they'll take the midterms elections in November with them. Their departure could well lead to a GOP landslide on a scale not seen since 1994.
...
...Among whites, 71 percent of men and 56 percent of women favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services, according to ABC/Washington Post polling.
...
This recession remains disproportionately a "he-cession." Men account for at least seven of 10 workers who lost jobs, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Nearly half of the casualties are white men, who held 46 percent of all jobs lost.
...
...The term "angry white male" or "angry white men" was mentioned 37 times in English-language news media contained in the Nexis database between 1980 and the 1994 election. In the following year, the phrases appear 2,306 times.

Absolutely disgusting what this couple went through. Article here. Excerpt:

'Prosecutors have dropped sexual abuse charges against a St. George couple after determining pictures of the father kissing his naked infant son were scenes of affection, not abuse.

But the undocumented immigrant couple may yet be deported and their U.S.-born son is still in state custody.
...
The sequence of several photos shows a smiling father posing with the boy, according to a motion to dismiss filed Friday in 5th District Court. They show him affectionately holding the baby, kissing his head, forehead and ear. Two of the photos show the father kissing the son's buttocks and genitals.

"These images are consistent with traditional family photos of a proud father with his son," Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum wrote.
...
"Latino people are affectionate. We kiss the little babies anywhere because they love them," Coon said. "It has nothing to do with sexual interaction."