Story here. Excerpt:

'The young pledge said she was told the beatings would "humble" her, that each flesh-rending strike with a wooden paddle would build love and trust between sorority sisters.

It wasn’t hazing, she said they told her. The women of Sigma Gamma Rho at Rutgers University didn’t condone hazing.

For seven nights the beatings went on, she said. In all, she was struck 201 times. On the eighth day — unable to sit, her buttocks covered with blood clots and welts — she went to the hospital. Then she reported it to the university.

Today, Rutgers police said they had arrested six members of the sorority on charges of aggravated hazing, alleging they repeatedly beat at least three pledges between Jan. 18 and Jan. 25. A university official, vice president of student affairs Greg Blimling, and the pledge who spoke to The Star-Ledger put the number of victims at seven.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In addressing intimate partner violence, the focus is usually on women who are physically battered by husbands or boyfriends. However, women sometimes hurt their partners as well.
Previous Section

Women are doing virtually everything these days that men are—working as doctors, lawyers, and rocket scientists; flying helicopters in combat; riding horses in the Kentucky Derby. And physically assaulting their spouses or partners.

In fact, when it comes to nonreciprocal violence between intimate partners, women are more often the perpetrators.

These findings on intimate partner violence come from a study conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The lead investigator was Daniel Whitaker, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and team leader at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (which is part of the CDC). Results were published in the May Journal of Public Health.'

From IA's recent email:

'Over the history of circumcision, there's been one justification after another," said Intact America's Georganne Chapin in a Washington Post article reviewing the debate over routine circumcision last week.

Hundreds of concerned readers have written comments in response to the article's apparent bias in favor of circumcision – and The Washington Post subsequently published a letter to the editor from John Geisheker of Doctors Opposing Circumcision. Read his letter to the editor and post your own comment >>

A new study finds little evidence that circumcision can prevent sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections, and penile cancer. Read the article >>

Story here.

'MADISON, Wis. -- A Wisconsin appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she has been unfairly portrayed as a stalker by the Milwaukee Brewers and radio announcer Bob Uecker.

The District 2 Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of Ann Ladd's claims.

Instead, the three-judge panel said Wednesday that her allegations of defamation and invasion of privacy were either filed after the two-year statute of limitations had run out or lacked a legal basis.

In 2006, Uecker alleged a pattern of stalking and harassment by Ladd. She was charged with felony stalking, but a prosecutor dismissed the criminal charge after a court commissioner issued an injunction barring her from contacting him.'

Article here. Perhaps. But so is the "oops, I forgot to tell you I didn't take my birth control" excuse. THAT is reproductive coercion as well - if not outright FRAUD and hijacking a male's finances for 20+ years. Excerpt:

Experts are studying a phenomenon that brings a whole new meaning to the term 'unwanted pregnancy.

About a decade ago, Elizabeth Miller remembers seeing a certain teenage girl at a hospital clinic for adolescents in Boston. The patient thought she might be pregnant and asked for a test. When it came out negative, Miller started asking the standard questions, inquiring as to whether her patient wanted to be pregnant (she didn't) and whether she was using contraceptives (she wasn't). So Miller explained all of the birth-control options and, as she describes it, "sent her on her merry way with a brown bag of condoms." It was, by most measures, a pretty routine appointment.

Story here. A false-accuser was fouled in her 2+ year assault on the famous magician David Copperfield. Her accusations of being subjected to the crime that dares not speak its name by Mr. Copperfield were exposed as an attempt to extort money from him. She was also charged with being a "common whore" also by the authorities. It is significant to note that out of this ordeal Mr. Copperfield suffered no drop in income from his fan base and is estimated to have made $30 million last year from his performances. I guess getting accused of a sexual assault no longer carries the stigma it once did because so many public men are being accused? Too bad the perpetrator will probably not be charged with a major felony. A false accusation of rape is RAPE. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'-- More men are attending college and graduating with a bachelor's degree, reversing the tendency of female undergraduates to outnumber men and outperform them academically, according to a new report out Tuesday.

One notable exception is young Hispanic men - especially new immigrants - who are falling further behind Hispanic women.

Men account for 43 percent of overall college enrollment and earn 43 percent of bachelor's degrees - figures that have remained consistent since the early 2000s.

However, the analysis by the Washington-based American Council on Education shows the disparity lies largely in the fact that men are much less likely than women to go to college - or return to college - later in life: Undergraduate men age 25 or older are outnumbered by women in the same age group 2-to-1.
...
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission is investigating whether private liberal arts colleges in the Washington, D.C., area are discriminating against women in an effort to better balance their enrollments.

Article here. Excerpt:

'EVER since Betty Friedan urged women to leave the house and pursue careers, people have argued over whether women’s marriages and romantic prospects would suffer for it. Was a financially successful woman a threat to her husband or a relief?

Last week, a report from the Pew Research Center about what it called “the rise of wives” revived the debate. Based on a study of Census data, Pew found that in nearly a third of marriages, the wife is better educated than her husband. And though men, over all, still earn more than women, wives are now the primary breadwinner in 22 percent of couples, up from 7 percent in 1970.

Article here. Excerpt:

'For years, the only reason women would take a step back from their career was to raise a family, but my friends are getting off the treadmill before then.

A new book called 30-Something And Over It - What Happens When You Wake Up One Morning And Don't Want To Go To Work. . . Ever Again sums up the mood.
...
In the book she quotes some interesting statistics. Apparently, 26 per cent of women at the cusp of the most senior levels of management don't want the promotion. One in 15 under-35s have already dropped out of paid work to pursue ' self-improvement', while half plan to do so in the future.

She speaks to several psychotherapists who are seeing as many people in the midst of thirtysomething burnout as they do those with mid-life crises.
...

Story here. Quick, fund more programs for girls! That'll fix the problem! Excerpt:

'CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. economic recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on young Americans, with a record one out five black men aged 20 to 24 neither working nor in school, according to research released on Tuesday.

Teenagers have found it significantly harder to get a job since the recession began in late 2007, with black youths and young people from low-income families faring the worst, wrote Andrew Sum of Northeastern University in Boston, a employment researcher commissioned by the Chicago Urban League and the Alternative Schools Network.

"Low-income and minority youth, who depended on part-time jobs as a significant stepping stone to future employment, have been forced out of the job market and economically marginalized," Herman Brewer of the Chicago Urban League said in a statement.

From MANN reader Ed: Article here. Excerpt:

'Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the most colossal scandal of them all? Watergate? Climategate? Tigergate? If you said 'yes' to any of these, you're not even close!
...
Abusegate refers to our nation's flawed crusade to curb domestic violence (DV). Originally a high-minded and well-intentioned effort, the end-abuse campaign has now fallen prey to an invidious anti-family agenda. In the name of making homes safe, the domestic violence industry curtails fundamental civil rights and often betrays those in greatest need.

Let me count the ways our domestic violence effort has failed to deliver on its promises, all the while undermining our most cherished values and societal institutions:

Fathers & Familes Action Item here. Excerpt:

'Arizona HB 2348 will help protect disabled fathers (and mothers) from child support and alimony abuses—to email and fax a letter in support of the bill, click here.

The hearing on the bill is Wednesday January 27, so please act ASAP. This is a national issue and supporters both inside and outside of Arizona are encouraged to participate.

Although federal law is clear, judges are often ignoring it and calculating veterans’ disability compensation into divorce settlements as a divisible asset. Very often these payments are the only assets a veteran has. When judges include it as income, it creates great hardship for those veterans, who rarely have the resources to hire legal help to contest the taking of their benefits. HB 2348 will help end this practice—to email and fax a letter in support of the bill to all members of the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee to express your support for HB 2348, click here. To call the Committee members, click here.

I found this to be quite funny, well-written, and of course, pathetic. Give 'em an inch they want a mile. Give 'em a mile, they want an inch. And on and on it goes. I don't single women out though for this observation. I see it time and again at work, in what the public or the people expect (from government, etc.), and so on. Of further interest though were also the off-linked articles, which I mention after this excerpt:

'I am stricken with the peculiar curse of being a 21st-century woman who makes more than the man she’s living with — first with a husband for 13 years and now with a new partner. It’s an increasingly common situation, according to a recent Pew study that found that the proportion of American marriages in which the wife makes more money rose to 22 percent in 2007 from 4 percent in 1970.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A lack of confidence in their ability to add, subtract and divide is easily passed on to female pupils, it was disclosed.

The study, which was based on 117 infants in the US, found that many girls had a “significantly worse” grasp of maths after a year of being taught by a nervous teacher.

Academics from Chicago University found that “worries and self-doubt” were not passed on to boys as they rejected the behaviour and attitudes of adults of the opposition sex.

The trend is being fuelled by the fact that the vast majority of primary school teachers are female.

Figures published last year showed that almost nine-in-10 primary teachers in England were women. More than a quarter of schools had no male teachers at all, it was disclosed.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'PITTSBURGH — A woman who lured a pregnant teenager to her apartment, drugged her, cut out her baby, then killed her and tried to pass the infant off as hers was found guilty but mentally ill of second-degree murder and kidnapping.

Monday's verdict against Andrea Curry-Demus, while supported by evidence of her long history of mental illness, was "perhaps more merciful than the defendant deserves," Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning said.

In finding Curry-Demus not guilty of first-degree murder, Manning said he wasn't satisfied that her psychotic delusions allowed her to form the intent to kill.

Curry-Demus, 40, of Wilkinsburg, will be formally sentenced in March, but the second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life prison sentence without parole. She will serve part of her sentence in a prison mental hospital until doctors conclude her illness improves enough for her to serve the rest in prison.