Article here. Excerpt:

'Something that I often get asked is “aren’t feminists just being reversely sexist?” or “isn’t feminism just reverse sexism?” No, and no. There is no such thing as reverse sexism. First of all, let’s establish a working definition of sexism: Just like how racism = power + prejudice based on skin color, sexism = power + prejudice based on gender. When talking about the various forms of oppression, many people often confuse prejudice with the ism. From Failure to Communicate:

That “+ power” portion of the equation is one of the most important parts. This is not to say that the disenfranchised cannot be prejudiced, because many of them are, but without power, they are not actually working within the systematic framework of advantage created by the majority to privilege themselves.

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK — The vicious hair-pulling of an opponent was inexcusable. But prominent advocates of women's sports say that so, too, has been much of the commentary generated by the popular video of college soccer player Elizabeth Lambert's combative tactics in a recent game.

"Catfight" has been a term commonly used in cyberspace reactions to the video clip now seen by millions of people around the world. One Web site ran a poll: "Do you find violent women sexy?" Some bloggers — lapsing into old stereotypes — suggested Lambert's menstrual cycle was a factor.

"It's clearly sexist," said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, as she assessed the overall reaction to Lambert's rough play in a Nov. 5 game between her New Mexico team and Brigham Young.

"It's obvious there are still some people in this country who just can't accept that women want to play sports, and sometime sports get rough."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Forty some odd years ago, feminists bellowed their way into mainstream attention, launching a major offensive on what they called a patriarchal system that had oppressed women for centuries.

Painting women as downtrodden and powerless, they railed against men with the missionary zeal of abolitionists and with largely the same message.

In short, women were slaves and men were their masters. They demanded liberation and have been making demands every since.

They did a magnificent job of pitching all this. That could be a testament to the inherent truth in their ideas. Or it might be something else, like the fact that they already had so much power that few were willing to question anything they said in the first place.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'They are the Topshop generation: young girls more used to partying than protesting; keener on women's looks than women's lib. But now they have had enough. A new wave of feminists, some still in their teens, are putting the struggle for women's rights back on the agenda for the first time in a decade.

The feminist resurgence has spawned a flurry of new blogs, magazines, books, societies, conferences and protest marches – and this time dungarees are out.

On university campuses, women's groups are thriving once more, while hundreds of women each month are joining new feminist networks in cities from Birmingham and Manchester to Glasgow and London.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Feminism has turned many women into unhappy "wage-slaves", with only the better-off able to cope with the exhausting nature of modern life, according to author Fay Weldon.

The novelist, a pioneer of the feminist movement, said the sexual revolution of the Sixties ended the requirement for women to provide "sexual, childcare and cooking services".

However, there were many drawbacks, not least the effect that the demands of feminism had placed on working women, she told the Richmond Book Now Festival.

"The downside of feminism is that women are now expected to go out to work, which some women would rather do than looking after the children anyway," she said.

"Once it was only the men who were wage-slaves, and now it's the men and the women too. You know, I'd really rather blame capitalism.

Story here

'Visalia - 24-year-old Nancy Ortiz cried as superior court judge Joseph Kalashian sentenced her to 15 years to life in prison, for the murder of her own baby, named Angelita by the community.

And he added another seven years for felony child abuse charges.

Ortiz will have to spend 22 years in prison before she could be considered for parole.

The judge called the crimes "callous."

"There were three babies that were abandoned. One of them succumbed to the conditions of the abandonment. This was an egregious case that warranted the sentence," said prosecutor Janet Wise.

Ortiz was convicted of second-degree murder, and three county of child abandonment.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'His mother is in jail, and his protector is the state. His home is a hospital, and his health is nearly as fragile as the day he landed in the ER at Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital.

Weighing just 17 pounds, 3-year-old Kayvon Lewis arrived in the emergency room last month extremely malnourished, dehydrated and at risk of heart failure and liver damage. He can neither walk nor talk. He is blind and suffers seizures, sometimes five a day.

His mother, authorities say, was starving him to death, a form of child abuse so rare that doctors almost never see it.

About 200 children each year die from abuse and neglect in Texas. Kayvon escaped death by a thread.

And as is often the case, a lengthy list of people knew about the boy's eroding condition, but failed to intervene.

“The care Kayvon was given was pathetic,” said Gary Polland, the attorney appointed to represent Kayvon at court after ER physicians had the boy taken into temporary custody by Texas Child Protective Services.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'SALT LAKE CITY - Take some forced family togetherness, the stress of the holidays, a little alcohol in some cases and you've got a recipe that can sometimes end up in family violence.

Police say they deal with family fights every Thanksgiving.

"It becomes an emotional time for all, and it's a stressful time in certain ways," Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley said.

Ogden police said that on Thanksgiving, they get a lot of calls about child custody disputes between bitter parents.

"We become the mediator over some disagreement or disorderly conduct of using the child against one another," Conley told Fox 13 News.

A recent study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and UC San Diego documented police calls about partner violence, taking note of particular holidays. They found a 22-percent increase on Thanksgiving; a 17-percent increase on Christmas; a 32-percent spike on New Year's Eve; and a 28-percent hike on the Fourth of July, among other holidays.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Every school pupil in England is to be taught that domestic violence against women and girls is unacceptable, as part of a new government strategy.

Under the plans, from 2011 children will be taught from the age of five how to prevent violent relationships.

And next year, two helplines will be set up to deal with sexual violence and stalking and harassment.

The charity Refuge has welcomed the move but parents' groups questioned the government's interference.
...

Wanda Sykes has a theory about what happened during the Tiger Woods incident. The bottom line? Tiger Woods was most likely a victim of domestic violence after his wife found out about his infidelity. It would be funny if it wasn't true. The video is here.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a damning report, it was claimed thousands of white British and black Caribbean boys from the poorest backgrounds were being consigned to a “lifetime of crime, drugs and prison” after being failed at school.

The report blamed the “ideological fads” of the left-wing educational establishment.
...
In its annual report, the watchdog said that a “stubborn core” of poor teaching was holding back progress at thousands of schools and warned of a persistent gap between rich and deprived pupils.
...
“Effective ways of teaching children to read have been replaced by a system which completely fails those who find reading most difficult. ...

“Standards of discipline have collapsed. The curriculum has been destroyed. Competitive sports have been run down. An acceptance of failure and a lack of aspiration is found in too many schools.”

Story here.

'A WOMAN who allegedly falsely claimed she was raped at a Hampshire beauty spot has appeared in court for the first time.

Gemma Mann is charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to an alleged incident at Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley on November 14, which sparked a largescale police investigation.

Yesterday, the 24-year-old, of St Clements Way, Bishopdown, Salisbury, attended a preliminary hearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.

No plea was entered and Mann was released on unconditional bail until December 3, when she is due to appear at Southampton Crown Court.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Dr David Shaw, lecturer in ethics at Glasgow University, argues that circumcising boys for no medical reason is unethical.

He wrote in the journal Clinical Ethics that any doctor who does perform circumcision without a medical reason could be guilty of negligence and in breach of the Human Rights Act as the child cannot consent to the operation and it can be argued it is not in their best interests.

Dr Shaw wrote: "Imagine a situation where two adherents of a minority religion ask their doctor to pull off their son’s thumbnails, as this is part of the religion in which they want to bring up their son.

"The pain will be transient, and the nails will grow back, but the parents claim that it is an important rite of passage. I think it is reasonable to say that the doctor would send them packing.'

Article here.

'Males are more likely to be involved in high risk activity such as unprotected sex, abuse of alcohol, multiple partners and low acceptance of condom use.

This is the reason why a greater male population is infected with HIV than women according to the National Advisor on Family Health, Dr Josaia Samuela.

Initiation rites such as scarification, group circumcision, group tattooing and homosexual activity in many Pacific Island nations pose increased risks to HIV transmission.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Recent headlines announced a new AIDS vaccine that was said to show great promise. It was tested in Thailand and found to have a modest effect, 31 percent, on decreasing the acquisition of HIV. Within two weeks it was found that faulty statistical methods were used, and the findings are now in question.

A previous AIDS vaccine by Merck was removed from the market two years ago when it was found that not only was the drug ineffective, but in some cases it actually increased the chance of getting HIV.

Since 1989, multiple attempts have been made to develop an effective AIDS vaccine at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. All have failed, as the virus mutated and became resistant. As these futile attempts continued, 25 million men, women and children died of AIDS, mostly in Africa, but tens of thousands in the United States.'