Via Marc A.: All right, who put acid in my coffee? I actually see the NY Times printing a male-positive article and acknowledging maternal gatekeeping as a factor in the shortage of father involvement. No way. What's next, acknowledging the actual number of male DV victims? Excerpt:

'Uninvolved fathers have long been accused of lacking motivation. But research shows that many societal obstacles conspire against them. Even as more fathers are changing diapers, dropping the children off at school and coaching soccer, they are often pushed aside in ways large and small.

“The walls in family resource centers are pink, there are women’s magazines in the waiting room, the mother’s name is on the files, and the home visitor asks for the mother if the father answers the door,” said Philip A. Cowan, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who along with his wife, Carolyn Pape Cowan, has conducted decades of research on families. “It’s like fathers are not there.” '

Story here. It took 6 years and is only a million dollars (lawyers will probably get most) in restitution but it is still a win. I think the main issue here is that a man actually decided to fight back against the ingrained misandry of this society and won! I doubt he will be on Larry King Live or Oprah. Excerpt:

'LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Lawry's, a California-based chain of high-end steakhouses, has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a sex-discrimination lawsuit that claimed it only hired women to wait on tables.

...Under the EEOC consent decree, Lawry's has agreed to actively promote the hiring of men into server position among other remedies.

The EEOC launched an investigation into the case after a male employee at Lawry's sued the chain in March 2003, arguing that he was denied a job as a server because of his sex.
...
However, since the complaint, the company "undertook substantial efforts to remedy the matter."

Story here. Excerpt:

'The image of young women in a hot, dusty combat zone toting automatic weapons is still startling to some.

But right now there are 10,000 women serving in Iraq, more than 4,000 in Afghanistan. They have been fighting and dying next to their male comrades since the wars began.

"I can't help but think most Americans think women aren't in combat," says Specialist Ashley Pullen who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor in 2005 for her heroic action in Iraq where she served with a military police unit. "We're here and we're right up with the guys."
...
Nevertheless, women serving in support positions on and off the frontlines, where war is waged on street corners and in markets, are often at equal risk. There have been 103 women who have been killed in Iraq and 15 others in Afghanistan.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A New Jersey mother whose inability to understand English apparently misled her to believe that her children would be taken away stabbed her 8-year-old son with a steak knife, then tried to kill herself, police said.

Elida Marroquin was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, child endangerment and weapons offenses following Saturday's incident at the family's home in Bergenfield. Bail was set at $500,000, and both she and the child were expected to recover from their wounds.
...
Authorities said the 37-year-old married mother of three, who does not read English well, grew stressful and mistakenly feared she would lose custody of her children after receiving several letters from their school in recent weeks.
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She and her son were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where doctors removed the boy's gall bladder and treated his mother for a puncture wound to the neck. Both remained hospitalized on Sunday, and the mother will soon undergo a psychiatric evaluation.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'London, England (CNN) -- A baby born with a severe birth defect put its parents on opposing sides in a British court Monday over whether to switch off the child's life support.

The mother sides with doctors and favors disconnecting the baby's respirator. The father took the case to the High Court in London to stop them.
...
The father took the case to court to stop them.

He says the baby can play and recognize its parents. His lawyers plan to show videos of the baby in court to demonstrate he responds to the world around himself.
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The Mayo Clinic, one of the leading hospitals in the United States, says on its Web site that "different forms of CMS vary widely in their symptoms, from mild to severely disabling. With accurate diagnosis and appropriate therapy, even potentially fatal forms can usually be treated successfully."'

Read the article here. The same old dribble written by a woman whose mother is one of the newspapers editors. Excerpt:

'According to the University of Alberta, the salaries of recent female business graduates narrowly exceeded those of their male counterparts for the first time. In the U.S., a recent study called the Shriver Report found that half the American work force is now composed of women.
...
Despite working harder and in greater numbers than ever before, women are still earning less than men in the same jobs over all and taking most of the responsibility for housework and child care.

In essence, the plight of women is like that old morale-boosting management trick: the no-compensation promotion (also known as the non-raise raise). It's all very flattering until you realize that you have just taken on twice as much work and responsibility for no extra pay or respect.
...

Via email:

"I've been seeing this television commercial for a new TV show set to air this fall on the CW television network called "Vampire Diaries". In the commercial a man asks a woman for a kiss, then the woman hits the man. She is then referred to as "spunky" for hitting him.

To add to the apparent unapologetic attitude of the network in airing a commercial depicting violence towards men, CW actually named this particular promo commercial "Spunky". Appalling. So if a man hits a woman it's shameful but if a woman hits a man, she's spunky... gotta love that."

Ed. note: The slap is at around 00:23 in the commercial. Comments to the studio can be submitted via their site here.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Having reached the age of 38 without meeting Mr Right, Karen Shefras decided to become a mother by using donated sperm.

As a result, Karen, who runs her own company, has never met her ten-month-old daughter's father. The closest she came to him was at the clinic where five of her eggs were injected with sperm donated by the dark-haired and intelligent businessman.

'Ideally, it would have been nice to have met a man and had a baby the conventional way,' says Karen, now 41. 'I always pictured myself getting married - but it just didn't happen.
...
But the most telling thing of all is that Karen still hopes to meet 'Mr Right' - a positive sign at least that having a baby without a man does not remove a woman's emotional need for a life partner.

'I really do hope a man comes along,' she says. 'I can't see myself without a man for ever.'

In the end, perhaps the truth is that, for complete fulfilment, women need both a partner and children.

Article here. Excerpt:

'British police inspectors have been building a massive, secret database containing personal information on thousands of otherwise innocent political activists, an investigative report revealed Sunday.

"The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor 'domestic extremists', the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime."

The UK paper added that the term "domestic extremist" has no legal basis, but is instead intended to tar those who may have participated in something so benign as civil disobedience.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A woman convicted of killing her husband by tying him to their bed and stabbing him almost 200 times will get a new punishment phase because of ineffective assistance of counsel in her trial, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Susan Wright deserves another opportunity to convince a jury that she deserves a lenient sentence.

Her attorney, Brian Wice, said jurors should have heard from certain witnesses, including Jeffrey Wright's former fiance and an expert on battered women syndrome.

If her attorneys can convince a new jury that Wright killed in “sudden passion” her punishment would be capped at 20 years.

If jurors decide against sudden passion, she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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“I'm ecstatic,” Davis said. “I'm very happy she will have a new sentencing hearing and, hopefully, obtain some justice.”'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Houston Police Department has created new investigative unit to handle domestic violence crimes.

The unit, dubbed the Special Crimes Division, will focus on domestic crimes against women and families.

The division is comprised of the department's Family Violence Unit and the Sex Crimes Unit, which were both previously part of the Homicide Division.

“We believe this realignment of resources, coupled with additional allocation of personnel, will assist us in our efforts to help people victimized by theses types of violent crimes,“ Chief Harold Hurtt stated in a news release today.
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“I salute Chief Hurtt and the Houston Police Department for creating this division that will better serve and protect our citizens,“ Lykos stated in the department's news release. “This initiative will reduce violence, ensure compassionate assistance to victims, and enable more effective prosecution of predators.“'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the city’s rich history of fraud schemes, the cases described this week by the city’s Department of Investigation would not seem to rank up there with mortgage scams or fake Medicare patients: Six women were accused of posing as victims of domestic violence to gain subsidized housing.

Such cases are so rare, and the issue so sensitive, that city officials and advocates for domestic violence victims said that they are not usually on the lookout for fraud when people come forward with claims of abuse.
...
No documentation is required to prove abuse, said Barbara Brancaccio, a spokeswoman for the city’s Human Resources Administration, which operates domestic violence shelters.

At the shelters, employees occasionally discover that women have exaggerated their abuse, but they are not forced to leave the facilities, Ms. Brancaccio said.
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That said, the system is not “set up to catch people,” she said, adding that she has never encountered a case of fraud.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'DISGRUNTLED Eastern Cape traditional leaders want the Health Department to relinquish all powers vested in it to save initiates’ lives during the forthcoming summer initiation season.

The traditional leaders recently launched a bid to have the Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act amended.

About 54 boys died and 13 others lost their genitals because of botched circumcisions during the winter circumcision season in Transkei.
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Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) provincial secretary Chief Xolile Ndevu said this week the leaders wanted “complete power” to drive the tradition.

According to the Act, traditional surgeons and their attendants cannot perform circumcisions unless they are approved by a medical officer appointed by the department. No initiation school may operate before obtaining permission from the local medical officer.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Teenage boys are over represented in stand down and suspension rates, less likely to gain university entrance than their female classmates and more likely to leave school before 17, a Ministry of Education report says.

The report, “Boys’ achievement: A Synthesis of the Data”, gives a number of examples of this discrepancy between the sexes including that as many as 72 per cent of all suspensions and stand downs in 2006 were boys, and that 10 per cent more girls will gain university entrance than boys.

The answer, the reports says, involves ensuring male students are “engaged in, and excited by, their learning, and able to achieve their full potential”.

A new initiative from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) aims to address these concerns and the discrepancy between males and females in education by reaching out to male students in year 10, before they lose interest.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A JOB-SEEKER claims he was refused the chance to apply for a job because of his sex.

Former construction worker Rob Stevens was told there was "little point" applying for a part-time sales assistant position at Hobbs womenswear because he is a man.
...
His wife, Sally, 41, said: "My husband went into Hobbs to pick up an application form and was asked who the form was for.

"When he replied that it was for himself, he was told that there would be little point as they normally employ women.

"When he said that this was discrimination, he was asked to leave the shop.

"The Hobbs website says they are an equal opportunities employer – this is clearly not the case."'