Anyone who has ever read more than a few of columnist Amy Alkon's 'Advice Goddess' blog posts knows that Amy has a tendency to report on Islamic 'oppression' of women while conveniently forgetting to mention that culture's wrongs committed against men. Case in point:

In her "How's it Hanging" blog post of October 20th, she describes how women in the country of Somalia are being whipped merely for wearing bras. Her post has a link to the original source, in the U.K. Daily Mail (news article here), and a little probing beneath the surface, i.e. clicking on the link, does indeed verify her claim. However, the same article also mentions a few minor examples of problematic treatment of men:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Violent crime committed by women has soared since Labour came to power, it is revealed today.

The number of women found guilty of murder, vicious assault and other attacks has risen by 81 per cent since 1998.

The massive increase, revealed in the Government's own data, means that women are now being convicted at the rate of more than 200 every week.

Murders have more than doubled, life-threatening woundings are up by a fifth and common assault has soared by 151 per cent.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A man was arrested for indecent exposure for being naked in his own kitchen. WTRV reports the circumstances:

29-year-old Eric Williamson says he walked into his kitchen to make coffee. Since he was home alone, he didn't bother getting dressed. A woman and a young boy walking outside saw Williamson through the window and called police. Investigators then arrested Williamson because they believe he wanted people outside to see him naked. But Williamson says that's not the case. He says he should be able to walk around naked in the privacy of his own home. If convicted, Williamson could face up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.'

From an IA newsletter:

Intact America was on the ground in Boston and Washington this week, speaking with doctors and decision-makers at conferences held by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Routine circumcision is ethically wrong – but the AAP and AAFP may become the first medical associations in the world to recommend it for all baby boys.

Many of the doctors we spoke with expressed concern over being pressured to circumcise babies. It's clear that we must continue to hammer home our message: No doctor should remove healthy genital tissue from a baby who cannot consent, and doctors as a group should take an ethical stance against infant circumcision.

Help us send a "call to conscience" to the AAP and AAFP – urge them NOT to recommend infant circumcision.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Two teacher's aides face felony charges stemming from allegations that they abused special needs students in their Montana middle school classroom.

Julie Ann Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies are each charged with one felony count of assault on a minor and one misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children after the Great Falls Police Department investigated the alleged December abuse of student Garrett Schilling, then 13.

The aides are accused of holding Schilling's head under running water after he fell asleep in class, forcing him to sit in his soiled pants for hours and making him eat his own vomit when he got sick at Great Falls' North Middle School.
...
"They were waterboarding my son," Schilling said, adding that she discovered the alleged abuse in April 2008, when a teacher's aide with whom she is friendly sent her an e-mail warning her of Garrett's teacher's aides.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The crackdown is aimed at late night revellers, targeting rowdy hen and stag parties and generally trying to make the streets safer after dark.

Police can use the new powers to confiscate alcohol or arrest anyone who defies them.
...
The Designated Public Place Order - a power introduced by the Home Office - does not make drinking in public illegal.

But police can order people to stop drinking on the streets and can confiscate their alcohol. Anyone failing to comply will be arrested.
...
The measures follow the revelation that drink was responsible for more than half the violent assaults in the city centre in the past 12 months.
...

Video here. Caption: "WNYW: One candidate for state office in New Jersey is showing her entrepreneurial spirit hosting sex toy parties. Fifth District Republican Assembly candidate Stepfanie Velez-Gentry is the owner of Nookie Parties LLC and makes a living by organizing adult parties for women and couples."

Less the subject but her last sentence is very telling: "If I was a man and I did this for a living, it would be a completely different story." Note she invokes the Bible on this topic, too. I don't recall anything from the Bible saying that it's OK for anyone to host sex toy parties. I wonder where she gets this idea from?

Article here. Excerpt:

'The wages of the typical woman who had a job during the worst recession in decades rose faster than those of the typical man, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

Over the past two years, the wages of the median woman -- at the statistical middle -- rose 3.2% when adjusted for inflation. Wages of the median man rose 2%. Minority men were particularly hard hit, while minority women and highly educated women of all races did better.

The typical full-time female worker earned $657 a week in the third quarter, the BLS said. The typical man earned $812 a week. Men are more likely to be unemployed, though: The male jobless rate is 11%; for women, it's 8.4%

Economists cautioned that the wage numbers and the increases don't reflect the large numbers of workers who aren't working at all.

Story here. Excerpt:

'CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams -- but now Williams says that abuse never happened.

She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse, attorney Byron L. Potts, who represents Williams, told The Charleston Gazette on Tuesday night.

"She has decided she has been living this lie for approximately two years and she has decided to tell the truth," Potts said. "She fabricated the story and she did this in retaliation because she was having a relationship with one of them."

But former Logan County prosecutor Brian Abraham, who was in charge of the case, said no one ever went to jail because of Williams' statements.
...

According to the admissions of those eventually convicted, Williams was physically and sexually abused. She was beaten repeatedly, held against her will, burned with hot wax, stabbed in the leg, and forced to perform oral sex on at least two defendants.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The government will need at least two more years before it will sign an international treaty designed to settle child custodial disputes arising from failed international marriages, according to government sources.

In the wake of an increasing number of such cases, the government intends to speed efforts to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. However, relevant legislative measures are unlikely to be submitted to the Diet until 2011 at the earliest, according to the sources.

The treaty stipulates that if a parent takes a child to his or her home country without the other parent's consent after their international marriage has failed, the dispute needs to be settled after the child has been returned to his or her habitual country of residence. The treaty aims to preserve the child custody arrangement that existed before an alleged wrongful removal.

Article here. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- The girlfriend of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair had grown frustrated with their relationship and was struggling with financial difficulties in the days before she killed him and herself in July.

Details of their relationship were revealed in a case summary released by Nashville police Monday.

McNair, 36, and Sahel Kazemi, 20, were found fatally shot in a condominium in downtown Nashville on July 4. Police have since ruled their deaths a murder-suicide.

"My life is just s--- and I should end it," Kazemi said the night before the couple were found dead, according to Sonya New, her shift manager at a Dave & Busters restaurant. New also said Kazemi was not her usual self and seemed down.

Though McNair was a married father of four, he was seeing Kazemi and at least one other woman, Leah Ignagni, according to Nashville police. McNair had spent the night at Ignagni's apartment on July 2, two nights before he was killed, Ignagni told police.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In comparing FGM with infant male circumcision, Epstein is seeking to establish a moral equivalency between the two. FGM is not just, as he writes, ‘an article of faith for international development agencies’; it’s also a moral absolute he want to cash in on, even to the point of referring to it by the outmoded term ‘female circumcision’ so that it sounds comparable to male circumcision. If FGM is seen as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and male circumcision is, as Epstein would have it, just the same, then anyone who circumcises their son is violating his human rights.
...
By counterpoising the ‘personal autonomy’ of an infant to the judgment of his parents, Epstein and others who campaign against circumcision reduce the relationship between parents and their sons to one moment; a moment that forever defines the child as victim and the parent as victimiser regardless even of what the boy himself thinks about it later in his life. Once a victim, always a victim.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'If Richard Heene has become the star of his own reality show centered on what is now believed to be a hoax involving his 6-year-old son and a runaway helium balloon, his wife, Mayumi Heene, has clearly taken the supporting role.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A SCHOOLBOY was forced by police to give a DNA sample - for chucking McDonald's ketchup.

Zach Cameron, 15 - a twice-weekly bible student - lobbed the tiny pot of sauce at a girl diner for making "nasty" comments when he took the daughter of his pastor for a burger.

His 14-year-old "victim" complained to cops that it got in her hair - and days later Zach was summoned to a police station where he was also fingerprinted.

Shocked Zach said yesterday: "It was crazy. I know I should not have thrown the sauce but it was only a tiny bit." His outraged mum Dawn, 42, said: "This all started when Zach was defending the daughter of his church pastor who was being abused by this girl.

"He realises now it was a silly thing to do but it wasn't the crime of the century."

She blasted police for doing nothing when SHE was victim of a road rage attack, or when husband James, 43, was assaulted in a pub.'

Call for abstracts: closes 30 November 2009

When: 15 - 16 July 2010
Where: University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW

It is over 10 years since boys education became an important public issue. Despite large, well-funded programs and enormous effort, there has been little change in the overall rates of literacy attainment, school engagement and school retention that are at the centre of concerns about boys. There are also major social issues that differently effect boys and girls well-being, experiences and behaviour, such as binge drinking and bullying including cyber-bullying. Exactly why these issues seem so intractable, who they most effect and how to deal with them effectively are hot and controversial topics. Its time to tackle the controversy head on. Lets talk it out and see if we can come up with some solutions that draw on the enormous and diverse strengths of boys, teachers, schools and their communities.

It's time to tackle the controversy head-on.

Conference Themes:
Boys' motivation and engagement
Literacy
Family-School and Community Partnerships
School Planning Policy implications for boys' education