Story here. Excerpt:

'A MIDDLE-AGED female teacher has been exposed as a predatory paedophile who sexually assaulted young children as they used public toilets over 17 years.

Carole Clarke, 46, targeted boys and girls aged four to seven after she saw them entering the toilets without their parents.

Clarke, a college tutor from Grimsby, now faces a lengthy jail sentence after admitting to police that she had committed around 100 sickening offences.

It follows the shocking case of Plymouth nursery worker Vanessa George amid concern about the number of female paedophiles who may be working with children.
...
But last night police were keen to stress that incidents involving a female paedophile acting alone were “extremely rare”.'

Story here.

'AN ABERDEEN woman who sparked a major police investigation after falsely accusing a former partner of rape has escaped five years behind bars.

Elizabeth Christie, 30, told a detective at Aberdeen’s Grampian Police headquarters she had been raped.

Her alleged attacker was investigated and ordered to appear at the High Court in Aberdeen.

But Christie, whose address was given in court papers as 6f Park Road, Aberdeen, admitted the claims were false on September 2, 2007, at Aberdeen’s sheriff court.

Sheriff Annella Cowan sentenced Christie to two years’ probation.

Sheriff Cowan said: “I could send you to jail for five years. You acted very, very stupidly.”

Article here. Excerpt:

Minnesota Public Radio had a decent piece about a month ago on how divorce impacts kids. It sugarcoats things a bit by leaving the real meat of the story — the various studies that show the harmful effects of divorce on kids — to the end of the broadcast. It does cover them though.

My question is this: With more and more studies coming to light about just how harmful divorce really is to kids, and with mothers being responsible for initiating the vast majority of divorces, how can courts continue to claim with a straight face that mothers are "acting in the best interests of the children?"

Article here. Excerpt:

'It now has been two full months since Professor Thomas Thibeault was fired by East Georgia College's president under what seems like a completely bogus charge of "sexual harassment," just two days after he pointed out—at a sexual harassment training seminar—that the school's sexual harassment policy contained no protection for the falsely accused. The full documentation is here, but you will search in vain for any actual evidence, or even an accuser.

One look at this will tell you otherwise.

"A family photo that shows a little girl beside her father and his fellow soldiers in uniform as they prepare to go to war has resonated well beyond the tight knit Bennethum clan.

Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq.

So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn't let go.

No one had the heart to pull her away."

Story here. Excerpt:

'More South Asian men married to British women are becoming the victims of domestic violence, it has been revealed.

The National Men's Advice Line found 9% of calls for help to its service last year were made by men originally from countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
...
After marrying, Mahmood, who is in his 30s, travelled to visit his wife in the UK for a two-week holiday. He planned to return to Pakistan to finish studying. But hours after stepping off the plane his passport was confiscated by his wife's family and he was told he would not be going back.
...
Because of feelings of shame Mahmood decided not to tell his family back in Pakistan.

"My wife would wake me up in the middle of the night and beat me, demanding money, and when I did not have any, my brother-in-laws would come and punch me and beat my back with iron bars. It was a living hell."

Via Marc A.: Another victory for battered men and for gender-neutral domestic violence policies!

In its decision, a West Virginia trial court sides with Men and Women Against Discrimination, and against a public entity, by holding that certain acts of and regulations adopted by the public entity are illegal in that they result in domestic violence policies that discriminate against male victims of domestic violence and are not gender-neutral. (Story here). The decision can be downloaded here.

Congratulations Men and Women Against Discrimination and everyone else involved!

It was about one year ago today that NCFM won a similar victory in the California Court of Appeal.

Domestic violence laws represent the biggest roll-back in Americans' civil rights since the era of Jim Crow.

Take mandatory arrest laws that disregard "probable-cause" protections that are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Then add in "primary aggressor" policies that say, "If you're the bigger and stronger of the two parties (in almost every case, the man), you're the one who will be arrested, regardless of what the evidence shows."

That's gender-profiling at its worst.

Not only do mandatory arrest laws trample on Constitutional protections, they also put victims at risk. According to a Harvard University study, mandatory arrest laws increase partner homicides by 57% – probably because at-risk persons are reluctant to call the police for help, knowing law enforcement is tied to a lock-step arrest policy.¹

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In families with a history of child abuse, a mother's depression may increase the risk that she will act aggressively toward her child, a new study suggests.

The study, which followed 5,500 U.S. families investigated by child- welfare agencies, found that when a mother developed depression, the odds of her child suffering "psychologically aggressive acts" -- including threats or name-calling -- increased.

The findings do not prove that mothers' depression, per se, led to the children's abuse, the researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
...
It's possible, according to Conron's team, that having a supportive partner lessened some mothers' strain and, in turn, lowered the likelihood of child abuse.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'MBABANE, 5 October 2009 (PlusNews) - Swaziland's Ministry of Health and Human Services aims to provide circumcision to 80 percent of men aged 15 to 24 in the next five years, in response to the surging number of men requesting the procedure to reduce their risk of HIV.
...
Health officials are now encouraging the renewed popularity of male circumcision by devoting publicity and resources to making it more easily available. Around 1,000 men have already been circumcised at the Litsemba Letfu (SiSwati for "our hope") Male Clinic in Matsapha, halfway between the capital, Mbabane, and the central commercial hub of Manzini.

The project is funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and is the first medical facility specifically for men.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Monday, 5.15pm - A WOMAN was arrested on Saturday night (Oct 3) after a false rape allegation was made. Police were called to Dysart Road at 10pm on Saturday following reports of a rape.
...
Enquiries were carried out and officers established the complaint had been false.

A 44-year-old woman was arrested and cautioned for attempting to pervert the course of justice.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When nursery school teacher Vanessa George from Plymouth and Angela Allen from Nottingham - together with Colin Blanchard from Rochdale - pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young children, everyone was 'shocked'.

There's been no end of thought pieces in the media, focusing on how the crimes were made more chilling because two of the three offenders were women. And that the three, who had never met before their trial, goaded each other to act via the internet. A shocking, yet so modern crime.

Story here. Excerpt:

'EL PASO, Texas -- It all started with a phone call. “Well, the school called me it was about nine, and told me that my son had an incident at school,” said Charity Walka, recalling a morning about a month ago.

But little did Walka know that her son’s trouble in class would hit her in the pocket. She said her son has a behavioral disorder and was on medication and couldn’t stay awake in class at Travis Elementary School.

"So he fell asleep again, and when they tried to wake him, he got angry,” Walka said.

She said her son then left the classroom after a teacher tried to restrain him. She said her son also made noise in the hall and he laid down on the floor and wouldn’t get up. For disrupting class, officers at El Paso Independent School District gave her 10-year-old son a ticket for $260 and it is a Class C Misdemeanor. She said her son did not hurt anyone.

"It was just devastating. I was just so angry. He doesn't understand," Walka told KFOX.'

Article here. It looks like England is likely to lead the way, internationally, on male victims of DV (along with Holland, which now has government-funded battered men's shelters). The media and government of England have finally become more honest about the issue, and now they're forming a pilot program for male victims. Excerpt:

'A support service to help male victims of domestic violence is being piloted in Hampshire.

Honour based violence and forced marriage will also be targeted by the team in the one year project across Fareham and Gosport.
...
If successful it could be rolled out across the country.
...
Jude Ruddock-Atcherley, from Hampshire County Council, said more men were coming forward as victims of domestic violence.