Story here. Excerpt:

'Tradition is set to be pitted against the constitution in a landmark case around forced circumcision, which is due to go to trial on Monday.

But ahead of the start of proceedings, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) has declared that its position on circumcision - forced or otherwise - would remain unchanged, regardless of what a court may order.

Bonani Yamani, now 21, was abducted from his home shortly before dawn on March 3, 2007. He was tied up, taken to the bush, circumcised against his will, then forced to eat the skin taken from his penis.

Circumcision is against Yamani's personal religious beliefs, and he subsequently asked traditional leaders for an apology and an undertaking that no one would in future be subjected to forced circumcision.

Instead, Eastern Cape Contralesa chairperson Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana was quoted as saying that those who refused traditional circumcision should be ostracised by the community.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Law Reform Institute is reviewing the legalities of the procedure, after the Children's Commissioner found uncertainly over whether it can be legally performed on an infant male.

An issues paper has been prepared by a post-graduate student of the Law reform Institute, Warwick Marshall.

"The biggest issue with the law, [is] that there's no particular bit of legislation that deals with male circumcision so the general, criminal and civil law applies."

"So charges such as assault and wounding, grievous bodily harm for example which you'd usually associate with fist fights, could apply to male circumcision," he said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'TRAUMATISED Bhisho officials believe that showing traditional surgeons the results of botched circumcisions may help prevent deaths among initiates.

The province’s health standing committee, led by ANC provincial Legislature member Mxolisi Dimaza, visited Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital and Mthatha General Hospital where injured initiates are being treated.

“I have never seen anything like this in my whole life … It was a bad sight indeed … gruesome. I did not sleep the whole night, but (stayed up) sobbing. We were really traumatised,” said Dimaza.

The multi-party committee embarked on the tour to find solutions following the deaths of 53 initiates this season.

Thirteen others suffered penile amputations, and about 40 young men are still being treated at the two hospitals.

“Apparently, some were taken very late to hospital and now doctors cannot do anything to help them. Their manhood is just falling off,” Dimaza said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'...feminist leaders complained that rebuilding roads and bridges would employ working-class men, who have borne the brunt of the recession, rather than women or the “sexually diverse.” Unemployment is very high among transportation and construction workers, who are overwhelmingly male. The vast majority of people who have lost their jobs in the current recession are male — 82%. But the stimulus package is not aimed at helping them. In response to demands from feminist leaders, the Obama Administration rewrote the stimulus package to largely exclude them, as Christina Hoff Sommers has chronicled at length.

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

'A NO-NONSENSE Heathfield father is threatening to cause havoc in court in a bid to change the law.

Jason Sands, 37, is Sussex spokesman for New Fathers for Justice, a controversial group dedicated to campaigning for improved rights for fathers in the settlement of child custody.

The group have grabbed media attention by organising demonstrations around the country dressed as super-heroes and Mr Sands is currently working on his latest stunt, entitled Clean Up Family Law.

Dressed as Batman, Mr Sands is planning to attend law courts across the region carrying a cleaning in progress sign and a vacuum cleaner.

He warned: "I have asked around and they can't stop me entering. Once I'm in I'll plug it in and start cleaning."

Article here. Excerpt:

'California law has long favored awarding primary custody of children to mothers over fathers. This disturbing trend only has served to undervalue the important role fathers play in their children's lives and reinforce outdated gender stereotypes that mothers are best-suited for raising children.
...
Fathers contesting a move-away petition may be granted increased visitation time with their children or the court may even award custody, either temporarily or permanently, to the father if the mother follows through in her decision to move.

Generally, to win a change in custody, the father must be able to prove that the move is a detriment to the child. In the LaMusga case, the California Supreme Court held that the impact of a move on the child's relationship with the father is a relevant factor in determining whether the move is a detriment to the child and may justify a change in custody.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cut funds to California domestic violence shelters recently stories of battered women and children filled the news. Oakland television station KTVU ran a story about "women and children," never once mentioning male victims. Like stations around the state, and around the country, CBS5 did the same.

News reports featured three dozen noisy people lining a street in Watsonville protesting budget cuts to the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center and Women’s Crisis Support~Defensa de Mujeres. We listened to female victims.

We heard about women's advocates and community leaders gathering in San Jose to protest a cut in funding for Asian Americans for Community Involvement in San Jose, Community Solutions in South Santa Clara County, Support Network for Battered Women in Sunnyvale and San Jose's Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. And we listened to female victims.'

Story here. Except:

'Magistrate Priya Beharry granted $60,000 bail to a woman accused of knowingly providing the police with false information that she had been raped.

It is alleged that on May 20 at Georgetown, Plachette Ross, a sales representative of 24 Prospect, East Bank Demerara, knowingly gave to Sergeant Cedrick Gravesande; a police officer, certain information namely that she was raped intending thereby to cause Gravesande to arrest the man.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge of giving false information when it was read to her on Friday in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'William McCaffrey has spent the last four years in prison, serving a 20-year sentence for a rape the victim now says never happened.

Biurny Peguero, now married and using the last name Gonzalez, accused McCaffrey of raping her in September 2005, and he was convicted by the State Supreme Court in Manhattan. But in March, Gonzalez confessed to her priest, and later to her attorney, that she had fabricated the rape story, according to reports from The New York Times and the New York Post.

Gonzalez initially accused McCaffrey of raping her while on the way to a late-night party. According to the Post, Gonzalez now says she lied about being raped because her friends were angry with her for stranding them without a ride when she went off to the party with McCaffrey.
...
Gonzalez now claims the bites and scratches on her body at the time of the alleged rape were caused by her friends, who physically assaulted her in their anger over being stranded.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A ROW has blown up after it emerged the Labour candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in the next general election will be chosen from an all-female shortlist.

John Smith is standing down after representing the constituency since 1997.

Last night nine women who have applied for the vacancy met local party members in advance of a selection contest next month.

A female member of the Vale of Glamorgan party wrote to the Echo saying: “I know there is a silent majority of local Labour members who would oppose the imposition of a women-only shortlist for the selection of our candidate to replace John Smith. It is what I can only describe as bullying tactics from the National Executive which forced the local party to succumb to this policy.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It hasn't always been sunshine and lollipops in the Emerald Isle. No, despite our oft-quoted Proclamation, we weren't quite so keen to 'cherish all the children of the nation equally'; and up until 1983, children were put clearly into two distinct camps. Legitimate and illegitimate. Yes, if your parents conceived without bothering to cement their relationship with vows first you were legally a bastard. Sins of the fathers and all that. It was the late Nuala Fennell, as a junior minister with responsibility for Women's Affairs and Family, who succeeded in gaining support to remove this hideous law.
...
Is it time to introduce quota legislation? I think so. Until we do, political groups will continue to discriminate against women in their ranks and 'women's issues' -- essential for a fair and just democracy -- will be given lip-service. Men will not willingly cede power or opportunities to women, no matter how talented or capable women prove themselves to be.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A topless photo of herself and sexually explicit comments were among the 50 or so text messages a Clarkston teacher sent to one of her special education students over the course of a year, police said Friday.

Now, Michelle Simonson, 28, of Oxford Township is facing felony charges of enticing a minor for immoral purposes and distributing sexually explicit material to a minor.

She resigned her position in the Clarkston Community Schools on Friday and is expected to appear in an Oakland County court in the coming weeks for a preliminary examination.

If convicted, Simonson could face up to four years in prison.

She is the latest female teacher in metro Detroit to be accused of preying on a male student — a crime experts say is being reported more often.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Academically, girls are outperforming boys in subjects from kindergarten through high school, a four-year review of test scores shows. In some subjects, girls have the boys beat by at least 10 percentage points.

“We recognize this is an issue ... but the answers we’re looking for don’t just jump out at us,” said schools Superintendent Jim Scales. “What we have seen is not disastrous, but it’s enough to be concerned about. Right now, we don’t have any prescription for trying to overcome it.”

And though the problem starts in elementary school, statistics show that there is a domino effect as fewer young men graduate from high school and college.

“Males become less and less represented the farther up the degree chain you go,” said David L. Wright, chief policy officer for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. “And if that’s true, it puts Tennessee in an even tougher spot in competing for those higher knowledge jobs.”'

Article here. Wait until you see the picture in this article! Excerpt:

'ONE-STOP courts to help survivors of domestic abuse are to be rolled out across the country to encourage women to prosecute abusers.

For the first time, women who give evidence against violent husbands will be able to start divorce and child custody proceedings straight away.
...
Nicki Norman, deputy chief executive of the charity Women's Aid, said: "Taking action against an abuser and having to attend court can be very traumatic, especially when there are divorce or custody proceedings to cope with as well.'