Story here. Excerpt:

'An organisation which helps women suffering domestic abuse says it has concerns over a new alarm scheme being used for the first time in Wales.

Welsh Women's Aid welcomes the Telecare scheme piloted on Anglesey, but it is worried the use of operators speaking to sufferers will stop women using it.

Victims press an alarm alerting staff who decide if they should call police.

Anglesey council said calls would be recorded and the service would be expanded if it proved successful.
...
They are given alarms which if activated, trigger a silent telephone call to the Gofal Môn control centre in Llangefni.

The operator will speak to the victim via a telecom system fitted into their home and call the police on their behalf if necessary.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- State officials have taken another step in their bid to stop a convicted teacher from continuing to draw her full salary and benefits while she is imprisoned and appealing her federal conviction for enticing a child for sex.

Charlene Schmitz, 56, is the first teacher in Alabama to continue getting paid under the state's tenure law after being convicted and put behind bars.
...
"We think it's important that this case is looked at carefully. As of July she has been paid $140,000 and she has not provided any service to the state of Alabama since August of 2007," he said.

Schmitz is serving a 10-year sentence at the federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla. She was imprisoned following a February 2008 conviction of using a cell phone and a computer to entice a 14-year-old boy for sex. She still faces state charges of rape and sodomy in Washington County for allegedly having sex with the student as many as 10 times in 2007.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The sex scandal headlines that stood out in papers all across the West Florida region this past weekend were a shock to many. Two Jay High school teachers were charged with three counts of unlawful sex with minors. In 2008, nearly 500 of these cases were reported across the United States.

Many had to take a second look after hearing the news out of Jay. Not only were they two local teachers, but both were female. Several people can recall the Mary Kay Letourneau case in 1995. This was one of the most well known cases still to this date.
...
Unlike Jernigan, Veronica Steele of Milton said that insecurity, not discipline is to blame. “I think the reason these things happen is because people are insecure of themselves and have a low self esteem.”

Story here. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

"New Delhi - A group of harassed husbands are to meet in the northern Indian hill town of Shimla Saturday to protest against domestic violence against men and the misuse of laws intended to protect women.

Men who are beaten up by their wives and have no avenue for redress or complaint, extortion of money through false dowry cases, cruelty to parents-in-law by wives, using child custody as a tool to demoralize men - these are just some of the issues that will be discussed at the national convention organized by the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF).

'We have organized the national convention on August 15, India's Independence Day, because we want to use the occasion to speak out about how more and more men in this country are losing their freedom and are victims,' SIFF member Virag Dhulia said.'"

Article here. Excerpt:

'THE girls have again taken the honours in Leaving Certificate results.

Female candidates have out-performed males in almost all subjects -- at both higher and ordinary level.

Girls scored more A, B and C grades and were also less likely to put in a below-D performance, according to a gender breakdown of the Leaving Cert results.

Female students aim higher to begin with, being more likely than boys to study at honours level.

The superior academic performance of females is not unique to Ireland and is an international phenomenon.

It is attributed to girls being better organised and more co-operative around their studies, while boys may fall victim to the laddish culture where school is regarded as not being "cool".'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi will be more of a girls club than a boys club this weekend.

The organization will be hosting "Just for Girls" Events this evening and Saturday morning.

Girls aged 9 through 18 are invited to attend both events for free.'

First the good news from my alma mater; story here. Excerpt:

"The Focus on Fathers/Me and My Dad programs began in Cape May County about four years ago with a core group of local dads. Through research and focus groups, educational programs and activities were developed to meet the needs of fathers in their changing role within the family. Reaching out to fathers is one more way Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) Cooperative Extension is helping to strengthen families."

Now for the bad news; story here. Excerpt:

"The study involved 1,000 men who participated in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The men were white, middle-aged and had at least a high school degree -- a narrow population that limits the study's applicability to all men.

But the research hints at the stereotypical tough-guy image having a negative effect on men's health, the lead author of the study, Kristen W. Springer, said in a news release."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Megan Fox will go to great lengths to get back at a bully.

A new Public Service Announcement Fox stars in begins innocently enough, with her saying thousands of teenagers have to endure huge amounts of peer pressure in schools.

But then Fox , using an F-bomb or two, offers her plan for retribution: "killing and eating" every boy in school.'

Note: The video contains profanity.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Police say stress may be the reason a Wisconsin woman struck her husband in the head with a rubber mallet while he was sleeping early yesterday morning.

Mary A. Claassen, 49, allegedly hit her 63-year-old husband in the head around 4 a.m. because, police said, “she was kind of frustrated with the relationship,” the Sheboygan Press reports.

Investigating officers said it appeared Claassen of Appleton was upset because her husband was not employed. So upset that she struck him a second time, after which he called out for help.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 20-year-old woman who cried rape against a man she dragged into a public toilet for sex has been told she faces jail.
...
Just over a week after making the allegations, she contacted the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, hoping to claim up to £7,500.

But she was found guilty by a jury at Basildon Crown Court in May of perverting the course of justice.
...
Giving evidence during the trial, Mr Bowers told the court how he had met Hilliard at a nightclub and they walked to the station. He said once they reached the station toilets, she dragged him into a cubicle and had sex with him on a toilet seat.

Afterwards she told him, he 'better be there for the baby' if she was pregnant.
...

Detectives found CCTV footage from the nightspot of Hilliard and Mr Bowers kissing and holding hands before leaving.

Story here. Wonder what today's chorus of rationalizations will sound like? Excerpt:

'HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. (CBS) ― Police say an intoxicated Long Island woman, driving with her 6-year-old son in her vehicle, injured a teenager on a bicycle.

Southampton Town Police say Caroline Goss was charged with driving while intoxicated, endangering the welfare of a minor, and having an open container of alcohol in her vehicle.

She was ordered held on $20,000 bail Thursday at her arraignment in town court. The name of her attorney was not immediately on record.'

The MRA issue with these stories is not that a woman is caught DUI with a kid/kids in her car and that she got someone hurt or killed. Men do that, too. The MRA issue is how the law deals with male perps vs. how it deals with female ones, and also how the public and press react when the offender is female rather than male.

This week, I'm going to be doing a piece at The DV Examiner on #FollowFriday and I'm hoping to collect as many movement people and organizations who are on Twitter as I can. (More on #FollowFriday here.) This will be a great chance to establish some followers, if you're new to Twitter, or get some more. I've found Twitter to be an invaluable source of news & info, not to mention a nearly painless way of reaching out to a whole new group of people who may not be aware of the issues.

Early next week, I'll be doing the same with Facebook.

Right now I've only got a couple of people on either one, and I need a LOT more to make this beneficial for everybody.

Thanks!

Trudy W. Schuett
Arizona Rural Headlines Examiner
Domestic Violence Examiner

http://twitter.com/trudywschuett

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's hard to know why, exactly, Harriet Harman's stint in charge while Gordon Brown is on holiday has provoked so much leery humour among male commentators. Is it because she is, as the niece of Lord Longford and a distant cousin of David Cameron, unspeakably posh? Or because she is a feminist, which, let's face it, is just unspeakable?
...
It goes with the turf for politicians, both male and female, to be caricatured and lampooned: Harman is uncomplaining and unrepentant. Good for her: why should she pipe down?
...
There is precious little danger of too much feminism seeping into British business or society in general – the problem is the opposite: there is not nearly enough.
...

Story here.

'A 24-year-old Orange County woman was sentenced today to community service for having a sexual relationship with a male high school student, prosecutors said.

Hope Ashley Jacoby, of San Juan Capistrano, pleaded guilty earlier this month to four felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and three felony counts of oral copulation of a minor. Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones reduced the felonies to misdemeanors and sentenced Jacoby to 240 hours of community service over the objections of prosecutors.

The sexual relationship between Jacoby and the male student started in 2008 when he was 16 and lasted about one year. She met him while working as an athletic trainer at Tustin High School, prosecutors said.'