Article here. Excerpt:

Women marry for money all the time, so what's wrong with a man doing so?

Excerpt from Our Stolen Future here, reading in part:

'Several researchers, however, have reported apparent recent declines in the proportion of male births, in the US, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands. These declines have been very small but statistically significant. Fewer boys are being born than would be expected on the basis of the recent historical worldwide average.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined Sunday to concur with President Barack Obama’s claim that Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor believes she chose her words poorly in a 2001 speech where she said a “wise Latina” judge would reach better results than a white male.

“I don’t think anybody wants nine justices on the Supreme Court who have ice water in their veins,” Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.”

However, when pressed by host George Stephanopoulos on whether Sotomayor planned to distance herself from the “wise Latina” comment during her confirmation hearings, Schumer, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, did not answer directly.

“I think she’ll stand by the entire speech,” Schumer said. “The specific sentence there is simply saying that people’s experiences matter and we ought to have some diversity of experience in the court.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'LONDON - TMW has produced a business-targeted campaign aimed at reducing the numbers of men who commit suicide due to work and economic pressures.

The direct marketing activity has been produced free of charge for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), which provides help and advice via phone and its website.
...
The campaign has been created in response to fears that the recession will lead to an increase in male suicide.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Returning a guilty verdict for child abuse in the second degree, an Oakland County Circuit Court jury believes a Royal Oak woman burned her 5-year-old son with a hair straightening iron the same day she turned 29.
...
“We are certainly hoping for leniency in light of the fact that Ms. Drew has no criminal record,” Youngs said. “Second-degree child abuse removes intent as an element and requires that the prosecutor only show recklessness. The sentence Ms. Drew receives may impact how we go forward. This case has been a nightmare for her.”
...
The third-degree burns to the child's lower right leg required skin grafts and plastic surgery, and the arrest came several months into the investigation, Swiatkowski said.

The boy has autism and limited verbal skills, which kept him from being able to tell police how he was burned, according to Swiatkowski.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'“We don’t often have that kind of sympathy for men in sexual abuse situations,” Casey said. “Our culture has a message to boys and men that any kind of sexual behavior is getting lucky.”

That attitude can translate into lighter sentences for female offenders. In 2006, Florida teacher Debra Lafave escaped charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a 14-year-old student with a sentence of house arrest and probation. Her attorney implied in court that she was too pretty to be sent to prison.

The illicit couple in question can even gain a kind of celebrity status. Mary Kay Letourneau, the former teacher imprisoned for having a sexual relationship with one of her sixth-grade students, recently hosted a “Hot for Teacher” night at a bar in Seattle with her former student and current husband as DJ, according to the Associated Press.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Feminists understandably have often shied away from scientific evidence that challenges this critique of sex roles. After all, because biology-based arguments about gender difference have historically been used to justify women's subjugation, women have been reluctant to concede any innate difference, lest it be used against them. But, in view of recent scientific discoveries, has feminist resistance to accepting any signs of innate gender difference only created new biases?

Latest entry in the on-going saga here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. "I'm sure she would have restated it," Obama flatly told NBC News, without indicating how he knew that.

The quote in question from Sotomayor has emerged as a rallying call for conservative critics who fear she will offer opinions from the bench based less on the rule of law and more on her life experience, ethnicity and gender. That issue is likely to play a central role in her Senate confirmation process.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Job loss is traumatic. So is financial anxiety. But hands-on fathers who can juggle bath-time, playground jaunts and laundry duty are better equipped to deal with those than earlier generations of men, says the author of a new book on fatherhood.

In Daddy Shift, to be released next month, Jeremy Adam Smith explores how fathers' growing participation in childrearing and domestic duties is transforming modern families.'

Usually I ignore feminist blogs since they are so predictable. This particular entry though strikes me as especially venomous. FR groups are painted as being front organizations for batterers and, based on the language used to describe them, all but terrorist organizations. These kinds of defamations must be confronted and the accusers called to task for their mischaracterizations. Entry here. Excerpt:

'Lets begin with the infamous shared parenting bill brought about by fathers rights groups.
Campaign messages were:

* Fathers are committing suicide because they are not seeing their children.
* Single mothers are bad aka "fatherlessness"
* Mothers make false allegations for financial reasons or revenge
* Most Domestic Violence allegations are made to gain custody of the child

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sadly, statistics bear out these writers' pessimism. Academically, boys lag behind almost from the day they're born. They are four times more likely to be expelled from nursery, are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and, because they are seen as more demanding, wait twice as long to be adopted in some parts of the UK.

Some of the challenges associated with raising sons are integral to their gender: their surplus energy means they require to be exercised daily, while their desire to avoid meaningful conversation means more effort is required to keep the lines of communication open. Other difficulties are the result of social change – the large number of single parent families means many boys are growing up not only without male role models, but with mothers whose own experiences with men may be negative.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In terms of strategies and recommendations, Edwards and Harris suggested first giving college men permission to stop performing and to be themselves. “It’s really about creating some kind of balance to the external pressure,” said Harris. “We talk about challenge and support, challenging the negative behavior.”

Edwards and Harris also recommended providing opportunities for critical self-reflection about what it means to be a man – “to disrupt the functioning of hegemonic masculinity” – including through facilitated student affairs programming and academic courses (a course in women’s studies, for instance). They recommended a need to build "cultural competence" for faculty and staff in issues of gender. While many in the audience lauded the transformative impact of small group discussions among men, one common point was the need for a facilitator who really understands gender dynamics.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'...Hostility toward men and masculinity begins in daycare and increases each year thereafter. Sexual harassment training and policies have created an uncertain environment, if not a hostile one, where men have to watch their every word and action lest it be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Some experts criticize a campus "worldview that sees things only in terms of oppressors and the oppressed." Typically, the few campus men's studies programs are designed to push an anti-masculinity agenda.
...
Actually, the solution is much simpler: create an environment starting in kindergarten that teaches children to respect masculine traits. To do otherwise is to discriminate against our sons and brothers.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Germans also gave us the concept of kindergarten, which has become the foundation of public education.

Well, a couple years ago, the Germans came up with an extension of the kindergarten concept. It’s for women fed up with their partner grumbling about having to go on shopping ventures. Thanks to progressive thinking, a fraulein who wants to shop ’til she drops doesn’t have listen to a man whine, “Is it time to go, yet?” She can drop off her male at Maennergarten.

Maennergarten is a day care service for men. And guys, before you get all huffy and go into macho outrage at the notion of “hubbie kindergarten,” check out this deal.

First, Maennergarten day care isn’t held in a private home owned by someone named Bertha, with three dozen screaming, drooling, snot-nosed kids climbing all over you.

Nah. Maennergarten is held at watering holes, like a bistro in downtown Hamburg called the Nox Bar. The only screaming, drooling, snot-nosed humans present are other grown up males!'

Article here. Excerpt:

'PHILADELPHIA - A woman accused of staging an abduction hoax that began near Philadelphia and ended at Florida's Walt Disney World was returned to Pennsylvania in police custody on Friday and was held on $1 million bail.

A drained-looking Bonnie Sweeten appeared in an Orlando, Fla., courtroom for a brief hearing Friday morning before detectives from Bucks County, Pa., escorted her to the airport for the flight home.
...
Defense lawyer Louis R. Busico told reporters before the court appearance that Sweeten, 38, is not a flight risk and was not running from the law when she went to Florida with her 9-year-old daughter.

"It's not a crime to take your kid to Disney World," Busico said.'