Article here. Excerpt:

'On 19th May, the Supreme Court of India remarked that husbands ought to "Bow down before your wife's 'diktat'".

A vacation bench of justices Markandeya Katju and Deepak Verma observed, "Bibi joh boltee hai woh sunno (listen to whatever your wife says), as otherwise it could land you in trouble. Because if you do not listen to her, you will suffer the consequences."
...
The bench further said that a husband has to accept the suggestion of a wife irrespective of the fact whether it is sensible or not."

Being a founding member of a prominent men's rights organization observing the way men are treated, these views by the Supreme Court are hardly surprising to me. This attitude has been prevalent in almost all courts since many years and it is for the first time that the Supreme Court has said this formally, even in jest.

Blog here. Unlike the story posted yesterday about the web site the Columbus city government wants to make the landing zone for accusations of rape or other sexual assault, this blog pulls its information from news reports. It looks like it would be a good resource for keeping track of female perpetrators of child abuse.

Story here. Again explain to me how women are more nurturing and less violent than men? Excerpt:

'MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Memphis police are searching for a shoplifting suspect who used a tiny baby as a weapon against a security guard during an escape attempt Wednesday.

The incident happened early Wednesday afternoon at Wal-Mart on Austin Peay in Raleigh, where police say a woman was caught shoplifting. While attempting to escape, the woman hurled her two-month old nephew at a security guard. The infant, seated in a carrier, fell onto the concrete floor.

The suspect then threw the baby at a good samaritan who tried to tend to the infant.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'OELWEIN - Oelwein High School will be offering a newly-sanctioned boys’ varsity sport following approval granted by the Board of Education at its May meeting Monday night.

The board unanimously approved the local sanctioning of boys’ bowling as a varsity sport beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

The action by the board comes after the Iowa High School Athletic Association granted approval within the past month to sanction boys’ bowling as an official Iowa high school sport.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'GERMAINE Greer's provocative essay On Rage, which fuelled heated debate about male violence in indigenous communities, was a revelation for Ben Quilty. "Others say that On Rage is less about masculinity and more about indigenous culture," says Quilty, a young, white Australian from a suburban background.
...
"Feminism did happen, and then the whole thing with gender studies and women's studies," he says. "But back at university, I was the only man in a course studying it, even though it made more sense that, post-feminism, men should be studying it.

"That's what should happen after feminism, that men should rediscover themselves, but there's no way men were able to have any input.

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here.

'A 30-year-old Northern California woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she had sex with three teenage boys.

Deborah Towe faces 11 felony counts, including unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a person under the age of 16, committing lewd acts upon a child and arranging a meeting with a minor for a lewd purpose.

The boys were 15 and 16 years old.

Police in Anderson, about 150 miles north of Sacramento, began investigating in April after two girls from a local middle school reported that a friend's mother was having sex with boys.

In a 48-page report released this week, Towe told police she was protecting her daughter by diverting the boys' attention to herself.

She denied the charges during an appearance Wednesday in Shasta County Superior Court. Towe remains jailed, with her bond set at $250,000.'

Via Marc A.: Story here. A recent ABA Journal article addresses new research showing it is the choice of pausing career to care for kids, not one's sex, that causes the gender gap in law firms. This coincides with what Warren Farrell's explains in his book, "Why Men Earn More" and what other research confirms about the "pay gap."

If we really want to remove the gap, we need to encourage women to allow men to be primary parents. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK (Reuters) - They may be a small minority in corporate boardrooms, but women directors typically earn more than men, a new U.S. study has found.

Female directors in corporate America earned median compensation of $120,000, based on the most recently available pay data, compared with $104,375 for male board members, research group The Corporate Library said in its annual director pay report on Wednesday.

At the same time, the study said, women in corporate boardrooms are outnumbered eight to one.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'DUBLIN – A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.
...
"A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys. Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from," the report concluded.

Video here. Caption:

'Welcome to our second installment of "Ask a Feminist," in which our own Dana Goldstein and Ann Friedman address a topic in the news related to gender and feminism. Today's episode features a question from Matt Yglesias: "Is it sexist to say the financial crisis was caused by men?"'

Article here. Excerpt:

'State Rep. Jessica Farrar pushed a proposal through a House committee last week that could lessen penalties for some mothers who kill their infants.

The measure is aimed at women who show signs of postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that's been cited in such high-profile murder cases as that of Andrea Yates, the Texas mom who drowned her five children six months after giving birth to her youngest.

The long-shot bill will likely never see the House floor, the Houston Democrat acknowledged, and she's fine with that.
...
Under the bill, a defendant's attorney could argue during the punishment stage of a murder trial that the mother's judgment was impaired by the effects of birth or lactation. If the victim was younger than 12 months old, the crime could be reduced to a state jail felony, meaning a maximum sentence of two years and a minimum of 180 days. Currently, the slaying of anyone under the age of 6 brings a capital murder charge.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The crime was so horrible, it's been hard for many to forget, especially in the town of Lamar. Two small children murdered in their own home on South 6th Street during the afternoon hours of October 16, 2003.

Grace Headlee, 4, and Gabriel Amaya, only 5-months-old, were drowned in their bathtub by their own mother Rebekah Amaya.

Right now we are awaiting a judge's decision on whether Amaya will be free to walk among us. She is asking for the chance to make unsupervised trips away from the State Mental Health Institute.
...
Amaya's former sister-in-law, Michelle Jamie, was and is still outraged that Amaya admitted to the crime, but in 2005 a judge found Amaya Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.

"She killed, she took two lives and she hasn't spent a single day in prison. It's just not fair," Michelle Jamie said. "Innocent by reason of insanity, kind of contradicting. Innocent and killing. Just should be guilty by reason of insanity."

Story here. Excerpt:

'COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police, residents and prosecutors are considering the pros and cons of a new Web site that gives rape victims a forum to post information about their alleged attackers, 10TV's Lindsey Seavert reported on Monday.

Signs that encourage victims to expose their attackers can be found in the Short North. In bold print the flyers read, "Expose your rapist."
...
Even though phony posts can be traced, O'Brien worries about false accusations and proof of guilt.
...
Residents in the Short North shared similar concerns with 10TV News.

"It's harmful in a way because people could post something about somebody that is untrue," a passerby said after seeing a sign.'

---

Ed. note: The web site in question is http://www.youforum.cc/safespacecolumbus/

Story here.

'Earlene Rogers, 18, was indicted by a grand jury in Kirksville because she allegedly lied under oath. Specifically, she accused two men of raping and sodomizing her -- then, after the men spent eight months in jail, withdrew the charges. The county prosecutor accuses Rogers of lying when she made the original report.

Oh, and here's an eye-opener of a quote:

“The state can prove a sex crime merely by the allegation of the victim. You don't really need any evidence, you don't need any eyewitnesses. It's just whether or not a judge or jury would believe that witness. And so if the victim then under what we believe falsely accuses somebody there has to be accountability towards that person,” said Adair County Prosecutor Mark Williams.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Canberra school teacher had sex with her 14-year-old male student so often that intercourse was like ''second nature'' for the pair, a court heard yesterday.
...
The 43-year-old, who was a science teacher at Saint Francis Xavier and coordinator of the boy's Year 9 group when the alleged offences were committed, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 and one count of maintaining a relationship with a person under the age of 16.'