Article here. Excerpt:

'But one thing I do object to – indeed, I find distasteful and disrespectful – is why some have sought to turn the tragedy to their political advantage. For them, it is part of a culture war against so-called ‘toxic masculinity’ and men in general.

Typical was Green Party peer Baroness Jones who suggested that the best way to prevent violence against women is for a 6pm curfew for men. She subsequently claimed she hadn’t been serious – but was highlighting the danger of ‘victim-blaming’. But that was too late.

Not only is Parliament, where she made the comment, not a place for such loose words but in an age of social media, many are apt to jump on such a bandwagon.

Soon after, the hashtag ‘curfewformen’ began trending on Twitter, with various rival factions trading insults in the usual unedifying way.'

Video here. Caption:

'An investigation is underway after La Presse revealed the St-Eustache Hospital, north of Montreal, posted a job for an orderly that “must have white skin,” saying a patient allegedly requested a “white woman.” Melina Giubilaro reports.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Former Prime Minister Theresa May said that any focus on changing attitudes should deal with perpetrators and suggested boys should be taught about ‘respect for women and what is or is not acceptable in relationships’.

Ministers are being pressed to introduce new laws that would make public sexual harassment and misogyny specific crimes as part of its strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

It comes in the wake of the alleged kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, whose body was found in a Kent woodland a week after she went missing as she walked home from a friend’s in Clapham, south London, on March 3.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Research suggests that men are distrusted and passed over at work when they exhibit qualities stereotypically assigned to women. Fixing this would benefit all of us.
...
Wyatt is among others who believe men’s career trajectories can depend on how well they fit gendered preconceptions. How this plays out depends enormously on class and sector, of course – a surgeon will face different expectations than an oil worker – but, overall, there’s a great deal of research suggesting that men are disliked, distrusted and passed over when they exhibit qualities stereotypically assigned to women. As the pandemic has shifted so much of working life into homes and private spaces, it’s also important to consider how rigid gender norms hurt men, and how everyone can benefit from easing them.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Radio and TV presenter Roman Kemp has been thinking about making a documentary about male mental health for the past six years.

And it's certainly an important, pressing issue. Suicide rates in England and Wales remain at a 20-year high. In 2019, three-quarters of those who took their own lives in England and Wales - a total of 4,303 - were men. This was the highest figure since 1981.

Tragically, in August last year this issue reached Roman intimately with the death of his close friend and producer Joe Lyons, who was 31.

"The stats are completely out of control," Roman tells BBC Three, ahead of his new documentary Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency. "It's something I've been very much so personally affected by and I believe the time has gone now where you can shy away from it.

"Now that stigma has to go."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The United States Army is reportedly considering doing away with its new “gender-neutral physical test” after test results showed that the majority of women failed while approximately 90 percent of men passed. Officials are reportedly considering having different evaluation categories for men and women due to the physiological differences between the two.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A New York woman has pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman in Ecuador to kill her ex-husband's mother and his five-year-old daughter, in the hope that he would then spend more time with her.

Elsy Rodriguez-Garcia, 27, from Huntington Station on Long Island, admitted arranging the hit on Thursday.

As part of the deal, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the second degree, a class B felony, and will be sentenced to between two and six years in prison on April 15.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A school environment in which male pupils feel empowered to process their emotions and respond to their own personal difficulties could reduce the presentation of toxic masculine behaviour at the expense of women, as it would make boys less likely to lash out and repeat learned behaviour. This is the work of years: it requires social and emotional education from primary until further education.

Additionally, in secondary schools, explaining the ways in which men can make women feel safer when in public – such as not overtaking or approaching a woman from behind at night – could also prevent inadvertently threatening behaviour.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Proposals to make misogyny – which would include abuse and harassment of women and girls in the street – a hate crime have won cross-party support.

An amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill, which has the backing of MPs and peers from all parties as well as a number of campaign groups, will be debated in the House of Lords next week.

The campaign to change the law has been organised by Labour MP Stella Creasy but is likely to gain added traction due to the suspected kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard.*

Some 11 out of the 43 police services in England and Wales have already made misogyny a hate crime, trialled the policy or are actively considering implementing it.

The amendment to the bill would require all police services to record misogynist attacks, which involve existing crimes but are motivated by hatred of someone’s sex or gender, as hate crimes.'

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*Ironically, the arrested suspect in this case is a police officer. -- Ed. note

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Biden administration has opened the door to reviewing and perhaps discarding the new Title IX rule, issued under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Supposedly the DeVos Rule is “controversial.” Of course it is, to the extent that campus zealots regard due process for the accused as controversial. But it’s a phony controversy.

The DeVos Rule, which applies in cases of sex discrimination and misconduct in education, merely clarifies that those accused of misconduct get basic fairness in student disciplinary proceedings. Those basics include the presumption of innocence, the right to see evidence and the right to question witnesses. Without such bare-bones due process, any finding of fault for anything would be bogus and more akin to a “verdict first, trial later” outcome — that is, an inquisition.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'About one in 50 people do not know who their biological father is, say experts.

Adoption, sperm donation and ‘paternity fraud’ – in which mothers conceal a child’s true father – are some of the reasons why people are unaware of their real genetic lineage.

The figure is revealed in a new TV series, DNA Family Secrets, whose presenter, Stacey Dooley, tells viewers that the boom in genetic tests has ‘uncovered a startling statistic – about one in 50 people do not have the biological father they think they have’.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'On first scroll, Female Dating Strategy looks like any other straight women’s self-help site. Between its bright pink borders, you’ll see a selection of #empowering memes, a bustling advice forum and articles on getting over heartbreak. You’ll see “Women Don’t Owe You Shit” slogans and pastel-coloured platitudes about becoming your “best self”.

The core message behind it all? Men are “braindead” and “ass garbage”, and they need to be “ruthlessly evaluated” before you form an emotional attachment. Even if you think you’ve met a decent one, you should remain on your guard.

“Thinking ‘not all men’ is DETRIMENTAL to your safety,” reasons one poster. “‘Not all men are rapists... But if I gave you a pack of gummy bears and told you one was poisoned, wouldn’t you treat each of them as potentially lethal?”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When I was a kid in the 1970s, the “tomboy” was queen — or maybe king. Even a non-sporty girl like me was dressed in the unisex uniforms of white-piped track shorts, Keds, and t-shirts, just like my brother. The lesson I learned from my parents, peers, the media, and the passage of Title IX in 1972, was that I had legal right to everything culturally marked as “for boys.”

But the same access to girls’ worlds has still not been granted to boys. Despite the recent media focus on toxic masculinity, boys still feel insistent pressure to be violent, to shut down emotions, to watch porn, and to have sex even when they don’t want or aren’t ready to. They feel pressure to reject anything associated with what’s culturally marked as “feminine” — kindness, vulnerability, love, seeking help, let alone dolls and the color pink — and pressure to look down on girls and women. Boys learn that “girly” is an insult, and they must at all costs distance themselves from it.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A state Department of Corrections contractor admitted Monday she falsely accused an inmate of raping her after Kitsap County sheriff's detectives began investigating her for pressuring the man into sex.

Taressa Jolene Browning, 32, met the man while working as a facility monitor for Progress House, a company the state uses to operate its Peninsula Work Release facility on Lloyd Parkway in Port Orchard.

Her job was to monitor inmates after their release from prison and drive them to and from work.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A bill that would make sexual conduct without affirmative consent a third-degree felony failed in a House committee Monday.

House Bill 78, sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero, did not pass with a 5-6 vote by the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee.

Affirmative consent is a knowing, voluntary, and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity.

The bill would have also required an offender to register as a sex offender.'