Story here. Excerpt:

'Instead, this child was conceived by an arrangement between a gay father and a lesbian mother, both of whom were living with other partners at the time. Michael and Joanne were not even introduced through friends, but by the prosaic means of a classified ad, placed by Michael in a gay newspaper, requesting 'a lesbian partner for a mutually beneficial child-rearing experience'.

The couple, Michael reveals, had met each other only four times before they decided to proceed on this most emotive and important of joint endeavours.

Once their baby was born, there was intermittent contact between Michael and his son, but after three years Ms Skinner suddenly broke all contact and has since apparently absconded with their child. And so, today, Michael now finds himself engaged in a custody battle with a women he barely knows, which has already cost him tens of thousands of pounds.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Much has been made in recent weeks about the role of women in Katine. Women are presented as the handmaidens of Africa's development and we are asked to place our hope in them. We have seen that men drink too much, and are not always good at managing family matters. Women are presented as responsible citizens, better at running businesses and investing in their children's education. There is some truth to this.

And yet, for better or worse, economic and social life in Katine is organised around households, not around individuals. If there is to be development then it will involve men and women. As we can see in the case of the Odulai family it is the rather complicated set of relationships that makes up a family (in Frances Odulai's case, two wives and 18 children) that determines the welfare of the family. The relationship between Odulai and Ajiko Salina and Alapo Sarafina, his wives, will determine whether or not the family eats, children get fed or the sick get money to buy drugs in the dispensary.'

Article here. Notice how men losing jobs in construction and manufacturing is considered a bright future for women. Excerpt:

'Today, women have reproductive freedom. More women are independent, thanks to affirmative action hiring that gave them access to better-paying jobs. More women with more money helps them escape abusive relationships, as evidenced by the drop in reported homicides.

And the future looks bright.

Women outnumber men in most university faculties and, reports BusinessWeek, are better suited to the knowledge economy, "which rewards supposedly female traits such as sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to collaborate.

This while traditionally male jobs, in construction and manufacturing, are disappearing.
...
So here we are, at the end of 2008, and "feminism" is still not only misunderstood and deliberately misinterpreted, it's still an f-word.

Count on me in 2009 to keep flipping the misogynists the bird.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, women equality, etc. seem to be the buzzwords these days with more and more articles coming about increased awareness amongst women about their rights. Since so many decades we have been hearing of these campaigns and they are still running. Feminists still seem to cry about women rights and women empowerment and women equality. For the past almost three decades women empowerment is happening and crores of rupees are spent on it every year and yet if the need for the same is felt, then either something is wrong with the women or their empowerment.

Whatever be the cause, in all this efforts by the various lobbies and groups, the real cost of women empowerment is being borne by men. Whenever men try to talk about their problems / rights / issues, they are subdued saying women empowerment is more important and their problems always take a back seat, when it comes to implementing solutions. And that is the reason in the past 60 years, not a single rupee has been spent for men’s welfare.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Earlier today we asked readers to imagine an angry face. Then, in a surprise poll, we asked what gender the face was. So far our results match those of a study led by D. Vaughn Becker: over three-fourths of the responses were "male."

In the published study, there was no difference in the response based the respondent's gender. Both men and women are much more likely to think of a male "angry" face than a female one.

If we'd asked you to picture a happy face instead of an angry face, the results would switch almost as dramatically in the opposite direction: Most people say happy faces are female, although in this case, the effect is entirely due to male respondents. Women's responses are evenly divided male-female.

Article here. Excerpt:

'IOWA CITY, Iowa, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The greater parietal lobe surface area in male brains is directly related to better performance on mental rotation tasks, U.S. researchers said.
...
Magnetic resonance imaging showed about a 10 percent difference in parietal lobe surface area -- 43 square centimeters for men and 40 square centimeters for women.

"It's important to note that it isn't that women cannot do the mental rotation tasks, but they appear to do them slower, and neither men nor women perform the tasks perfectly," study lead author Tim Koscik said in a statement.

Study co-author Dr. Peg Nopoulos said while the way the brain performs a task may differ between genders, the big question remains whether this is nature or nurture. Nopoulos predicts "if we eventually see both a strong performance and parietal lobe structural difference in children, it would support a biological, not just environmental, effect."

Article here. Excerpt:

'"It is a reality that women bring more commitment to an organization. They listen better and are more sensitive to the needs and demands of other workers," said Ms Anu Aga.

"It is also unfortunately true that we as women are responsible in communicating the same gender-biased values to our children and in perpetuating this mindset through our actions," cautioned Ms Aga.

Ms Rumjhum Chatterjee, Managing Director, Feedback Ventures, said, "Though men must accept the management qualities of women, women on their part also need to pick up right level of confidence."

"It is a man's world where men and family decide and make their choices. But that leaves for majority of women no choice at all," she added.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In yet another chapter of the Mars-Venus relationship of men and women, a University of Missouri professor has discovered that men can also suffer esteem-issues after being exposed to idealized women in magazines.

Common wisdom assumed that men see beautiful women and merely grunt or smirk, but Jennifer Aubrey, an assistant professor of communication, found that men — at least the pool of 18- to 23-year-old college men that she studied — were more likely to feel self-conscious about their own bodies when they viewed highly attractive females.

"It's simple," said Aubrey, whose research is being published in Human Communication Research this month. "One of the assumptions is that men believe that hot women want hot guys. This is not shocking. What's interesting is how men internalize this information."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Bandar Seri Begawan - The Bandar Seri Begawan Magistrate's Court sentenced a 26-year-old woman to one-month imprisonment yesterday after she pleaded guilty to making a false rape report to the police.

Wailah binti Sakrib made a report at the Limau Manis Police Station six days ago that she was raped by an unknown individual at a house in Kampong Masin, the court heard.
As a result of police investigation, the police arrested two men, namely Ngo Van Van, 42, and Marzukin bin Dar-wash, 28, at the vicinity of a construction site in Kampong Masin.
...
According to the Deputy Public Prosecutor, Christopher Ng, who was assisted by Prosecuting Officer Attiyah Abas said it was revealed that the defendant had, in fact, asked for money in exchange for sexual services.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'ROGERSVILLE — The estranged wife of recently exonerated Kingsport police officer Daniel Scott Lane has been arrested in connection with a false rape accusation she allegedly made against Lane last month.

Courtney Jo Lane, 30, 203 Hickory Hills Road, Church Hill, was charged Tuesday evening with filing a false report, a Class E felony punishable by one to two years in prison.

A domestic assault charge filed Nov. 20 against Daniel Lane, 32, of Kingsport, was dismissed Monday by Hawkins County Sessions Judge David Brand, reportedly at the request of Courtney Lane.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"A married father-of-three who says he was driven out of his job by being called a 'faggot' won a landmark case at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

Stephen English, 56, was taunted about being gay by his colleagues every day, even though he is heterosexual.

The teasing was so relentless that he felt 'tormented' and resigned from his job as a window blinds salesman.
...
'Until now, victims of this type of abuse had little or no legal protection. By supporting Mr English's case, the commission has helped to clarify the law to protect those who suffer harassment based on old-fashioned stereotypes.'"

Article here. Excerpt:

'A federal judge has sharply rebuked a team of lawyers from Fox Rothschild for filing an "excessive" fee petition after winning an international custody case, saying their bill of more than $163,000 in fees and expenses was simply too large for a "garden variety" custody battle.

"I simply cannot accept or justify an attorneys’ fee award of this size in a case of this nature," U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel wrote in his 11-page opinion in Clarke v. Clarke.

...
Springer led a team that filed suit under the Hague Convention on behalf of Michael Clarke of Australia, alleging that his wife, Kristen Clarke, had taken their two children, Nathan, 5; and Grace, 2, to the United States and refused to return.

Kristen Clarke, who was born in the United States, responded by claiming in court papers that the children would be in "grave danger" if returned to Australia because, she alleged, Michael Clarke had sexually abused his son.

Blog entry here. Excerpt:

'The ad above pretends that women get paid less than men because of anti-female discrimination. In reality, the wage gap exists for many legitimate reasons, including:

1) Men work longer hours at more demanding and hazardous jobs.

2) Men are more likely to travel, relocate or have long commutes for their jobs.

3) Men are more likely to have more years and more consecutive years of experience, because women are more likely to work part time or take years off of work to care for their children.

Given these factors, it would be very hard for men to not earn considerably more than women. When men and women of matched qualifications are working in matched jobs, women earn as much as men do.'

Story here. A boy and a girl have sex at school, the boy is the only one suspended.

Interesting quote: "Besides her son, Goss said other male students have been suspended for sexual activity while the girls involved have been allowed to remain in school."

VAWA Reformers –

The 110th Session of Congress has now come to a close, and the lights dimmed in the Senate and the House. So it’s time to tally up our accomplishments.

In 2008, four domestic violence bills were introduced in Congress:

1. International Violence Against Women Act (S. 2279 and H.R. 5927)
2. National Domestic Violence Volunteer Act (S. 1515 and H.R. 6088)
3. Domestic Violence Victim Protection Act (H.R. 203)
4. Commending the important achievements of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence as it celebrates 30 years of service to local domestic violence shelter and service programs (H. Res. 1397)

In all four cases, we succeeded in preventing passage of these bills, even though we were out-manned and out-spent, and even though the VAWA Mafia pulled out all the stops to secure passage of I-VAWA and the National Domestic Violence Volunteer Act. Break out the champagne!

To every person who responded to a RADAR Alert, made a phone call, sent a fax, fired off an email, spoke to a staffer, or came to Washington DC to do lobbying, THANK YOU! Your effort TRULY MADE A DIFFERENCE!