Article here. Not even explicit, recorded consent is good enough. Basically, such laws serve only to give women the power to claim they were raped without having to provide any evidence to support the allegation. Excerpt:

'A NEW app that gives men a "24 hour consent contract" to have sex has sparked fury.

The launch comes in response to a new rape law, which criminalises sex without explicit consent in Denmark.

The creators argue the purpose of the app, iConsent, is to ensure both parties agree to intercourse.

But groups have slammed the app as "non-sensical" and say it undermines the complexity of consent.

The national head of Sex and Society, Lene Stavngaard, said: "The app is definitely not the solution to getting consent.

"A sexual relationship is not about a contract, so it shoots completely wrong in relation to the needs that are out there.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Describing the demographic of the financial services industry as “stale, pale, white males” can make it difficult to improve diversity in the sector, Aldermore’s Damian Thompson has said.

Speaking at Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF) on 14 January, the lender’s group managing director of retail finance said using the phrase was not helpful as the efforts of those who dominated the sector were needed to make the profession more inclusive.

Thompson (pictured) said: “I don’t buy into the stale, pale, white male – it can cause a lot of difficulty when we speak to them like that.

“They are going to have to transform in a world where opportunity in the previous 40 or 50 years was given to them. They are going to have to be in a world where there is competition now because of diversity and inclusion.

“These are the people willing to go on that journey with us in a world that says, ‘competition isn’t a bad thing’.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Indore Police has found that the claims of a 19-year-old college girl who had on Tuesday accused five men of kidnapping, gang-raping, and stabbing her are "inconsistent" and "baseless". Investigations have revealed that even the stab wound she has sustained are self-inflicted. Following a probe, the police have now filed a case against her for registering a false case.
The girl is yet to reveal the reason for filing a false case as she is still recovering, the police told NDTV.

The prime accused in the initial case and the girl were in love and used to live in the same locality, according to the police.'

Article here. Excerpt:

‘'Patriarchy’ describes a social system that continues to disadvantage women and LGBTQIA+ communities through cultural norms, discriminatory laws and cyclical economic dysfunction. In this decade, demolishing patriarchy in Australia is about changing cultural norms and implementing policies that undo disadvantage hewn by centuries of gender disparity previously instantiated by law.

A resurgence in public feminist discourse in the past five years belies an ongoing demand for this kind of work – #MeToo notably drew the world’s attention with its cultural shifts both large and small, and an ongoing demand for varied modern feminist discussions continues to rise. The next step requires men.

We need men to invest in dismantling patriarchy. Helping men to see how patriarchy oppresses them is the key to this. Communicating their investment in feminism lies in recognising the unique aspects of male suffering that come from patriarchy. That is why we have worked to propose a men’s wellbeing policy for the Australian Greens.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Data from a recent Utah State University study in the Utah Women in Leadership Project shows Utah profoundly lacking when it comes to women in leadership roles in the government workplace.

The studies date shows that women hold only 29.1% of supervisory, managerial and executive leadership positions in municipal government in Utah.

In Orem, it is only 17.9%, and that has people like Keri Rugg, manager of Human Resources for the city, sit up and take notice.

Inclusivity is an important part of employee and city goals Rugg said, but up until now, there has been nothing to help women move forward in leadership.

“As a city, we noticed women can’t compete,” Rugg said.

For that reason, the city has developed Orem Women in Leadership Scholarship, according to Rugg. The scholarships will range for $500 to $5,000 and will pay for women to further their education up front.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Microsoft is offering its partners a hefty discount on leadership programs for women in a bid to improve diversity in the local tech sector.

Microsoft Australia has partnered with Women Rising, a career and leadership coaching program for women, to offer the course to internal employees and those of its partner network for $1200 less than the usual fee.

The six month program is designed to grow women’s confidence and leadership skills in the workplace and includes evidenced based positive psychology, neuroscience and behavioural studies, according to the website.

The class is typically priced at just under $2,000 but the Microsoft initiative will bring it down to $797 for its Australian partners.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Joe Biden entered the White House this week with high and wide-ranging expectations from higher education leaders, advocates for survivors of sexual violence and students for how his new administration will require colleges to handle and reduce sexual assault on college campuses.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Outside of the workplace, positive representations of female leaders should help erode the misogynist attitudes that enable societal problems like domestic violence. “We know that rage, aggression and lust are generally the only emotions that males are socialized to see as acceptable in themselves and other males,” Meredith Shirey, a licensed psychotherapist and the co-host of the podcast “Love Me or Leave Me,” told me. “It stands to reason that these emotions, along with thousands of years of extreme subjugation of women, is indicative of why we still see such a high prevalence of acts of violence against women. If men are exposed to seeing women in positions of power, it is likely that they will, over time, build a view that sees women as equals in every facet, including emotional expression.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'McPheeters Bend Elementary near Church Hill is one of 197 schools across seven states to be awarded a share of $800,000 in grants intended to develop STEM education projects across the Tennessee Valley.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, in partnership with TVA retiree organization Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated, announced the grants Friday, which also include Sullivan County awards to Innovation Academy in Blountville and Sullivan East Middle School in Bluff City, as well as several other schools in Northeast Tennessee.

Hawkins County Director of Schools Matt Hixson told the Times News on Friday that the McPheeters Bend grant will be used to encourage female students to get interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Prime Minister has appointed Helen Grant MP as his new Special Envoy on Girls’ Education, leading the UK’s efforts internationally to ensure all girls get 12 years of quality education.

Mrs Grant is the Member of Parliament for Maidstone and the Weald and is a passionate advocate for the rights of women and girls. Before entering Parliament, Helen was a solicitor for 23 years, specialising in protecting women and children from domestic abuse. Since becoming an MP in 2010 she has been a champion of gender equality in Parliament, and has previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Women and Equality.

As Special Envoy, she will champion the UK’s global expertise on education and secure backing for ambitious initiatives to get 40 million more girls in primary and secondary school in developing countries by 2025 and improve learning levels, so girls can achieve their full potential.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Lucknow police is deploying facial recognition technology backed by security cameras that will read expressions of women in distress and alert their nearest police station. The technology is claimed to use artificial intelligence (AI) to read facial expressions of women. The new project will take place under the Uttar Pradesh government's Mission Shakti programme that was launched in October. It is projected to help reduce cases of harassment of women subjected to stalking and threat in the city.

Lucknow Police Commissioner Dhruv Kumar Thakur told the media on Wednesday that the police department had identified 200 hotspots where the movement of women was maximum in the city and from where most of the complaints were received. The police will initially deploy five AI-based cameras to recognise the expression of women citizens.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Straight white men who identify as men are hard to reach on the topics of mental health and “affirmative consent,” a mental health expert said in a virtual lecture last week.

Ross Szabo, wellness director at UCLA’s affiliated school for grades 6-12, said that “sometimes” his own white, heterosexual, cisgender male identity “can be a benefit” in reaching young men like him, even though it biases his perspective.

“Engaging Men in Prevention at a Young Age” was hosted by It’s On Us, which started in 2014 as an Obama administration initiative and is now part of the nonprofit Civic Nation.

The initiative was spearheaded by President-elect Joe Biden, who compared supporters of due process in campus sexual misconduct proceedings to the “Nazis” who marched in Charlottesville in 2017.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'New domestic abuse laws in NI should give victims "more confidence" to report such crimes, Naomi Long has said.

The justice minister was speaking ahead of landmark legislation finishing its final legal hurdle at Stormont on Monday.

The laws have been long-awaited, after the NI Assembly's collapse in 2017 stalled the process.

It will mean coercive control becomes an offence in NI for the first time.

Coercive control includes psychological abuse and non-violent intimidation.

Mrs Long also introduced separate legislation on Monday to make stalking a specific offence in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that does not have anti-stalking laws.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The new Carey Mulligan movie is sure to garner Oscar nominations because it’s never a bad time in Hollywood to hate men. Despite its pernicious cultural politics, it’s extremely entertaining.
...
Sometimes a movie says something you intensely dislike, but they say it so well you have to tip your cap. A case in point is the darkly comedic #MeToo revenge fantasy ‘Promising Young Woman’, available on various streaming services.

The film, written and directed by Emerald Fennell, tells the story of Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a med-school dropout consumed with grief and anger over her best friend’s rape and death.

In search of cathartic revenge, Cassie spends her time trolling bars pretending to be drunk to the point of incapacitation so that predatory men will attempt to prey upon her. Once they try to take full advantage of her, she transforms to reveal herself to be a sober social vigilante, shaming men for their repulsive behavior towards women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'If it hadn’t been for a man, Pauline Harmange’s literary debut, “I Hate Men,” might have gone unnoticed.

The feminist essay, which makes a case for shunning men as a legitimate defense mechanism against widespread misogyny, was initially published in French by the nonprofit press Monstrograph. It only printed 400 copies. On the day it was released last August, however, an employee of France’s ministry for gender equality, Ralph Zurmély, emailed Monstrograph from his government account.

The book was obviously, he wrote, “an ode to misandry.” Zurmély, who hadn’t read the book, likened it to “sex-based incitement to hatred” and concluded, “I ask that you immediately withdraw this book from your catalog, subject to legal prosecution.”