Nice to see some justice anyway.

The Child Support Agency has had to refund hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance payments to more than 3,000 men after DNA tests revealed that they had been wrongly named by mothers in paternity suits. One in six men who took a DNA test to challenge claims by women that they were the fathers of their children were cleared by the results, according to official figures disclosed by the agency.

Under CSA rules, men must start paying maintenance the moment they are named by mothers as the father of the child. They can challenge the ruling by asking for a DNA test but have to pay for it themselves.

Dittohd writes "A $15M alimony judgement to be paid at $125 per month for 10,000 years? Anybody here from Iran? Does this alimony obligation continue as an obligation to this guy's successors to be paid to the ex-wife's successors?"

Thanks to Mark R. for the word on this report, featured on the web site http://www.breakingthescience.org/.

The final paragraph of the CPB ombudsman's statement reads as follows:

PBS says it has received around 4,000 letters, calls and e-mails about Breaking the Silence. The National Organization for Women issued an action alert calling for mail supporting the program. Glenn Sacks used his radio show to promote mailings objecting to the broadcast. Jan McNamara the director of corporate communication at PBS says the program is now under official review. That's good. Along with the motives of its sponsor (The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation), Breaking the Silence needs to be reviewed for accuracy, fairness and balance.

This is a big win! Thanks to Glenn Sacks and RADAR for their efforts to make these folks admit, finally, that they got it wrong. This also proves that public pressure to get to the actual truth in the face of lies and distortions can and does work. Inspirational stuff!

This is a somewhat confused article, but it also contains a few good points. It's good to see USA Today quote Richard Gartner, the psychologist in New York who authored Betrayed as Boys, "(regarding jail time) we definitely still have a double standard," with women receiving lesser jail terms than men.

As a follow-up to this story, the perp is not only given little more than time served (she'll be out of jail by Christmas) but also, the judge in his sentencing said she was really the victim.

Excerpt:

"The 16-year-old in this case is a victim in the statutory sense only," Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick told Sandra Beth Geisel. "He was certainly not victimized by you in any other sense of the word."


      Geisel pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree rape on Sept. 27 after admitting to having had sex with the boy in May. She was sentenced to six months in jail but is scheduled for release in several weeks, counting time already served. Though she also admitted to having sex with two 17-year-old students, no charges were filed in those incidents because the boys were of legal age.

      
[Judge] Herrick, in handing down his sentence, said the students "manipulated, used and sexually abused" Geisel.

This story was covered on Inside Edition (a TV news program) on 11/29/2005 (and is covered on their web site too, so have a look). In their report tonight, they mentioned that after the boy stopped seeing her the teacher started having sex with several other students, including three (i.e, all of them together) in the school's stadium.

Folks, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

In late September, different bills to reauthorize VAWA for the next
5
years were passed by the House and the Senate. The House bill includes
language stating that VAWA is gender neutral.

Separate from that, a bill to provide continuing funding for VAWA
programs for the next year has now passed both the House and the Senate
and was signed into law by the President on November 22nd. This one
year continuing funding bill contains no mention that Congress intends
VAWA to be gender neutral.

Click "Read more..." for more.

David Hill writes "I was just wanting to let this men’s group know about the horrible corporal punishment that men are subjected to everyday around the world. Remember Singapore this horrible torturous humiliating practice is done only to men. It can not be done to a women for any reason even if she breaks the same law. Check out World Corporal Punishment Research, there are literally thousands of countries that practice caning and it is done to only one sex ours. Women can not have it happen to them even when they break the same law. It is a horrible humiliating practice they do it across the buttocks just like in school its only us that gets spanked. This is a very serious issue that should be addressed if women have a higher pain tolerance than men why is this horrible punishment done only to men? In Singapore in particular women are on equal footing as men but still this horrible practice is only for us as it also is. If women and men are equal then why is this horrible practice only reserved for one sex?"

Ed. note: It's not true to say only males are caned or spanked in official and non-official forms of punishment. It is true however to say the vast majority of people abused this way are men and boys and the public's stomach for it is much larger when it is males at the end of the cane. Same goes of course for all manner of punishment, including the death penalty.

Anonymous User writes "Ban on men sitting next to children on Quantas flights and Air New Zealand- see story by Ainsley Thompson, Nov. 29, 2005. This is a case of discrimination gone mad!"

Here's an article (albeit a little short on clarity) about male genital mutilation in South Africa. I begin to wonder if more males than females worldwide are damaged and/or killed by genital mutilation, and if we rarely hear about the mutilation of male genitals in the mainstream media because of the standard anti-male prejudice.

Dittohd writes "These cases are really starting to stack up. I wonder if women are changing, our perception of the occurrence has changed, or just that these cases are being reported has changed."

locksley2k writes "An interesting and breakthrough article in today’s Newsday, originating from the LA Times, deals with male depression as an often misdiagnosed distinct and unique gender based mental disorder caused by men feeling emasculated and vulnerable manifesting itself by aggression and recklessness amongst other symptoms. It’s the inverse of what therapists have traditionally considered the signs of depression or as the article calls it “melancholy on steroids.”

The greatest significance of all this is mental health professionals are trying to legitimize “male-based depression” as a new mental health category in the same way they have Battered Wife Syndrome and Post-Partum Depression. If they are successful, MBD can be used as a legal defense in domestic abuse or other battery crimes. A good lawyer can logically argue his aggressive behavior was therefore caused by the victim as has been successfully done with the BWS defense. Therapy will replace jail time. This is not a good thing; it can cause a lot of harm unless it forces the mental health and judicial communities to have ALL people made to be responsible for their own actions regardless of their Battered Wife Syndrome, Post-Partum Depression or Male-Base Depression."

Anonymous User writes "
Link here.
Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- In a last-minute effort to keep herself out of prison, a 25-year-old middle school teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a 14-year-old.

Debra Lafave, a former remedial reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida, pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, and was sentenced to three years of house arrest followed by seven years probation. She also must register as a sex offender.'

The question of disparity of sentencing due to the perp's sex does get covered here. Excerpt:

'Debra Lafave's plea deal raises the question of whether there's a double standard when it comes to female offenders involved in a sexual crime.

Would a man in the same situation have received a similar sentence?'"

Steven Brown writes "Imagine if the sexes had been reversed in this case (the man would almost certainly have been imprisoned and never allowed to teach again).

Note also the light-hearted use of the word 'snog' in the headline to the story: "'Snog' Teacher Spared Ban".

Excerpt:


'A geography teacher who kissed a 15-year-old male pupil at school has been spared a ban from her profession.

Judge Sally Cahill QC, at Leeds Crown Court, said the offences were serious but they did not merit a custodial sentence or a teaching ban.'"

That's rights, folks, you heard it here first. Paternity fraud is committed because of (among other things) "The threat of sexual violence or shaming..." I swear, this confused piece of crackpot sociology might outdo even the best of my Sweetie Pie, Moaning Dud. Ooops, I mean Maureen Dowd.

If you can stomach more of my take on this, click "Read More."

zerostress writes "From ifeminists, here is some good news for a change. Even there, they tried to weasel out of this mess by saying that the policy had been "misconstrued by some as being non-inclusive. This was not the intention."

Being an optimist, I think this policy will still be implemented but not as publicly. Still, it its good to see that by protesting we can make things change."