Article here. Excerpt:

'Germany’s defense minister announced on Wednesday plans for new legislation that would help refill the depleted ranks of the armed forces to bolster the country’s defense capabilities.

Boris Pistorius said the proposed bill would allow the government to send letters to all young men who turn 18 — about 400,000 every year — asking about their willingness and ability to serve in the military.

Under the law, those who receive the letter would have to fill out the questions. The army would then invite those interested in serving for a medical checkup and choose the most qualified to serve in the military for a period of 6-23 months.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The House of Representatives passed a measure on Friday automatically registering men aged 18 to 26 for selective service.

It was part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets out the U.S. government’s military and national security priorities over the next fiscal year.

This year's NDAA authorizes $895.2 billion in military spending, a $9 billion increase from fiscal 2024.
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It was led by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and passed in the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the NDAA in May. The NDAA advanced through the committee in an overwhelming 57 to 1 vote.
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The NDAA passed the House in a 217 to 199 vote, but it’s unlikely to be taken up by the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the bill on Friday afternoon over the inclusion of amendments curbing funding for abortion, transgender medical care, and diversity efforts.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Seattle Mariners will host a Refuse To Abuse® Game Day for Domestic Violence Prevention on Sunday, June 16th at T-Mobile Park, marking 28 years of partnership with the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). This year’s event invites supporters to enjoy a Seattle Mariners Game together and takes place on Father’s Day. “Everyone can play a role to prevent domestic violence,” said Ward Urion, Strategic Prevention Strategist at WSCADV. “Fathers make a big impact when they model integrity and respect in relationships and we’re grateful for all the fathers out there who are showing up as part of the solution.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to a new report from Australia's eSafety Commissioner, the internet can be a place of tensions, complexities and possibilities for young men.

The research examined the online experiences of young men in Australia aged 16 to 21 years old and explored how they express their identities, explore sexuality, and navigate social connections online.

Researchers said ideas about gender can both empower and limit young men, and those who strive to enact masculine stereotypes can end up harming themselves and others.

eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said positive and diverse role models are needed as a small number of harmful voices are dominating conversations about masculinity.

"There's constant pressure for young men to conform to particular, often narrow and traditional, ideals about manhood," she said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The alarming rise in alpha male culture continues across the country, with one expert seeing Australian boys as young as 11 becoming heavily influenced by the content being promoted on social media.

The “alpha male” is defined by its followers as someone who takes charge, is hyper masculine, with everyone wanting to be him and women wanting to be with him.

A study conducted by the Dublin City University (DCU) showed that social media algorithms are amplifying the notion of male supremacy and misogynistic content.

The researchers made 10 experimental puppet accounts on YouTube and TikTok and found that all of the male-identifying accounts were drowned in anti-feminist, masculinist and extremist content.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The horrible truth is that in the Australian legacy media landscape, there are too many stories of senior men who forgive themselves their own lapses of judgement, or forgive each other's because they're "good blokes", or — in the worst cases — go easy on each other because they fear a nuclear escalation.

Across this industry, there are precious few female editors, chief executives, news directors, and executive producers at the biggest commercial companies. But those who do hold those jobs know instinctively that they need to keep their noses rigorously clean. Because members of the boys club will rarely extend to them the benefit of the doubt they will so readily, sometimes unthinkingly, give each other.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the past, Australia has denied travel visas to R&B singer Chris Brown and boxing star Floyd Mayweather due to domestic violence convictions. They’re taking this stand against domestic violence one step further by barring any visitor with a domestic violence charge against women or children from entering Australia.

The law came into effect on Feb. 28 and applies to all offenders regardless of where they’re from, where they committed the crime or what their sentence was. In addition, anyone who is currently visiting or living in Australia on a visa and has a record of domestic violence will be kicked out.

The new laws add to existing legislation that withholds or removes visitor visas if the visa holder has been sentenced to 12 months or more in jail.

Immigration Minister David Coleman said in a public statement that, "If you've been convicted of a violent crime against women or children, you are not welcome in this country."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The findings were released via the Freedom of Information Act. Female applicants also had a stronger chance of getting in than men, but by a lesser degree.

Since 2022, an average of 60.25 per cent of applicants were women. But in that same period, women made up 71 per cent of participants.

In contrast, men made up an average of 39.75 per cent of applicants but 29 per cent of participants, meaning that womens’ chances of getting onto the scheme were 1.6 times higher than their male counterparts.

Neil O’Brien, who until the election was the Conservative MP for Harborough, said: “Unlike previous BBC schemes which have stated they are BAME-only, this scheme markets itself as open to anyone. But in practice there is discrimination.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Key factors sustaining the gender wage gap are workplace harassment, the lack of protection for parents and caregivers, segregation of men and women into different job types, and women entering the workplace after a history of earning lower or unequal wages, said Deborah Vagins, campaign director for the civil rights nonprofit Equal Rights Advocates and director of the national campaign Equal Pay Today.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Iceland, a country that ranks highest in the world for equality, will become the first nation to borrow money to spend on improving the gender gap.

The move follows a protest at the end of last year by thousands of women, who took to the streets to highlight the inequality that still exists. The bond offering will break new ground in a hot market for ESG debt, where so far only companies or development agencies have linked borrowing to gender spending.

“We would be the first sovereign to do a bond in this format, which I think is a good opportunity to step in that market and show an example of what can be done,” Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, told Bloomberg. She recently traveled to New York to talk about social gender bonds.

Article here. Excerpt:

'For the last six years, I’ve been collecting and researching cases in which people – mostly young women and sometimes children – were charged with falsely reporting a rape or sexual assault. I’ve amassed more than 230 cases that span the country, an investigation we first shared in the documentary “Victim/Suspect,” streaming on Netflix. In our first-of-its-kind qualitative analysis, we found a pattern of police turning their suspicions to the reporting victim before thoroughly investigating the alleged crime.

Article here. Excerpt:

'For many progressives, weary from a pileup of male misconduct, the refusal to engage with men’s feelings has now become almost a point of principle. For every right-wing tough guy urging his crying son to “man up,” there’s a voice from the left telling him that to voice his concerns is to take airtime away from a woman or someone more marginalized. In many cases, the same people who are urging boys and men to become more emotionally expressive are also taking a moral stand against hearing how they actually feel. For many boys, it can seem as though their emotions get dismissed by both sides. This political isolation has combined with existing masculine norms to push a worrying number of boys into a kind of resentful, semi-politicized reclusion.
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Video here.

'Most people see feminism as being about equality. They also tend to think of MRA's as being haters. Are they right? This video takes a close look at just what a hate group is and how feminism and men's advocates fit in. Thanks to StudioBrule for the clips of the Farrell protest. This post was based on the work of David Byron. If anyone knows where he might be these days I would love to hear from him.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'My experience is not merely anecdotal, but part of larger educational trends. Boys are not faring as well as girls in the classroom. Women outperform men in school in terms of school readiness in kindergarten, GPA, and increasingly in college enrollment and degree attainment. According to Richard Reeves, of the top 10% of students, two-thirds are girls. On the flip side, boys comprise nearly two-thirds of the bottom 10% of students. While boys outperform girls overall on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT, girls perform better on the written and verbal portions of the exams while boys outperform on STEM subjects.

Not only from a grades standpoint but also a disciplinary standpoint, boys are not faring as well. Boys are roughly 2.5 times more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than girls; of all expulsions from public school in the 2017-2018 school year (the last year the National Center for Education Statistics has available data), 72% of all expulsions and 70% of suspensions were of boys.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Scottish Greens MSP was heckled at Holyrood after calling for NO new road upgrades in Scotland, despite representing a community which has been crying out for one. Highlands MSP Ariane Burgess called on public transport improvements instead.

And her colleague Maggie Chapman even suggested that "road building is a subsidy for wealthy, usually white men who are the main beneficiaries of reducing journey times between cities."

The Scottish Tories brought in a debate about the current poor state of roads across the country, including the pothole scarred city routes. They blamed "17 years of SNP neglect, underfunding and broken promises" for this situation, which includes the A9 dualling being delayed by a decade.