Article here. Excerpt:

'Saskia Schuster said she realised last year that "an awful lot of my comedy entertainment shows are made up of all-male writing teams".

She said: "Too often the writing room is not sensitively run. It can be aggressive and slightly bullying."

She has now changed ITV's contracts, and female writers have been hired to join shows like ITV2's Celebability.

There has been "a significant lack of shows written by women or with women on the writing teams", she said.

Last year, when reviewing the gender balance of sitcom scripts she was sent, she realised that for every script she received from a female writer, she got five from men.

After consulting writers, producers, agents and performers, "the first thing I did was I changed my terms of commissioning," she told Channel 4's Diverse Festival in Bradford on Monday. "I won't commission anything with an all-male writing team."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Dutch engineering university is taking radical action to increase its share of female academics by opening job vacancies to women only.

Starting on 1 July, the Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) in the Netherlands will not allow men to apply for permanent academic jobs for the first 6 months of the recruitment process under a new fellowship program. If no suitable applicant has been found within that time, men can then apply, but the selection committee will still have to nominate at least one candidate of each gender.

“We have been talking about [gender balance] for ages,” says TUE President Robert-Jan Smits. “All kinds of soft measures are taken and lip service is paid to it. But the stats still look awful.” Currently, 29% of TUE’s assistant professors are women; at the associate and full professor level, about 15% are women. With this program, TUE wants to reach 50% of women for assistant and associate professors, and 35% for full professors.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A ban on advertisements containing “harmful” gender stereotypes came into force in the U.K. on Friday, in a move experts hope will reduce gender inequality.

Adverts containing stereotypes such as women being bad at driving, or a husband being lazy while his wife cleans, will likely fall foul of the new rules recommended by the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

“Making assumptions about how people should look and behave might negatively restrict how they see themselves and how others see them, and limit choices they make in life,” said Ella Smillie of the ASA, who led the 2017 study which recommended the new rules.

Other scenarios likely to be disallowed include stereotypes of children’s ambitions, for example boys aspiring to be engineers and girls aspiring to be dancers.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Athletic programs at each of Idaho’s four publicly funded universities fell short of at least one aspect of federal Title IX standards, according to state data.
...
Boise State University was the only state school during the 2017-18 school year that had substantially proportionate participation in sports. The university’s student population was about 54% women, and its athletes were about 54% women.

The university did not meet the proportionality standard for scholarship aid, with male athletes getting a more than 2% advantage, according to data.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'New York state would legalize the buying and selling of sex under a proposal introduced in the state Legislature Monday that would lift criminal penalties for sex work.

The bill isn't expected to get a vote before the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly plan to adjourn for the year next week. But supporters still hailed the announcement of the bill as a critical step toward repealing criminal penalties for sex workers and their customers.
...
"We only want to live, be free and be safe," said TS Candii, a former sex worker and current leader in the effort to decriminalize the industry. She said started selling sex at age 13 as a matter of survival.

The bill's sponsor in the Assembly, Manhattan Democrat Richard Gottfried, said outlawing prostitution has only forced sex workers into the shadows, where they can be exploited, trafficked and then punished for breaking the law.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A MUM and her lesbian lover tore off her nine-year-old son's penis before beheading him because he reminded her of her dad.

Mum Rosana Cândido, 27, and Kacyla Pessoa, 28, of Brazil, stabbed the boy over a dozen times and removed all the skin from his face before butchering his body.

The pair were said to have even used a knife to try to gouge out the boy’s eyeballs to prevent possible recognition.

They bodged a bid to burn some of him on a barbecue so stuffed his remains in a suitcase dumped in a sewer, police said.

Other parts were found in two backpacks at their home in Brazil.

The lovers are said to have confessed all to horrified cops in Samambaia, about 20 miles from capital Brasilia.

They face homicide, torture and concealing a corpse charges.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'You’ve probably heard a lot of complaints about dads over the past few years. We fathers are not pulling our weight around the house. Poor Mom is stuck working a “second shift,” doing more than her share of household chores even after a full day at the office. In fact, even “good dads” aren’t so good after all, and don’t deserve all the praise that is apparently heaped on them whenever they are seen in public within 50 feet of their kids.

In honor of Father’s Day, allow me to dig into the data on how parents spend their time, and to bring to light a side of it that few seem willing to discuss. It’s a side that makes dads look . . . good.

Article here. Must have been internalized toxic masculinity. Excerpt:

'A Bronx co-ed has been charged with raping her female roommate at Susquehanna University, police said.

Pratigya Thakur, a 19-year-old sophomore, was arrested Monday on charges of rape, indecent assault and harassment in connection with the alleged May 16 attack at the school in Selinsgrove, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Post.

Thakur’s roommate reported the alleged rape to university officials May 29, then told cops June 6. She said both she and Thakur drank alcohol and smoked marijuana before the alleged attack, the arrest affidavit states.

The roommate said she was singing and dancing inside their Hassinger Hall dorm room as she packed up her belongings ahead of a move into another university housing unit for the summer when she decided to lie down on Thakur’s bed because her own was covered with clothing and other possessions, the affidavit states.

Link here. Excerpt:

'After almost a decade of action and more than $700 million spent, a scathing review has raised concerns about the effectiveness of Australia's domestic violence strategy.

Commonwealth auditor-general Grant Hehir reviewed the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, arguing the Department of Social Services' effectiveness in implementing the plan had been reduced by a lack of attention to planning and performance measurement.
...
The 12-year partnership with state and territory governments is now entering its fourth and final stage since being introduced by the [Julia] Gillard Government in 2010.
...
The new Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the department welcomed the insights and the findings would help to shape the final stage.

The Coalition has committed $328 million for the next three years — the single largest Commonwealth contribution made to the plan since it began.

Article here. Excerpt:

'SB 212 is even worse because it includes the threat of firing and criminal penalties when employees fail to report “any and all expression that could conceivably satisfy” the bill’s uselessly broad definition of sexual harassment, FIRE wrote last week:

This in turn will flood institutional Title IX offices with unmeritorious complaints, including instances of speech plainly protected by the First Amendment or institutional promises of freedom of expression. Sifting through this avalanche will squander institutional resources that could be far better devoted to pursuing serious complaints intentionally brought to the attention of Title IX officers.

And the sexual-assault activists are wrong: The bill literally makes failure to report a Class B misdemeanor, which can earn up to six months in jail.

The second bill (HB 1735) also puts Texas in the awkward position of mirroring a Democratic White House whose actions it frequently went to court to block.'

Article here. White knighting leads more often to tragedy than resolution. A couple can have an argument, and that's OK. I have to wonder if this guy was taught by feminists to intervene in any argument between a man and woman? Excerpt:

'A man who was punched unconscious at a Miller's Ale House restaurant earlier this week died Wednesday after being taken off life support, according to his wife.

Deputies said 28-year-old Benjamin Hernandez Jr., of Sebring, heard 51-year-old Srikanth "Shrik" Srinivasan and his wife arguing Tuesday night at the patio bar of the Miller's Ale House on West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway and confronted the man about how he was acting toward his wife.

When the man said something to Hernandez, Hernandez punched him in the face, knocking him down and causing him to hit his head on the floor, the man's wife told deputies.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Brendan O'Neill writes at Spiked about a sick miscarriage of justice in the U.K.:

There is something sinister in the Sally Challen story. The way in which this woman who battered her husband to death with a hammer has been turned into an iconic figure, virtually into a heroine of justice, leaves a sour taste. Her photograph has been sympathetically emblazoned on the front page of the Guardian. Labour MP Jess Phillips said she cried with joy when she heard the news a few months ago that Challen's murder conviction had been quashed. Many feminists are cheering yesterday's news that Challen won't face a retrial after the court accepted her manslaughter plea.
...
The "women are victims" ethos promoted by gender studies departments around the globe has consequences, and I think this is one of them: a world in which men can be victimized, by women, in the most horrible ways, without the punishment men would get if the tables were turned.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A restaurant serving women first is a sign of class, elegance and respect. If you are offended by that, have a hard think about why you are so angry.
...
To dote on a woman and to raise her up on a pedestal is a signal of respect, not a reflection of inferiority. While it may be a distinction, it’s not a discrimination, as it certainly doesn’t hold a woman back. And, while you may not want a man to offer up his seat on the bus while you show your grit and determination to stand, I would welcome the gesture, after a long day in four-inch heels, even if I ultimately turned it down.

I appreciate the fact that when the Titanic sunk, the women and children were allowed off first, and would appreciate the same courtesy today.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The ensuing debate became focused on the under-performance of boys in the classroom compared with girls – why that might be and if it might be attributable to the lack of male teachers, particularly at primary level. That was when my colleague, Grace, passed me a note (retro-style).
...
The note said: “Isn’t it just that boys underperform because we look after their wellbeing less?”

It was a lightbulb moment. Afterwards, we discussed the numerous occasions we have visited schools and a decision has been made to divide the year group by gender, the girls coming with us for a lesson on mental health, body image or self-esteem and the boys being sent to have a lecture on not being sexist. Because apparently boys do not have brains or bodies, only an inbuilt penchant for misogyny.'

Article here. Not so much MR issue but more a counter-example. Men are usually portrayed as the indulgent killer types among humans. This shows that being an unforgivable asshole is something that is an equal opportunity employer. Excerpt:

'Images of hunters celebrating their trophies often draw widespread support and widespread condemnation - something Tess Talley knows first hand. In 2017, she killed a giraffe in South Africa. In 2018, her photo of the kill went viral and prompted worldwide outrage.

Talley joined "CBS This Morning" Friday to say that she's "absolutely" still going hunting.

"It's a hobby, it's something that I love to do," she said. Talley said that the controversial kill was part of a conservation hunt, designed to manage the amount of wildlife in a given area.

"I am proud to hunt," she said. "And I am proud of that giraffe."