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'A potential draft of new federal campus sexual assault policies was leaked this week, so expect a new round of false and misleading statistics to be shared by those who claim due process “protects rapists” and “hurts victims.”

Rape and sexual assault are serious offenses, and shouldn't be watered down to create a narrative that America is somehow the rape capital of the world, nor should we pretend that non-offenses are offenses. That hurts real victims.

I’ve taken down every one of these statistics before — sometimes many, many times — but it’s time to debunk them all in one place. So here we go.'

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Want to hear the internet explode? Talk about "men's rights." But the movement is real. Activists have shifted into high gear with legal challenges to women-focused companies, university groups and civic projects. It's #HeToo in the age of #MeToo.

Many of the activist leaders are affiliated with the National Coalition For Men. Its mission statement: "Since 1977, NCFM has been committed to ending harmful discrimination and stereotypes against boys, men, their families and the women who love them. We are a gender inclusive, nonpartisan, ethnically diverse organization that effects civil rights reform through advocacy, education, outreach, services and litigation."

There have been challenges for decades, but the uptick in the past couple of years seems to be linked to an increase in women-only efforts — like work collectives — and the #MeToo movement, which was energized by high-profile cases involving allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

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'Matilda Hagerman laughs with her friends as she queues at a man-free music festival, which kicked off in Sweden on Friday in protest against a wave of sexual assaults at festivals in recent years.

"This festival was necessary because of everything that happened during festivals last year," says the 27-year-old student with long pink hair and purple lipstick as her friends nod in agreement.

Held in Sweden's second-largest city of Gothenburg, the two-day Statement Festival, forbids men but not transgender people. It was announced last year after police received four rape and 23 sexual assault reports at Sweden's largest Bravalla Festival, which was cancelled this year as a result.
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With two main stages for the mainly Swedish women performers, there was plenty of space to rest outside on pink coloured seats at the centre of the site, turning the festival into a convivial place in contrast to traditional festivals.

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'THE Venice film festival has signed up to an equality charter for women, just days after it was accused of "toxic masculinity".

The organisers had been slammed for only having one female film director among 21 competing for the Golden Lion top prize for the second year running.

But festival director Alberto Barbera, who declared last month that he would "rather quit" than give in to pressure for a quota for women, signed up Friday to a gender equality protocol already backed by the Cannes, Toronto and Locarno festivals.

While the 50/50 by 2020 goals drawn up by the leaders of a campaign launched by women stars at Cannes stops short of quotas, it does call for transparency in selection and an even gender ratio in top management.'

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'NBC host Megyn Kelly on Thursday said former President Barack Obama’s administration went “too far back” in seeking to protect college students claiming they were sexually assaulted, “completely eroding” the due process rights of the accused.

Kelly made the remark on her show Megyn Kelly Today a day after The New York Times reported that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is crafting new policies on how colleges deal with sexual harassment and assault cases that would boost protections for those accused.

“I’ve been covering this closely for years, for years, and I understand the argument on the one side that we were in a position, back when I went to school, back in my day, when the pendulum was completely against the woman, right?” said Kelly, who is a victim of sexual misconduct.

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'An unprecedented bill aimed at bringing gender diversity to corporate boards is heading to California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) desk after a state Senate vote Thursday.

If Brown signs it, the bill, authored by Sens. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) and Toni Atkins (D), would require every publicly held corporation based in California to have at least one woman on its board of directors by the end of 2019. By the end of July 2021, boards with five members would have to have at least two women, and boards with six or more members would be required to have at least three women.

“One-fourth of California’s publicly traded companies still do not have a single woman on their board, despite numerous independent studies that show companies with women on their board are more profitable and productive,” Jackson said in a statement.'

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'Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct that would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce liability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to provide more support for victims.

The proposed rules, obtained by The New York Times, narrow the definition of sexual harassment, holding schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities and for conduct said to have occurred on their campuses. They would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints.

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'The Venice film festival was slammed for its "toxic masculinity" as it opens Wednesday (Aug 29) with just one female director represented among its most mouth-watering line-up in decades.

With Hollywood effectively turning the festival into its launchpad for the Oscars with new films by Damien Chazelle, the Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuaron and Lady Gaga's much-hyped screen debut, feminists have lashed the organisers for choosing only one film by a female director.

It is the second year in a row that Venice has featured just one film by a woman among the 21 vying for the Golden Lion top prize.

Festival director Alberto Barbera declared that he would "rather quit" than give in to pressure for a quota for women after the Cannes, Toronto and Locarno festivals pledged themselves to gender equality.'

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'It’s debatable whether asking college applicants about their criminal history makes campuses any safer, or simply penalizes those who were too poor to have good legal representation or have already paid their debt to society.

The Common Application recently came down on one side, removing a criminal-conviction question for applications to 800 or so colleges starting next year.

Another debate isn’t even being acknowledged by colleges, though: Why is the Common Application still asking students about their disciplinary record from kangaroo-court proceedings?

Lawyers Justice Dillon and Scott Bernstein point out the uselessness of asking this question in light of rampant failures in campus disciplinary proceedings, where mob justice and administrative convenience is more powerful than due process.'

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'Campus rights activists and some experts are alarmed by a notice in the August 1 Federal Register. The Department of Justice program “Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking” (SMART) plans to collect questionnaires from approximately fifty colleges and universities on behalf of its “Campus Information Sharing and Response Project.”

The forms are estimated to take 15 minutes to complete. The data on campus policies and procedures will include information on “individuals found responsible and sanctioned for campus sexual misconduct policy violations.” The public has until August 31 to comment.

SMART was established by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The Act not only created a federal sex offender registry but also instructed states to post the personal data of offenders in their jurisdictions online, including addresses and photographs.

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'Cynthia Nixon blasted Gov. Cuomo on Monday for “mansplaining” about sexual harassment and for enlisting a lawmaker accused of forcibly kissing a female staffer to combat misconduct against women.

The former “Sex and the City” co-star played the gender card one week after announcing she would challenge Cuomo for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the Sept. 13 primary.

“I have seen Andrew Cuomo mansplaining and lecturing women on sexual harassment,” Nixon said at a press conference in Albany. “I have read about him lecturing [state Sen.] Andrea Stewart-Cousins that [state Sen.] Jeff Klein is more qualified in understanding suburban voters, better than she does, despite her being a Senator who oversees the suburbs of Westchester.”'

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'The first and only debate between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his Democratic rival, Cynthia Nixon, is set for Wednesday, and the candidates have been bunkered in prep sessions with their advisers.

But even before the high-stakes clash begins, a predebate battle is being waged — over the temperature dial.

Ms. Nixon’s team has publicly accused the debate host, WCBS-TV, of catering to all of the governor’s demands to land the debate, and they are concerned that the debate hall at Hofstra University on Long Island might feel like an ice rink when they arrive. (Mr. Cuomo is famous for preferring to make his public appearances in deeply chilled conditions.)

So in a pre-emptive strike, Rebecca Katz, a top strategist for Ms. Nixon, asked WCBS-TV in an email last week that the debate hall be warmed to 76 degrees.

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'As Plexpod looked at how it could further serve Kansas City, it identified a gap in the marketplace — a need for a coworking space dedicated exclusively to women and those who identify as women.

A number of the local female-focused professional organizations have reached a point in their life cycle when they're reinventing themselves, Plexpod CEO Gerald Smith said. And they need help targeting the next generation of movers and shakers, including entrepreneurs. That's where Plexpod's new Herspace at Plexpod comes in.
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The goal is to create a space that fosters connections and female empowerment, he said.'

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'At a time when film criticism is being criticized for being dominated by white men, Rotten Tomatoes is trying to highlight more diverse voices.

The review aggregator, known for its “fresh” or “rotten” Tomatometer ranking system, said it is changing its criteria to include new media platforms, such as podcasts and streaming shows, as opposed to only boasting written notices. In addition, the site will include writers whose work may appear on personal blogs or other platforms instead of only focusing on the pieces they publish for specific print outlets. As part of the change, over 200 new Tomatometer-approved critics have been added to Rotten Tomatoes and the service expects to keep growing its ranks.

The new criteria comes after months of reaching out to critics to get their suggestions for ways to expand the pool of reviewers to include more women and people from under-represented communities.'

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'On February 27, the Boston Globe published an article under the explosive headline “Woman tells police she had a child with Steve Wynn after he raped her.” The Associated Press, America’s largest and most trusted news agency, had produced the piece. But in this particular case, less than a day’s worth of reporting had gone into vetting the accusation in the headline, which came from a single, partially redacted police report. Still, within hours, the story started making waves. Along with the Globe, at least 100 other publications, including the New York Times, republished the AP’s article. Now, however, Wynn’s accuser is speaking out and new information casts serious doubt on the validity of her claims against the casino mogul.