Article here. Excerpt:

'In the weeks since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, we have heard quite a lot of "as the father of a daughter...", implying it takes the birth of a daughter for men to truly appreciate all the discrimination, harassment and assault women seem to be on about.

Now it seems the growing awareness of sexual assault on university campuses in the United States has seen the advent of "as the mother of a son...", implying that the mother-son relationship may have the opposite effect on women.

Last week, The New York Times featured an article chronicling the rise of Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE), a movement of hundreds of mothers who have come together to defend sons they say have been wrongly accused of sexual assault.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'1) We keep defining sexual harassment down: If a boss tells you to sleep with him or alternately to watch him shower (ugh….creepy) to keep a job, we can all agree that’s sexual harassment. The further we get from that kind of standard, the less we’re going to agree. Telling a crude joke, having a swimsuit calendar on the wall or a man putting his hand on your shoulder might legally qualify as environmental sexual harassment, but it’s all bullsh*t. Many women may think they deserve money because of those things, but a lot of men think if they can’t handle that, then they’re too delicate for the work force. We’ve even gotten to the point where a 93 year old man in a wheelchair with Parkinson’s pinching a woman’s butt and telling a dirty joke is considered traumatizing sexual harassment. It’s a joke, but it’s not funny.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women may also have to accept that we like some aspects of the way we interact with men just as they are, and what that means. How can we achieve equality and level the playing field when we still expect men to pick up tabs on dates? How can we change a sexual dynamic around power for the better if our sexual ideal is either a big, strapping man or a bad-boy type? What changes to fantasy and romance, and their relationship to lived reality, will we initiate?

We need to abandon the notion that male bosses should take special care to hold the door for us because we are women. If we expect men not to talk about “fat bitches” or “hot bitches” and brag about their sexual conquests, we should probably resist the urge to name call (“those cocky pricks”); to gush over big, strong men; to publicly joke about how someone with an inflated ego must have a small penis.

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's been a long time running -- four decades to be exact -- since an American woman broke the finish line tape at the New York City Marathon, but Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan did just that on Sunday.

With an unofficial time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds, the 36-year-old Flanagan beat three-time defending champion Mary Keitany of Kenya by a minute and one second. Times won't be official until later this month.
...
On the men's side, Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor beat out countryman and 2014 winner Wilson Kipsang for his first major marathon victory, with a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes and 53 seconds.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'There's been much public health research about the millions of excuses men come up with to avoid condom use. However, new research suggests that heterosexual women are also culpable of promoting this risky bedroom behavior.

A study published in the October issue of The Journal of Sex Research on 235 heterosexual women finds roughly half of women took some sort of action to avoid condom use with a partner. The study is based on self-reported questionnaires from women aged 18 to 21 and used an adapted version of the Condom Use Resistance Survey initially developed to study men’s behaviors and beliefs about unprotected sex. The revised questionnaire asked female participants about their sexual history and condom use since age 14.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A bill that addresses campus sexual assault and harassment allegations swept through the Senate in a unanimous vote this week, but a close inspection of the language suggests it may open up the Bay State’s colleges and universities to a batch of lawsuits from the accused.
...
The 13-page bill, sponsored by state Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury), calls “for the use of a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard to resolve complaints” and stipulates that colleges “may establish rules regarding how the proceedings will be conducted.”

The rules, according to Moore’s bill, can include “guidelines on the extent to which the advisor or support person for each party may participate in a meeting or disciplinary proceeding and any limitations on participation which shall apply equally to both parties.”

That stipulation, however, indicates that an accused person’s representative can be barred from asking the accuser questions.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently scrapped Obama administration guidance on how campuses investigate sexual assault — rules that many male students had opposed because they called for a low threshold of proof to determine guilt. Interim guidelines are in effect while a new process is developed.

Christina Hoff Sommers, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of “The War Against Boys” and “Who Stole Feminism?,” has coined the term “victim feminism,” a school of thought she believes exaggerates the sexual assault problem. Ms. Sommers has argued all along that the Obama model didn’t work. We get her take on what the change means.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'On October 26th several vehicles belonging to police officers were set on fire in the French commune of Meylan and now a radical leftist anarcho-feminist group has claimed responsibility saying it is “revenge” for “sexism.”

The group released a statement this week saying that they purposely set the vehicles on fire and made sure to “make a joke to the firemen” by sealing off the entrance to the police car park so they would not be able to deal with the blaze. Around 10 litres of petrol was used to ignite the vehicles which were totally destroyed L’Express reports.

“We do not want to stay in the position of victims in which society would like to place us by recognizing us as girls,” the group said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Michelle Obama has a message for the men of the world: Do better, try harder and most importantly, communicate more.

On Wednesday, the former first lady sat down with poet Elizabeth Alexander on the second day of the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, the first of an annual event. The topic turned to gender, and Obama had some choice words: She noted that women tend to communicate, reflect and support each other better than men—something she feels needs to change.

"Y'all should get you some friends," she laughed, pointing to the men in the audience. "Y'all need to go talk to each other about your stuff, because there's so much of it! Talk about why y'all are the way you are."

-----

Michelle Obama To Men: ‘Be Better’

Article here. Excerpt:

'It was a case of checking your Twitter time stamp, but in the midst of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres wished singer and bigtime Hillary Clinton supporter Katy Perry a happy birthday by tweeting out a photo of Ellen gawking at Perry’s ample chest, writing “It’s time to bring out the big balloons!"

Well that’s awkward, given all the scandal and accusations of rape, sexual harassment, objectification of women Weinstein is accused of, in addition to all those Hollywood elites who KNEW about Weinstein yet remained silent on the matter. Oh, and yeah - they call themselves feminists, too.

Artocle here. Excerpt:

'Nicola Sturgeon has warned of a cultural problem with "the behaviour of men" as she ordered a review of the way the Scottish Government deals with complaints of sexual harassment.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney is now to address MSPs on the issue in Parliament today because he is the most senior man in Ms Sturgeon's administration.
...
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon revealed she had told cabinet that the problem does not lie with "victims or organisations" caught up in the allegations.

He said: "The problem is with men and men's behaviour - that is the problem."

The Scottish Government does currently investigate all complaints which are made by staff.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'An Ontario Grade 12 student, Erica Brown, made the news recently when she wore a T-shirt to her high school with the slogan “The Future is Female.”

A female teacher suggested Brown’s message might make some boys at the school feel uncomfortable and asked if she thought it would be appropriate for a male student to wear a T-shirt with the slogan “The Future is Male.”

She was not told to remove the shirt but to simply “think about” it.

Brown thought about it and decided the teacher’s comments were out of line. The CBCreported that at first Brown was “too upset to reply. Later, she talked to her parents about it, then wrote an open letter to the teacher, gave it to her, and posted it on Facebook.”

The Facebook post went viral. In the end, Brown received official support from her school’s principal.
...
Whether it’s university campuses or high school halls, the truth is that there is a terrible double standard at play.

Article here. Straight white guys invented the Internet. They invented modern computing, too, with a few noteworthy contributions from straight (*gasp*) white females, also (Ada Lovelace, et al.). And yet, there are just too many in this line of work! Time to start excluding straight white guys from even applying for IT jobs. Yep, that's a *sure* way to get the best-quality people and heck, it's also neither racist nor sexist because, well... it's white guys (straight ones, too) we're talking about. If I put on a dress and wig, can I get an interview then?

Article here. Looks like Hollywood-mogul-men-behaving-badly is principally about such men behaving badly toward other men. But that hasn't been pointed out much, at least until now. I've discussed the problem of "power + low accountability -> abuse of others" as typical of the human condition, not the condition of men having positions of power and influence. History has many examples of powerful women ruthlessly abusing their position over others, including to use or exploit others sexually. But feminists don't like talking about that. Or this POV, for that matter. Excerpt:

'Hollywood has a “rampant” and “pervasive” problem of men sexually abusing boys and young men, according to actors and lawyers who are speaking up about misconduct and harassment in the wake of an allegation against actor Kevin Spacey.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a time with such a delicate political climate, basic schoolyard games such as tug-of-war have changed into tug-of-peace, and tag in one way or another has either been banned or adjusted at several schools around the country. While most of the reasoning behind these bans or reforms are said to be for the child’s safety, it may be harmful psychologically, especially to young boys. From an early age, the ways boys and girls play differs greatly. This type of reform in the schoolyard and within the classroom puts a burden on young boys and unfairly suppresses their masculinity.