Article here. Excerpt:

'Conor Oberst is still reeling from the false rape accusation against him that made headlines in early 2014, a life-altering event he compares to "getting in a car crash" in a new interview with Noisey.

"When something like that -- something random and terrible -- happens to you, it's like… At this point I equate it to getting in a car crash or getting struck by f--king lightning," explains the 37-year-old singer. "I don't feel like there's ever complete closure to something like that in the sense that you carry the psychological things with you."

Oberst was blindsided in the last few days of 2013 when a woman accused him of raping her a decade earlier after a concert for Oberst's band, Bright Eyes. The woman, who first made the accusation in the comments section of the now defunct women's site xoJane, later retracted her statement in an apology letter.

Article here. I've never been so happy NOT to work for a company that supplies its employees three gourmet-quality meals a day gratis. What a world we live in. Excerpt:

'Google CEO Sundar Pichai canceled an employee townhall meeting on Thursday about a controversial anti-diversity memo written by a fired employee because of online harassment concerns, the company said.

Questions from the tech firm’s employees about gender issues were being leaked outside of the company, raising concerns about online harassment. Some of these employees were named on social media and websites.

“Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be ‘outed’ publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall,” Pichai wrote in a memo to staff. “In recognition of Googlers’ concerns, we need to step back and create a better set of conditions for us to have the discussion.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'An IPS officer, who was accused of raping a woman on the pretext of marriage, was acquitted of all the charges after he tied the knot with the complainant.

IPS officer Lohit Matani, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Nagpur, was booked in Indore on the charges of allegedly raping a woman on the pretext of marriage on December 22, 2015.

According to information, the case was earlier registered by the victim at Jabalpur police station and was later transferred to Indore's Tukoganj police station, where the alleged incident occurred. The victim, who was preparing for UPSC exams back then, had alleged that she got in touch with him on social media website and was later invited to Indore for help. However, Lohit raped her on the false promise of marriage for a few days on various locations they travelled together.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Alamo Drafthouse’s women-only screenings of “Wonder Woman” that garnered massive attention and positive news coverage may have been against the law. Despite acknowledging complaints, the company has declined to issue a proper apology.

In June, theater chain Alamo Drafthouse announced it would be holding women-only screenings of “Wonder Woman” in select theaters. The media predictably cheered on the company’s feminist-centric marketing.

Stephen Miller, a writer for Heat Street, made the headlines and upset feminists on the Internet when he bought tickets to attend the movie at its women-only screening in New York City. Amid the outpouring of cheers, complaints, and “yas kween, slay!” support on social media, it turns out that Drafthouse was in violation of anti-discrimination laws in Austin, Texas — one of the cities where the theater held such a screening.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Female directors who have worked on TV shows like “American Horror Story” and “Scandal” say quotas are necessary to obtain more gender and racial diversity in Hollywood.

“I never want to be hired because I’m a woman director, but maybe at this moment there needs to be quotas,” said Maggie Kiley, speaking at a Television Critics Association (TCA) round table Wednesday with female directors organized by the FX network.

“If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes,” added Rachel Goldberg, one of seven directors on the panel.
...
“Quotas are necessary so women can get that first job, and also to change the culture,” so that people get used to seeing women directors, said panelist Meera Menon, who just finished shooting an episode of “Snowfall,” a TV mini-series about the crack epidemic in Los Angeles.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Did David Mueller lift up Taylor Swift’s skirt and grope her? It’s a fairly straightforward fact question. It either happened or not, and that’s the question of fact for the jury to decide. But Swift’s lawyer, Brian Schwalb of Venable, wasn’t willing to take the chance of an adverse finding, so he tried to gild the lily.
...
Was Mueller a “frustrated” male who believe it was “his prerogative as a radio host who regularly met with famous women” to touch Swift’s butt? Perhaps, and this would no doubt make a wonderful subject for a gender studies doctoral thesis. But the only question before the court is whether he did so, and Bayard de Volo’s masculine fragility mythology has no place before the jury charged to decide that question of fact.'

For those needing some background, read this.

Article here. Excerpt:

'One of the summer-term courses took a more philosophical approach and the other a more psychosocial approach, with some overlap, examining ideas about what it means to “be a man.” Matthew Andler, a doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy, just finished teaching “Masculinity.” At the same time, Lisa Speidel, a full-time lecturer in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality, taught “Men and Masculinities.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Following the circulation of an internal memo criticizing Google’s restrictive PC workplace environment, employees have freaked out, calling for the memo’s author to be fired.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Vanderbilt University professor argues that the field of mathematics is too “masculinized,” which hurts women’s ability to compete in the field against men.

“Mathematics has been documented as a power-laden and masculinized academic domain,” Professor Luis A. Leyva, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Vanderbilt University wrote in a research paper titled “Unpacking the Male Superiority Myth and Masculinization of Mathematics at the Intersections.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last week, after reviewing evidence from security footage, a California judge dropped charges against University of Southern California (USC) student Armaan Premjee, 20, after finding that his female accuser was the party that initiated the sexual encounter.

However, under USC’s Title IX, Premjee could still face campus discipline because the woman he slept with was inebriated and did not give formal verbal consent.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Here’s Tim Worstall writing in Forbes today (“Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg Wrong Here – Just Paying Women More Won’t Close Gender Pay Gap“), emphasis added:

The idea that we can close the gender pay gap just by paying women more seems reasonable enough, as Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg (pictured above) has intimated on BBC radio. Sadly though this isn’t in fact the correct answer. The gender pay gap does not exist because men and women are paid less for the same jobs, it exists because men and women tend to do slightly different jobs. When equal jobs being done out there is reached then we will have gender pay parity. Because, as before, we already have the same pay for the same job.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A 2016 study released by UCLA found thatwomen have collectively committed millions of sexual offenses against American men including rape, assault, coercion, and harassment. The pandemic of sexual violence committed by women caused the lead author of the study, Lara Stemple, to suggest that Americans rethink “long-held stereotypes about sexual victimization and gender.” Stemple previously produced a 2014 study stating that sexual victimization among men is “in many circumstances similar to the prevalence found among women.” Stemple’s work has focused on male victims of sex crimes and has criticized female-specific approaches to studying sexual violence, which often ostracize men who have suffered abuse.

Article here. The CCTV footage would have come out in discovery before the trial. Why did this even make it to trial? Excerpt:

'Security footage from a local nightclub and a college dormitory has cleared a University ofCalifornia student of rape.

Arman Premjee, 20, was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old fellow student in her dorm room after meeting at Banditos Taco & Tequila in Los Angeles on April 1.

However, the security footage showed her kissing Premjee, leading him out of the nightclub and making obscene sexual gestures.

Premjee, who had maintained his innocence since being accused, said the woman, who has not been named, wanted to leave the club where they met and have sex with him.
...
After seeing the video, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed the case on Tuesday saying: 'I believe there was consent. There is a very strong indication that the alleged victim in this case was the initiator.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A CAFE is making waves after it began charging blokes more money in a bid to close the gender pay gap.

The feminist vegan owner of Handsome Her eatery in Melbourne, Australia, is making them pay an 18 per cent “man tax” as well as giving women priority over seating.

Owner Alex O’Brien told Broadsheet website: “I do want people to think about it, because we’ve had this (pay discrepancy) for decades and decades and we’re bringing it to the forefront of people’s minds.

“I like that it is making men stop and question their privilege a little bit.”

Ms O’Brien says the response from her customers has been positive, with one man even donating $50 (£30) to the cause.

She said: “There’s been nothing but positivity from everyone, males and females.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A 38-year-old man, who spent two years in jail on charges of raping his friend's 10-year-old daughter, has now been acquitted by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court after the minor did not testify before the court. The child's father admitted that he had falsely implicated him at the behest of his landlady who had a dispute with the accused.

In a detailed judgement copy, the court accepted the father's deposition without questions and instead said, "In the matter, the star and prime witness for the prosecution was the victim minor. But she is not examined by the prosecution and the reason is best known to the prosecution itself. The non-examination of the victim in this matter is fatal to the case of prosecution."