Article here. Excerpt:

'Judge Horkins delivered his verdict last week in the high-profile trial of R vs Ghomeshi in Toronto. He acquitted Jian Ghomeshi, a high-profile radio presenter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), of four charges of sexual assault and one charge of choking involving three complainants, between December 2002 and July 2003. He also tore into the complainants’ evidence, leading to an animated debate about whether the criminal-justice system oppresses victims of sexual violence.

Ghomeshi was sacked by CBC in 2014 following an allegation that he had injured a woman. Perhaps unwisely, Ghomeshi posted a self-justificatory Facebook article after his sacking, insisting that, while he liked rough sex, his encounters had always been consensual.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Yes, the title is an exercise in hyperbole. Explaining campus rape culture goes far beyond the musings of a college junior. It is rooted in social structures that perpetuate sexism, in a culture that promotes the mistreatment of women, and can never be fully solved with a simple solution. Regardless, the administration seems to have overlooked a fairly obvious solution that could mitigate, though not end, the rape culture that afflicts our campus—adding a women and gender studies course as either a stand-alone requirement in the Core Curriculum or as an option to fulfill the Global Core.
...
On campus, women’s socialization to take up less space—physically and in conversations—has manifested itself in some female students and faculty feeling an obligation to minimize their presence. In our classes, female teachers who are stricter are more harshly judged by students than their male counterparts, and female students are less likely to speak up, due to a lifetime of conditioning to be more complacent. In our hookup culture, women who are sexually active are referred to as “sluts,” while men are “players.” In cases of sexual assault, while students may not obviously blame victims, they do often insinuate how the victim’s poor decision-making may have resulted in their rape—how dressing too tightly, drinking too much, or staying out too late should be avoided to not get raped. Rape culture is ultimately not a Columbia-specific issue, but it is a problem that Columbia has a responsibility to address.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office arrest records from 2011 to 2015 show that while the number of male arrests for domestic violence charges hovers between 60 and about 75 a year, the number of female arrests has doubled.

In 2011, there were 20 women arrested for domestic violence. In 2015, there were 42.

Sheriff’s Office Lt. Eric Erhardt said there’s not enough data to say this is a trend or if it’s just random.

However, he said societal opinions on domestic violence have shifted dramatically since the 1970s and 1980s and it is now comprehensible that a woman could be the aggressor.

In eras past, no one would believe it or a man would never come forward to admit being victimized.

Regardless of who is the aggressor, if it’s not dealt with, domestic violence escalates over time, Erhardt said.

Sonora Police Chief Mark Stinson said the cycle of male versus female arrests increasing is hard to follow, track and explain one way or another.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Several Democratic senators are requesting additional funds for the Education Department to continue policing the sex lives of college students.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine, Claire McCaskill and Mark Warner have written a letter calling for increased funding for the Department's Office for Civil Rights, which has been investigating schools for alleged violations of the anti-sex discrimination law known as Title IX. The senators are requesting a budget of $137.7 million for OCR. Last year, the office's budget was $100 million, which means the senators are asking for a nearly 40 percent increase in funding for this one department.

Paper here. Abstract:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Lawyers representing a former University of Virginia student who claimed she was the victim of a gang rape in a discredited Rolling Stone story have asked a judge to cancel her scheduled deposition in a lawsuit against the magazine, arguing that she would be “re-traumatized” if she is compelled to recount her ordeal in proceedings under oath.

The former student — who in court papers is referred to only by her nickname, Jackie — became the central figure in a 2014 Rolling Stone article that described her account of a vicious sexual assault during her freshman year, an attack she said was carried out over several hours by seven men in a fraternity house bedroom. The 9,000-word exposé highlighted Jackie’s case as a devastating example of rape on a college campus and the struggles she faced while seeking help from members of the U-Va. administration, including the associate dean responsible for handling sexual assault allegations.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It seems like a promising way to fill a market niche: an Uber-like service that aims to give female passengers peace of mind by ensuring that another woman is always behind the wheel.

But there is potentially a big problem. Civil rights lawyers say the new service being touted by local entrepreneurs, Chariot for Women, would probably conflict with Massachusetts’ antidiscrimination laws.

“This company sounds great. Whether it’s legal or not is a different question,” said Joseph L. Sulman, an employment law specialist based in West Newton.

SheTaxis representatives did not return messages seeking comment. But the company has previously said it would address gender-discrimination questions by routing ride requests from men to alternate car-service providers.

Article here. Excerpt:

'When hearing from women about dating and relationship challenges, I’m often stunned at all the man-hating out there. Lots of women HATE dudes. When confronted, most insist they do not. But you do. You totally do!

Article here. Excerpt:

'Massachusetts members of National Parents Organization flexed their muscles and the Legislature responded. Members in other states should take note. Meanwhile, here is the update.

About 10 days ago, we informed our Massachusetts members that SB834, a bill that encourages shared parenting as well as other useful reforms, had been torpedoed in the Judiciary Committee by the bar associations. We asked members to tell their legislators that we now had to switch position and oppose the bill. They responded with a deluge of phone calls and emails to their reps and senators.

And it worked. Within days, we received word that the Judiciary Committee wanted to meet with us again. I and others had such a meeting last week.

To the credit of the Judiciary Committee, they expressed flexibility and the desire to work with us to fix the bill. More discussions will follow. During these discussions, confidentiality is requested, and we will honor that request.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'New Delhi, A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charge of raping a woman in his car after intoxicating her, as the alleged victim confessed lodging a false rape case under pressure from her parents.

Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar let off the man, a west Delhi resident, of charges of rape and poisoning, saying the alleged victim, being the “star witness”, has not supported the prosecution case at all.

“She has deposed that she came to know the accused through social networking. They became friends. They wanted to marry but her parents were against the marriage due to difference in their castes.

“She has further deposed that she lodged false complaint of rape as she was pressurised by her parents. She has categorically deposed that accused neither administered any intoxicating substance in the cold drink nor raped her,” the judge said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The USA federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Budget eliminates funding ($13.2 million) for the entire Prostate Cancer program at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Malecare asks for your advocacy for restoring that funding.

The CDC has produced dynamic prostate cancer research, particularly focused on underserved populations such as African American men, and on improving doctor – patient communication. However, you should also be aware that the CDC, just like other federal agencies, follow the prostate cancer screening recommendations set forth by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends against PSA based screening for men who do not have symptoms.

Malecare feels that the benefits of the CDC Prostate Cancer program are worthy of continued funding.

Article here. Excerpt:

'America has witnessed a massive shift in government authority, says George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley — one that “has occurred without a national debate and certainly not a national vote.” That shift has led to the de facto creation of a “fourth branch of government containing legislative, executive and judicial components but relatively little direct public influence.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many more women than men will be opening acceptance letters and e-mails this spring and enrolling in college in the fall, in a trend that holds for both institutions in Massachusetts and nationwide.

Women accounted for 55 percent of undergraduates enrolled at four-year colleges in the United States as of fall 2014, according to the most recent data available from the federal education department.

It’s not a new phenomenon. Women have outnumbered men on college campuses in the US by a widening margin since the late 1970s, and the gap will continue to grow in coming years, according to some projections.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

In the late 1940s, men accounted for more than 70 percent of college students.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Newly released emails from Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s private email account show detailed correspondence with Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who pressured an enthusiastic and receptive Carter to give preferential treatment to women in the military.

The Pentagon released a huge tranche of Carter’s emails Friday as a result of several Freedom Of Information requests.

As head of the non-profit organization Lean In, whose goal it is to push women into key leadership positions in different sectors of American public life, Sandberg corresponded with Carter on May 31, 2015, well in advance of his Dec. 3 decision to open all combat roles to women.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fornication. Sodomy. Adultery. Not so long ago, the U.S. criminalized pretty much all sex outside of marriage. As these laws have been struck down by courts or allowed to settle into obsolescence, it would seem that sexual liberty has been vindicated as an important American value. But while the courts have been busy ushering the government out of our bedrooms, it's been creeping right back in under new pretenses. Gone is the language of morals, tradition, and order—the state now intervenes in our sex lives bearing the mantles of safety, exploitation, and sex discrimination.

We are living in a new sex bureaucracy," warn Harvard Law School professors Jacob Gersen and Jeannie Suk in an upcoming paper for the California Law Review. Contra court decisions such as Lawrence v. Texas—which decriminalized sodomy in Georgia and affirmed a constitutional right to sexual privacy—"the space of sex" is still "thoroughly regulated" in America, they write. And "the bureaucracy dedicated to that regulation of sex is growing. It operates largely apart from criminal enforcement, but its actions are inseparable from criminal overtones and implications."