Article here. Excerpt:

'However, after speaking to several close sources of both media outlets and Brand himself on Saturday morning it was clear that although some of the behaviour being alleged is depraved, each instance is nothing more than ‘he said’ versus ‘she said’ through a decade-long time lapse. As usual, there is nuance.

Obviously every human being deserves the right to refuse sexual or physical invasions of any type from another.

But this current trial by media is grotesque.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Spain's High Court on Friday imposed a restraining order to prevent former football federation chief Luis Rubiales from coming within 200 metres of forward Jenni Hermoso, as he appeared in court to be investigated for sexual assault.

Rubiales denied any wrongdoing during the hearing, which was his first court appearance since the start of the investigation into his behaviour after Spain's Women's World Cup final win in Sydney on Aug. 20.

However, Francisco de Jorge rejected a request by the prosecution that Rubiales should report to the court every two weeks to ensure he does not flee the country.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Croatia announced this week a new bill which will introduce femicide into the country’s criminal code and impose longer prison terms for rape.

Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic called it “the most extensive and perhaps the most significant changes so far” aimed at tackling violence against women and children in the country.

“The proposed measures are a confirmation of what we keep repeating – the political will to fight violence against women exists. It is unquestionable, constant, ethical, and it is our value system,” Plenkovic said during a meeting with representatives of institutions and citizens’ associations in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The amendments to the existing laws suggested by the government will be released to the public for consultation by the end of next week. Ideally, they should come into force by January 2024.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A former Yale student from Afghanistan who was expelled after a rape case that ultimately led to acquittal told FOX News the events have "eviscerated" his life.

In 2018, Khan was acquitted of all four sexual assault charges by a New Haven, Conn., jury, and he told the local paper at the time that as the trial went on, he was essentially "alone in America" and had no real home while being faced with the allegation.

Khan had been accused of raping a female student in her dormitory on Halloween 2015. The New York Times reported at the time that the case took on political significance over whether campus assault cases should be conducted by universities or police.

The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled Khan can now sue his accuser for defamation regarding statements made during a school hearing, according to the New York Post.
...
"One of the craziest arguments that Yale had said was that just because a court of law says that you're not guilty doesn't mean we think you're not guilty."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The UK Parliament has sent letters to TikTok and Rumble expressing concerns that comedian Russel Brand could be profiting off the platforms.

"I am writing concerning the serious allegations regarding Russell Brand, in the context as a user of TikTok with more than 2.2 million followers on the platform," the letter to Theo Bertram, TikTok Director of Government Relations, Europe, began.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Scottish Government have been accused of launching one of the "most dangerous attacks" on Scots law through their attempt to introduce juryless rape trials. And legal expert Professor Alistair Bonnington warned that wrongful convictions like that of Andrew Malkinson may frequently occur due to this.

He was jailed for rape in 2003 and only released in 2020 before it was revealed that he had been a victim of miscarriage of justice after another suspect was arrested. He received £1m in compensation from the state.

Prof Bonnington compared the potential changes in criminal trials in Scotland to something which might be seen in a dictator state like Russia, where "the case starts with the judge asking the accused: 'Why did you commit this crime?'" The plans for just one judge to be utilised in rape and serious sexual crime trials instead of a jury has been roundly criticised by lawyers and advocates.

Article here. Excerpt:

'This week there’s a revenge novel about a woman who disposes of abusive men. By killing them. There’s a bleak dystopian novel set in Dublin, although you’d barely recognise the city. There’s a family left devastated by a forest fire in Greece. There’s a morality tale about engaging in a spot of wife-swapping and there’s a satirical thriller about feminism gone horribly wrong.

The plot opens with protagonist Saffy accidentally murdering her stepfather at just 12 years old. There are no tears spilled, however, Saffy was constantly protecting her younger sister from him. But this taste of first blood follows Saffy into adulthood, where by day she’s ‘normal’ enough and by night she hunts down and kills bad guys who have harmed women. She’s also looking for one good man to marry and it seems she’s found him, a True Crimes writer and podcaster. But he doesn’t seem interested. Saffy will make him interested…

Article here. Excerpt:

'Lyft is introducing a new feature that lets women and non-binary riders choose a preference to match with drivers of the same gender.

The ride-hailing company said it was a “highly requested feature” in a blog post Tuesday, saying the new feature allows women and non-binary people to “feel that much more confident” in using Lyft and also hopefully encourage more women to sign up to be drivers to access its “flexible earning opportunities.”

The service, called “Women+ Connect,” is rolling out in the coming months. Riders can turn on the option in the Lyft app, however the company warns that it’s not a guarantee that they’ll be matched with a women or non-binary person if one of those people aren’t nearby. Both the riders and drivers will need to opt-in to the feature for it work and riders must chose a gender for it to work.

Article here. Excerpt:

'When you hear “this is your captain speaking” on an airline flight in the United States, more than 90% of the time, the speaker is a white male. Just 3.4% of U.S. airline pilots are Black, 2.2% are of Asian descent, and a paltry 0.5% are Hispanic or Latino. Women make up just 4.6%.

As the U.S. population trends to greater racial and ethnic diversity, airline pilots look less like their passengers. This imbalance began after World War II when the airlines feasted on the glut of 200,000 military-trained pilots who returned to civilian life.
...
Two years ago, Chicago-based United Airlines decided to make piloting careers more accessible by opening their own flight training academy, United Aviate, with the goal to train 5,000 new pilots by 2030 and an additional goal that half those pilots be women or people of color.

The campaign page is here. First off, these people at WV are trying to help desperately poor people in the world. Nothing is wrong per se with this campaign. But what does it say about their perceptions of what appeals to possible donors? WV knows as well as anyone that of 100 children in need of help, at least 50 will be boys. So why not ask people to sponsor a boy? Answer: They think that people will be far less sympathetic with boys than girls, that's why. And studies show they're right.

I don't blame them for taking the approach most likely to get them donors. Saving girls is a cause celebre. Saving boys is... ho-hum, what? In the abstract, people care much more about females' welfare than males'. This WV campaign is just one of many instances of this phenomenon.

Article here. I speculate that girls raised without fathers generally may develop at least some of these traits. Excerpt:

'Joanne's story, while heartbreaking, is a common one among many of my clients. As a therapist who works with survivors of relational trauma, I have many clients who have experienced parental abandonment or the departure of a caregiver. This can happen for a multitude of reasons: imprisonment, death, physical separation. Sometimes the parent leaves due not to choice or fault of their own. Nevertheless, all abandonment can be devastating, especially if the child does not have the tools they need to cope and move forward.

But the most devastating losses are those in which caregivers left voluntarily. Joanne's father left at a time when she was old enough to have a bond with him yet young enough to internalize his leaving into self-blame and stunted emotional growth.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Then I read this piece in the New Statesman, and I was so happy to hear a name for the philosophy I’ve been passively teaching my daughters, 5 and 2, for the last year. British professor Charlotte Riley plays “Patriarchy Chicken” on her commute to work, holding to her path through streets and tube stations while oncoming men choose to move aside or run into her.

Imagine me, a grown woman, with a jumping 5-year-old on one hand and a rogue 2-year-old pulling on the other. We are broad. We take up space. And now we hold that space, especially in the face of anyone who chugs toward us expecting to have the path cleared for them. So far only one person has run into us, bumping into my daughter’s child-sized shopping cart in the produce section.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The State is to advertise within weeks for a chief executive for its new agency to tackle domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence.

It comes as Justice Minister Helen McEntee sought Cabinet approval last week for the text of the legislation to establish the new agency, which has been promised as part of the Government’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to gender-based violence.
...
The Government launched its ‘zero tolerance’ plan last June and has changed the law in several areas such as 'revenge porn', threatening to post intimate images on social media.

Ms McEntee has also passed laws to increase the maximum sentence for assault causing harm from five years to 10 years.

She has also made changes to allow courts to prevent an accused from cross-examining the alleged victim in cases of coercive control and other gender-based crimes.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Parents of male students accused of rape at university are starting to bring in barristers to help them avoid expulsion, the Observer has learned.

As the number of serious sexual assaults escalates across universities, experts say female students often do not want to go to the police, fearing delays and traumatising questioning, and knowing only 1% of rape cases end in conviction. Universities say increasing numbers of women are instead turning to them to investigate, leaving institutions wrestling with complex cases, including a rising trend of pornography-inspired strangulation during sex.

Prof Sir Steve West, the vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England and president of Universities UK until earlier this year, said: “As expulsion is a penalty, parents of the accused often start to raise the stakes by hiring a lawyer. It is a power game, because usually the victim has no representation, and I think it is completely unacceptable and unfair.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'The internet is calling a TikToker "disrespectful" and "rude" after he filmed himself entering a women-only train carriage in Japan and compared it to gender-based segregation that countries like Saudi Arabia mandate.

On September 5, the Australian creator Turan Spidey, who has 354,000 followers on his vlog channel @shearingshedvlogs, shared the video with a caption saying a women-only space is the "last thing" he expected to see "in such a free country like Japan."

"Reminds me of something I would see in a country with strict segregation rules," he added, alluding in his video to the Arab country.'