Article here. Excerpt:

'The International Council on Shared Parenting (ICSP) is a dynamic young European-based organization that is pulling together a wealth of leading-edge information about shared parenting that is often hard to find in the United States. It is holding its second International Conference on Shared Parenting in Bonn, Germany from December 9 to 11, 2015. The primary language of the conference will be English; a few presentations will be given in French or German, in which case there will be simultaneous translation into English.

Best airport from North America: Frankfurt, then high speed train to Bonn. Or combine a fabulous trip to Paris or Amsterdam with an easy train ride to Bonn. The dollar is strong, so your timing is perfect.'

Press release here. Excerpt:

'A recent New York Times article about affirmative consent, “Sex Ed Lesson: ‘Yes Means Yes,’ But It’s Tricky,” is triggering a strong negative public response. The article details the confused reactions of California high school students who are being instructed to ask permission for sexual activities every 10 minutes, or risk being adjudged guilty of rape.

The highest-rated reader reaction to the NYT account deplored how “The yes-means-yes standard turns almost all of us into rapists. We have let the radicals hijack this issue with disastrous results for innocent young people.”

Another reader commented ironically, “As far as I can tell, the new ‘affirmative consent’ paradigm allows for a very realistic possibility of two adults raping each other at the same time, which makes a mockery of the whole concept of rape.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'A case of dowry has been registered against a dead man. 

On October 5, 30-year-old banker Rakesh Pilania jumped from his apartment in an upscale Gurgaon locality. His family alleges that he committed suicide out of fear of being implicated under Section 498A of the IPC (cruelty against wife by husband or his relatives). 

His wife, meanwhile, registered a dowry harassment case against her husband and his family a day after Rakesh died. 

Though Rakesh is no more, proceedings under Section 498A would continue against his family. 

Experts say Rakesh’s case brings to the fore the misuse of section 498A and its grave consequences, including suicide. 

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last week the New York Times published a balanced news story that inadvertently revealed the stupidity of “Yes Means Yes” policies. Those policies redefine a great deal of consensual sex andtouching as “sexual assault,” and effectively require college students to engage in “state-mandated dirty talk” during sexual encounters (as one supporter of “Yes Means Yes” policiesgloated). That potentially violates the Constitution, and such policies have led to costly lawsuits against colleges that have such policies.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Because due process rights aren't apparently considered when discussing campus sexual assault, congressional staffers on Monday had to be briefed about them by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

FIRE staffers Joseph Cohn, Shelby Emmett and Samantha Harris met with congressional staffers to discuss the lack of due process rights afforded to college students accused of sexual assault, and provided analysis of current legislation on the subject.

FIRE discussed the need for accused students to have access to the evidence against them (because such an obvious right is currently not afforded to college students) and the elimination of conflicts of interest among campus investigators. Currently, the person investigating a sexual assault claim can also be an advocate for the accuser, producing a clear bias for an allegedly impartial investigator.'

--

Article here. Excerpt:

'Weeks into her freshman year at the University of Minnesota, Courtney Blake was sexually assaulted in her dorm room. She reported it to campus officials, rather than police.

Though the young man argued the sex was consensual, he was found to have violated the student conduct code and put on disciplinary probation, given mandatory counseling and assigned to write a paper, according to an investigation document. Blake was moved to another dorm.

Less than a year later, Blake was assaulted at an off-campus party by a different student. This time, she turned to the police as well as campus officials, but quickly learned the justice system’s limitations. She got a more tangible response from the U, which expelled her assailant.
...
Critics of these internal investigations say colleges and universities are ill-equipped to handle cases that in a courtroom would constitute a felony. Because schools don’t have subpoena power, investigators and panels have to make decisions based on whatever evidence they can get.

Article here. Excerpt:

'After being found responsible for sexual misconduct by a campus kangaroo court, a Brown University student is taking the unusual step of suing the university and suing his accuser. He’s accusing Brown of violating its own policies after putting him through a campus judicial proceeding that — as described in the complaint — would make any self-respecting lawyer recoil in disgust. The plaintiff, who goes by “John Doe” in the complaint, paints a picture of a university that was committed to punishing him from the start, exhibiting bias at every stage of the campus process.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A student who was born female felt perfectly comfortable identifying as a man at Wellesley College — until people said he shouldn’t be class diversity officer because he is now a white male.

Timothy Boatwright was born a girl, and checked off the “female” box when applying to the Massachusetts all-women’s school, according to an article in the New York Times. But when he got there, he introduced himself as a “masculine-of-center genderqueer” person named “Timothy” (the name he picked for himself) and asked them to use male pronouns when referring to him.

And, by all accounts, Boatwright felt welcome on campus — until the day he announced that he wanted to run for the school’s office of multicultural affairs coordinator, whose job is to promote a “culture of diversity” on campus.

Article here. Excerpt:

'An Institute of Physics (IoP) guide argues schools do not take sexist "banter" as seriously as they do racist or homophobic language.

This can lead to gender stereotyping and turn girls away from studying science subjects as often as boys.

"No woman should feel that their gender is a barrier to their success," the government said.

The guide, Opening Doors, to be presented at a conference hosted by the IoP, also urged teachers to reflect on their own language to ensure they are "not inadvertently transmitting negative messages".

It is based on the results of interviews with staff and young people in 10 schools in England.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'In response, Ms Morgan said: "It is good to see that maths A-level is now the most popular A-level. We've got more girls studying STEM subjects both at GCSEs and A-levels.

"But the issue is that women are concentrated in less well paid occupations. Women are 92 per cent of secretaries, 94 per cent of child care assistants but only 7 per cent of engineers and 20 per cent of architects. Again that has to change.'

Bath MP Ben Howlett is pushing for greater numbers of women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The MP has pressed the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities to do more to improve these numbers.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Under WE's proposals, those who sell sex will not be criminalised, and the party would remove from law the few scenarios, such as kerb-crawling and soliciting in a public place, under which sex workers can currently be prosecuted. Sophie Walker, leader of the party, said at the launch that the party would aim to begin criminalising sex buyers within two years of establishing support and exiting services for current sex workers.
...
The document also argues that only a "small percentage" of sex workers work voluntarily and independently of pimps or drug abuse. 

This approach runs contrary to the views of many campaigning sex workers, who are pushing for decriminalisation of the industry. A recent (and controversial) Amnesty report on sex work also called for decrimanilisation, as opposed to the Nordic approach.'

--

Article here. Excrrpt:

'A young man falsely accused of rape during college was recently cleared by the courts. A father and mother can breathe again as their 24-year-old son applies to grad schools, his bachelor’s degree earned and his season of turmoil behind him.

But for the Mock family of North Carolina, getting to the place they’re at now had a steep price. Careers ruined. Dreams dashed. Athletic glory denied.

C.D. Mock said he believes he recently lost his job as wrestling coach at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in part because of his son’s ordeal.

As for Corey Mock, he enrolled at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga a talented wrestler, and going into his senior year last fall was ranked fourth in the nation. It was set to be one the most exciting, challenging and fulfilling years of his life.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'UK schools will appoint ‘gender champions’ tasked with monitoring the language of schoolchildren as young as five in order to stamp out sexist terms such as “sissy”, “cupcake” and to challenge stereotypes.

Under new guidelines to be published tomorrow, senior teachers will be named ‘gender champions’ in schools to help headteachers promote ‘male subjects’ – science, economics, technology, engineering, and mathematics – to girls, while pushing boys towards humanities and languages.

The aim of the guidelines, drawn up by the Institute of Physics (a London-based scientific charity that works to advance physics education) and promoted by the Department for Education, is to eliminate gender stereotyping in schools from the outset, targeting pupils as young as five-years-old.

The Institute’s Professor Peter Main told The Sunday Times:

Article here. Excerpt:

'The premier of Queensland has been warned not to recognise male victims of domestic violence at the expense of women after she said she had changed her language to include male victims.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has committed to ending domestic violence, told a community cabinet event violence against men is something that needs to be addressed more.

“I do understand that there are a number of men have gone through or are going through [domestic violence],” she said on Sunday, according to Fairfax Media.

“I actually did change my language when it did become public because it was brought to my attention that there was some serious issues surrounding some men in our community needing help as well.'