Article here. Excerpt:

'WAPF is a non-profit national organization dedicated to educating the public, the media, and policy makers on the issue of paternity fraud and the devastation this issue creates within families and especially for children. While many think that "paternity fraud" is just a men's issue, it is not. Both men and women, boys and girls, can be victims.

Many women are paternity fraud victims, when the truth about who their biological father is was never disclosed to them until years later, or when a medical emergency occurs, or their inheritance rights are being denied. Also, many women -- wives, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters are also affected by paternity fraud when the men in their lives are victims.

Regardless of whether you are a man or women paternity fraud is devastating. WAPF is composed of women (and men) who have been negatively affected by this issue (or just care about truth and justice) and seek reform.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A 4000-plus convergence of Reform rabbis and congregational leaders is taking place in Orlando this November and Celebrating Brit Shalomwill be on hand. 

Celebrating Brit Shalom is the first-ever book specifically for Jewish families opting out of circumcision. Brit shalomis an alternative to brit milah for parents who want to give their boys a formal welcome to Jewish life, minus the circumcision. 

The Union for Reform Judaism’s 2015 Biennial calls itself the largest Jewish religious gathering in North America. Conference registration is open to the public, with much of the programming geared to those with leadership roles in congregations. Also during the biennial, decisions are made about the policies of the Reform movement. 

Article here. Excerpt:

'One topic I’ve never before addressed on Beyond the Bris is the practice of metzitsah b’peh. There are reasons for this—and I’ll discuss them further down. This very ancient practice takes place during traditional religious circumcision, just after the mohel has removed the foreskin. 

Before this practice was in the news because of infants contracting herpes, and long before I was involved in the genital autonomy movement, the way I had always understood the practice—the way it must have been described to me at some point during my childhood (not by my parents)—was as a brief “washing” of the circumcision wound with wine that the mohel (ritual circumciser) took into his mouth.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Council of Europe is maintaining its position that non-medical circumcision of boys is a violation of children’s rights, despite reports in Israeli media that said the council reversed its position.

According to statements from Israeli politicians and Jewish activists, the Council of Europe — a body for pan-European dialogue that lacks executive powers  — switched positions when its Parliamentary Assembly passed Resolution 2076 on “Freedom of religion and living together in a democratic society” on Sept. 30.

Milah UK, a leading Jewish advocacy group supporting the practice of circumcision, on Tuesday said in a statement that the resolution “cancels a previous motion that had cast into doubt the legality of religious circumcision.” Milah is the Hebrew name for the ritual circumcision of eight-day-old males.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Met Police has apologised to the widow of Leon Brittan for not telling the former home secretary he had been cleared over a false rape claim before he died.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse wrote a letter to the lawyers of Lady Brittan in which he admits "clarity should have been provided" with regards to the dropping of the allegation against the former Conservative MP.

Brittan died in January from cancer aged 75 unaware that police had concluded there was no case against him over allegations he raped a 19-year-old student at a flat in London in 1967. In a letter, seen by The Times, Rodhouse wrote to Lady Brittan's lawyers, Mishcon de Reya on 7 October saying: "I do recognise that this clarity should have been provided at an earlier stage and I apologise for any distress that this has caused to Lady Brittan".

Article here. Excerpt:

'While the problem of poverty and homelessness is showing it’s [sic] face in more and more obvious ways here in Shasta County, the real impact it has on our community may still be sliding under the radar. It’s not just those on the streets and in the camps that are experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty, but many children inside our classrooms are also in desperate situations. Even more elusive from the scopes is what many are increasingly coming to realize as an underlying cause for increased poverty in the United States: a fatherless epidemic.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Damsel in distress no longer describes female pop artists in music videos. With the release of the music video ‘Disclosure’ by Magnets featuring Lorde, there is an undeniable gruesome violent trend coming from female singers and it is sweeping across the music video industry.

The 'Disclosure' music video portrays Lorde tying a man, presumed to be a cheating guy, to a chair and then pushing him into a pool as he begs for her to stop. She then opens a lighter and throws it into the pool, setting it ablaze. Sounds like something straight out of a horror film.

Memo here. Dated 5/12/2015, it was only recently released after all the signatories had a chance to review and sign it. Excerpt:

'As you are aware, the American Law Institute (ALI) has undertaken a review of the sexual assault provisions of the Model Penal Code. The undersigned members of ALI are concerned about the direction the project has taken. Although the drafts have generated little attention outside of the project itself and although the project has been criticized for late distribution of drafts (see e.g., ALI Reporter, Summer 2014 at 23), we hope that you will consider our concerns both before and during the upcoming Annual Meeting session on Tuesday, May 19 at 9:00 a.m. when Discussion Draft No. 2 dated April 28, 2015 will be considered.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 20-year-old woman has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly kicking her boyfriend's 17-month-old son to death.

Alicia Goemaat, from West Seattle, Washington, is accused in the death of Drue Lehto, whom she was looking after as his dad, Derek, ran errands on September 27.
...
She said that on September 27 she kicked Drue in the stomach, knocking him to the ground, according to reports. She reportedly said she kicked him again before putting him in his playpen, where he was later found unresponsive.

After the boy's father arrived home, he tried to administer CPR but the youngster passed away before medical staff arrived, according to Seattle PI. An autopsy found that he died of abdominal trauma and internal bleeding, and the Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide.

Goemaat denied knowing what happened to him until she was arrested days later, on October 1, according to reports.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The United States Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery has issued a warning about “male privilege” and is teaching ways to combat it.

The agency has issued two charts, the “Power and Control Wheel” and the “Equality Wheel,” in a new document posted on the Navy’s website.
...
As Social Memo points out, the Navy’s document appears to only address physical and sexual violence perpetrated by men.

A 2012 study by Bert H. Hoff, J.D. found “More men than women were victims of intimate partner physical violence within the past year, according to a national study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Department of Justice.”

Hoff’s research found that in the 12 months prior to the study’s release, “an estimated 5,365,000 men and 4,741,000 women were victims of intimate partner physical violence.” That’s 53% and 47% respectively.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'There is nothing new in a victim of a sexual assault being blamed for the offence. Back in 1982 there was a national outcry when a convicted rapist was punished with just a £2,000 fine after the judge ruled that his victim, by hitch-hiking in a skirt, was “guilty of a great deal of contributory negligence”.

At least things have moved on, or so one might have thought. Yesterday, 21-year-old Jade Hatt walked out of court with a suspended sentence after being convicted of unlawful sexual activity with a child. The leniency was explained in part by mitigating testimony that the victim was “sex mad” and ‘“fully up for the experience”. The encounter was a “notch on his belt” and he was “totally unaffected by it”. The victim was just 11 years old. As if that were not sufficiently horrific, that testimony was provided by the boy’s own father, who had himself been in a previous sexual relationship with the defendant.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The latest round of polling for Clin­ton is bru­tal. This week’s NBC News/Wall Street Journ­al shows her fa­vor­ab­il­ity rat­ing with men at a mere 27 per­cent, while two-thirds view her un­fa­vor­ably. Her minus-39 net fa­vor­ab­il­ity with men is 28 points worse than Vice Pres­id­ent Joe Biden and 27 points be­hind Sen. Bernie Sanders. The story is the same in New Hamp­shire, where the NBC/WSJ/Mar­ist poll found both Sanders and Biden with net-pos­it­ive rat­ings, while Clin­ton’s ap­prov­al is deeply un­der­wa­ter, stuck at 30 per­cent.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Earlier this week, the Governor of California signed a bill intended to help women. Supported by the Chamber of Commerce, the new law looks to eliminate the “gender wage gap,” or the supposed discrepancy between the pay of men and women.

The bill received immense support in both houses of the California state legislature and will “ensure that women are paid equally for work that is substantially similar to the work of their male colleagues.”

While California policymakers may be well intentioned, as an economist, this makes me want to bang my head against a wall. I’ve discussed this very issue on this blog before. But, alas, here we are again.

So, one more time, with feeling.

There is no meaningful gender wage gap. Such a gap makes zero intuitive or economic sense.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'As a critic of feminism, I’ve checked out the Men’s Rights Movement (MRM). Some things I like, some things not so much. They have good points when it comes to divorce, custody, and how courts are biased towards women. These are real equality issues that need to be addressed.

Also, I dislike how men have become the punch line in today’s society. Just check out commercials and sitcoms. The husbands are portrayed as complete idiots with the maturity of five year olds. The wives, on the other hand, are brilliant personality-less parental figures to their dumb husbands.

One of my pet peeves is how it’s somehow acceptable to insult your husband in public. Haha, I don’t know how he dresses himself in the morning! It’s laughable when a woman does it. The other way around? That wouldn’t fly!