Article here. Excerpt:

'The same week Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made a high-profile speech saying that sexual-assault accusers have “the right to be believed” and calling for more campus resources to help alleged victims, her chief rival for the nomination appears to have quietly responded.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is the first new cosponsor in nearly two months of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act (S-590). Congress.gov says he signed on to the bill Tuesday, just a day after Clinton’s speech at the University of Northern Iowa.

It’s a toe in the water for Sanders, who had to explain this spring why he wrote a “rape fantasy” essay in 1972 for a Vermont alt rag. He’s beenawfully easy on Clinton as well, neglecting to point out the perceived hypocrisy in her “right to be believed” remarks when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been repeatedly accused of sexual assault.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The University of Michigan has become the latest school to vacate a sexual assault judgment against a student due to legal pressure.

Drew Sterrett was a student at Michigan until 2012, when a school hearing found him responsible for sexually assaulting a fellow student. Rather than take the judgement lying down, Sterrett sued Michigan in federal court in 2014, arguing the school’s hearing process deprived him of his due process rights.

Sterrett’s case had much in common with other controversial college sexual assault cases. Sterrett had exculpatory evidence at the time, via a text from his roommate, that the sex between him and another student (identified as ‘CB’) was consensual. Not only that, but after their encounter in March 2012, no complaint was filed until the following August, and Sterrett was found responsible without ever being allowed to question his accuser or see the claims against him in writing. Sterrett also never faced any criminal charges.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'At first glance, the text messages appear to show a disturbing case of cyberbullying: one teen urging another to kill himself.

But the texts were not sent by a school bully. They were from a 17-year-old girl to her boyfriend, whom she called the love of her life.

"You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don't get why you aren't," Michelle Carter allegedly wrote to Conrad Roy III the day he parked his truck outside a Fairhaven Kmart and killed himself through carbon monoxide poisoning.

Prosecutors have charged Carter with involuntary manslaughter in Roy's 2014 death. They say that in the week before Roy killed himself, Carter assisted by urging him to overcome his doubts about taking his own life, pressuring him to do it and even telling him to get back in his truck after becoming frightened that the plan was working.

Carter's lawyer has strenuously denied that she pushed him to kill himself and has asked a judge to dismiss the case.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Hillary Clinton believes victims of sexual assault have “a right to be believed.” Except, of course, if the accusations are made against her husband and could complicate her political aspirations.

In Clinton’s new web ad, titled “Hillary’s Message to Survivors of Sexual Assault,” the candidate claims:

"I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault.

Don’t let anyone silence your voice. You have a right to be heard. You have a right to be believed. We’re with you."

But that’s a very different message Kathleen Willey received in 1993 when she accused Hillary’s husband, President Bill Clinton, of sexually assaulting her.

“She believed what happened for sure,” Willey tells The American Mirror. “She just chose to ignore the plight of all of his victims, thus enabling him to continue to abuse and rape women in the future.”'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Texas police have decided not to charge a 14-year-old Muslim boy who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school.

Officials at MacArthur High School in Irving alerted police because they thought the device was a "hoax bomb".

Ahmed Mohamed's arrest has been sharply criticised, and the boy has received an outpouring of support including an invitation to the White House.

Ahmed's family believes he was detained because of his name.

"We have always had an outstanding relationship with the Muslim community," Irving Police Department chief Larry Boyd said on Wednesday. "Incidents like this present challenges. We want to learn how we can move forward and turn this into a positive."

The boy was placed in handcuffs and fingerprinted before he was released after it was determined there was no threat.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Another reason men might be enthusiastic about female-free sex is obvious: the sociopathic, man-hating feminism we see so much of on television and in our newspapers today is turning men off dealing with women altogether. Constant whinging about “toxic masculinity,” “manspreading,” “mansplaining,” the bogus gender pay gap and the absurd campus rape culture myth are pushing the sexes apart, fostering mistrust and fear.

The fact that wacky, misandrist intersectional feminists are an unpopular minority — as a result of their horrid influence, just 18 per cent of women now call themselves feminists — doesn’t matter because they hold court in the media and on campuses, and young women are starting to parrot discredited and absurd nonsense about the “oppressive patriarchy,” picking up on a victimhood script they believe they can leverage for social and professional advantage.

Essay here. Excerpt:

'I mis-spoke.

During a subcommittee hearing last week about sexual assault on college campuses, I committed a major gaffe during the back-and-forth exchange with a witness who was advocating for removing the authority of colleges to adjudicate sexual assault cases that happen on their campuses. My words did not convey my beliefs nor the policies I now or have ever supported.
...
To most people who don't know much about this issue, it makes sense to solely adjudicate these cases in our criminal justice system, just like we do other crimes. The witness mentioned above who I was questioning was arguing for just such an approach.

However, this is a deeply dangerous idea that demonstrates a cursory and superficial understanding of the issue. Ask any sexual assault advocate and they'll tell you the same thing.

There are very important reasons why colleges and universities currently have jurisdiction over assaults that occur on their campuses, and why the process is separate from the criminal justice system. In my effort to defend this practice, I went too far, and I regret that my remarks have detracted from the substance of this debate and have reflected poorly on the good work being done by college offices across the country that investigate these cases, including two in my own backyard in Colorado (University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado State University).

Article here. Excerpt:

'When federal politicians passed the Higher Education Act, they thought they were only going to help good students who couldn’t otherwise afford college to attend. They did not think about possible unintended consequences — like making college far more expensive, undermining academic standards, or giving federal bureaucra'ts leverage to dictate to colleges and universities.

But all of that has happened.

I’m going to focus on that last consequence—the way federal intervention in higher education has empowered bureaucrats to whittle away at free speech on (and even off) campus.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A just released policy on infant male circumcision by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) was judged today by the Children's Health & Human Rights Partnership (CHHRP) to be a step in the right direction, but was "nevertheless 'predictably inadequate' with respect to several specific issues."

CHHRP Medical Director Dr. Christopher Guest, MD, FRCPC, said the new policy is consistent with international paediatric associations that affirm infant boys should not have their healthy foreskins routinely removed.

Citing the position of the CPS that recognizes the unique sensory functions of the male foreskin, Dr. Guest asserted that, "A growing number of medical associations now recognize that an intact penis with a foreskin contributes to sexual pleasure for the male and his partner." According to Guest, in 2010 the Royal Dutch Medical Association concluded, "the foreskin is a complex erotogenic structure that plays an important role in the mechanical function of the penis during sexual acts."

In a House hearing on campus sexual assault last week, Polis stated that a student should be expelled if there is a 20% chance he is guilty.

Polis also stated that the standard used should be lower than "preponderance of the evidence."

Polis added, "If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people."

Tell Rep. Polis (CO-2) that expelling innocent students is unacceptable advice, and wrongful accusations are damaging. Our representatives should instead be advocating for more due process in the campus kangaroo courts.

Call: (202) 225-2161 
Email: https://polis.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/default.aspx

Tell a Congressman that student rights matter.

Gina Lauterio, Esq., Policy Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org

Article here. As predictable as snow in New England! Excerpt:

'A campaign has been launched calling for a ban on the development of robots that can be used for sex.

Such a use of the technology is unnecessary and undesirable, said campaign leader Dr Kathleen Richardson.

Sex dolls already on the market are becoming more sophisticated and some are now hoping to build artificial intelligence into their products.

Those working in the field say that there is a need for such robots.

Dr Richardson, a robot ethicist at De Montfort University in Leicester, wants to raise awareness of the issue and persuade those developing sex robots to rethink how their technology is used.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m not fond of comments sections. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many female writers who are. On most sites – from YouTube to local newspapers – comments are a place where the most noxious thoughts rise to the top and smart conversations are lost in a sea of garbage.

There’s a reason, after all, that the refrain “don’t read the comments” has become ubiquitous among journalists. But if we’re not to read them, why have them at all?

I wasn’t always a comments-hater. When I started a feminist blog in 2004, I was thrilled to finally be able to talk with other young feminists online and was open to chatting with detractors. I saw the comments section as a way to destabilize the traditional writer/reader relationship – no longer did audiences need to consume an article without a true opportunity to respond. Comments even made my writing better those days; feedback from readers broadened the way I thought and sometimes changed my mind.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Perpetrators of domestic and family violence can expect to be monitored more closely, Tony Abbott has flagged during question time.

“We need to ensure that men with a predisposition to violence against members of their families are better monitored, better tracked, so that the instant there is any suggestion of harm the police can act,” the prime minister said.

Earlier this year, the government put forward a proposal to the Council of Australian Governments (Coag) that high-risk domestic violence offenders be tracked via ankle bracelets in the same way that sex offenders in some states are monitored.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Standing out among all the politicians with recent foot-in-the-mouth misogynistic comments, Union minister for women and child development, Maneka Gandhi, on Monday, claimed that "all the violence is male-generated" leading to an onslaught of criticism for her sexist remark.

During a scheduled public interaction on popular social media platform, Facebook, Maneka said that the role of men in gender sensitisation was critical as they are responsible for all the violence.

This digital interaction spewed controversy on yet another social networking site, Twitter, as people slammed the BJP politician for encouraging ‘misandry’ with such anti-male sentiments.

“Misandry is as bad as Misogynistic views. Violence comes from within irrespective of gender or race. #maneka Gandhi” tweeted one Susan Paul.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In Cedar Falls, Clinton told the crowd that one in five women report they were sexually assaulted in college, a statistic often cited by politicians that is also a source of debate. “Think of the impact on their lives while they’re trying to manage the emotional, the physical, sometimes the educational, financial fallout,” said Clinton. “They miss classes, some drop out, some never finish their education.”

She also suggested that she would propose policy changes to the criminal justice system — and encourage schools to do the same to their own disciplinary procedures — to "ensure a fair process."

“Rape is a crime wherever it happens,” she said.

Before her speech, Clinton met with about 15 students and local activists to discuss the ideas, an aide said, and to encourage feedback. “There are good smart solutions," she told the crowd in Cedar Falls. "We just need more of them."'