Story here. Excerpt:

'Small press And Other Stories has answered author Kamila Shamsie’s provocative call for a year of publishing women to redress “gender bias” in the literary world.

The novelist made what she called her “provocation” in Saturday’s Guardian, revealing that just under 40% of books submitted to the Booker prize over the past five years were by women, and pointing to everything from the author Nicola Griffith’s research, which found that far more prize-winning novels have male than female protagonists, to the Vida statistics showing that male authors and reviewers command more space than female.

Story here. Excerpt:

'But this year a group of undergraduates — mostly women — will be shunning all this. They will be staying in their college rooms, fingers flying across their keyboards as they scowl at the screen. They are the hard core of a feminist cult that has gripped Oxford and makes life miserable for hundreds of undergraduates across the university. The cult uses Facebook to snoop on students who aren’t ‘proper’ feminists. It tries to force young women to use its extreme rhetoric and denounces them if they don’t.

Its digital tirades can poison college life. One young woman told me that new friends she’d made at Oxford suddenly shunned her in the dining hall after the word went out that she held ‘incorrect’ views on women’s rights. (She was so worried about repercussions that she asked me not to mention which area of women’s rights she felt strongly about.)

Article here. Excerpt:

'But how? Here’s one idea. Get women in university to switch their majors. Instead of sociology, they should take petroleum engineering, which pays three or four times as much. That would close the gap in no time.

In fact, most (not all) of the wage gap is a myth, based on the same sort of flawed statistics that vastly inflate the problem of “rape culture.” Yet if you doubt the magnitude of either of these problems, you will probably be denounced as a misogynist, or worse.

Just ask Christina Hoff Sommers, a mild-mannered feminist who argues that modern feminism has gone off the deep end. Take the pay gap. She points out that much of the gap is explained by the fact that women choose career paths that pay less than the work men choose. Once you correct for occupational differences, hours worked per week, and tenure in the work force, most of the pay gap disappears. The statistics bear her out.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'And then Emma Sulkowicz came forward and told her story, which led to a backlash, and then a backlash to the backlash, and questions are still being asked about it. And then you have the Rolling Stone story, which prompted completely appropriate questions of a different sort. And these discussions, regardless of where you land on what they mean or who is right or wrong, take the conversation to a different place than where you are trying to lead it.

Article here. Excerpt:

'As a criminal defense attorney and longtime feminist, I am startled at the current social climate against young men accused of sex assaults. In light of all the negative press surrounding the Missoula County Attorney’s Office, the public outcry to prosecute more campus sex assault cases and the biased journalism in town, people have forgotten about the Constitution and the presumption of innocence. Our justice system is designed to protect the accused from rumor, speculation and mob mentality. Victims’ “rights” do not trump the rights of the accused.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A man and a woman who had apparently just met on a Chula Vista trolley on Valentine’s Day allegedly had sex outside a dress store in an incident that stunned onlooking employees and customers, a San Diego-area station reported.
...
The man and woman reportedly didn’t even know each other names, and police said they had just met on a trolley.

The station reported that the woman was ticketed while the man was taken away in handcuffs.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Indeed, they could also ban MGM, too! Excerpt:

'Before stepping down, Nigeria’s former president made sure his legacy boasted fighting for women’s rights and protections.

Goodluck Jonathan signed into law last month a ban on female genital mutilation, a practice that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, the Guardian reported.

However, activists say laws alone won’t put abolish the practice, and that a systemic cultural shift is required to make sure women and girls are no longer subjected to the harmful procedure.

"Global experience tells us that ultimately, it's through changing attitudes, not just laws, that we will end FGM," Tanya Barron, chief executive of children's charity Plan International, told Reuters.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'We all talk about equality of all genders, but unfortunately when it comes to the Indian constitution, it is far from reality. True that there was a time when the government had to make special provisions in the constitution for women to ensure equality, but unfortunately, some of these provisions are clearly unfair to men. Here are 9 laws in our country that are unfair towards men:

1. The father of the deceased doesn't inherit property, but the mother does.

Under the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, if the deceased has no will, the spouse, mother and children inherit the property belonging to the deceased. The father is only entitled if the deceased does not have a spouse, mother or children.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Kafka was born too early to write about Amherst College. At campus hearings on claims of sexual assault, procedures are relentlessly stacked again males and evidence of innocence doesn’t count. Amherst expelled a student for committing rape—despite text messages from the accuser, sent immediately after the alleged assault, (1) telling one student that she had initiated the sexual contact with the student she later accused (her roommate’s boyfriend); (2) inviting another student to her room for a sexual liaison minutes after she was allegedly raped.

Amherst, on grounds that the accused student (who, per college policy, had no attorney) didn’t discover the text messages until it was too late, has allowed the rape finding to stand, even though the college’s decision relied on the accuser’s credibility (which is now non-existent). Amherst faces a due-process lawsuit in the case. You can read the complaint here.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ray Rice has made some bad decisions in his life. Among the worst was becoming a male football player.

If he were a female soccer player, he could slug just about anyone he wants.

The proof was in goal Monday night as the U.S. took on Australia in the Women's World Cup.

Everybody knew Hope Solo was a one-woman reality show. We just didn't realize how gnarly she could be until an ESPN "Outside the Lines" report on Sunday.

It fleshed out a domestic-abuse incident last summer and left you wondering if the NFL has taken over U.S. Soccer.

The organization is apparently willing to employ anybody who'll help it win. The difference is Roger Goodell looks strict compared to the powers running U.S. Soccer. And Solo still has apologists who recoil at Rice comparisons.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here. Suppose a man would have gotten the same deal, or would a spouse been as apparently forgiving toward same? And does anyone really think she'll never use a cell phone again? Excerpt:

'A Michigan woman has been banned from using a cell phone – or any other form of texting device – as part of her sentence for fatally striking a cyclist while driving last September.

According to WLNS-TV, Judge Stewart McDonald of the Clinton County District Court decided to take away Mitzi Nelson’s cell phone because she was using the device when her car hit 35-year-old Jill Byeich.

McDonald said, according to USA Today:

“I don’t think she has a right to have a cellphone. I think it’s a privilege.”

Incidentally, the idea for the punishment actually came from Byeich’s widower, Jordan. He does believe that Nelson is remorseful, however – and even gave her a hug after the trial was over.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'New government research shows that female military veterans commit suicide at nearly six times the rate of other women, a startling finding that experts say poses disturbing questions about the backgrounds and experiences of women who serve in the armed forces.

Their suicide rate is so high that it approaches that of male veterans, a finding that surprised researchers because men generally are far more likely than women to commit suicide.

"It's staggering," said Dr. Matthew Miller, an epidemiologist and suicide expert at Northeastern University who was not involved in the research. "We have to come to grips with why the rates are so obscenely high."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'How many young men will be improperly convicted of sexual assault because amateur boards were more sympathetic to the young woman in a "he said/she said" case? College disciplinary boards often only need a victim to prove her case by a preponderance of the evidence, which is far less stringent than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard needed at a criminal trial. Female accusers may often be able to achieve preponderance of the evidence simply through innate sympathy toward women.