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.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Just as rape causes great distress to the victim, a false charge destroys lives and damages reputation, the Delhi high court has said, acquitting five men who were jailed sixteen years ago on the charge of gangrape.

"There is no doubt that rape causes great distress and humiliation to the victim of rape but at the same time false allegation of committing a rape also causes humiliation and damage to the accused. An accused also has rights which are to be protected and the possibility of false implication has to be ruled out," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal noted in its verdict.

The court set aside the conviction of the five men after it found that the woman who had leveled the charge of being gang raped gave inconsistent statements in court and hid the fact she was in a relationship with one of the accused. "Her version has no correlation with other supporting material being medical, scientific and expert evidence," the bench observed.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern, wrote an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education in which she decried the creeping bureaucratization and fear that surrounds sexual activity on campus. Last week, she revealed that as a consequence of that article, she had been investigated for violating Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

No, I'm not eliding some intermediate step, where she used printed copies of the article as a cudgel to attack her female students. The article itself was the suspect act. According to Kipnis, it was seen as retaliation against students who had filed complaints against a professor, and would have a "chilling effect" and create a "hostile environment" for women in the Northwestern community. Northwestern put Kipnis through a lengthy process in which she wasn't allowed to know the nature of the complaint until she talked to investigators, nor could she have representation.

But the process worked, says Justin Weinberg, because Kipnis was eventually exonerated. Weinberg, who teaches philosophy, also thinks it's "not obvious" that writing an article about an ongoing complaint, which does not mention either the students or professors by name, is retaliation under Title IX. Like Brian Leiter, I find his summation of the facts underwhelming, and as Leiter says, "If Kipnis's opinion piece about sexual paranoia on campus, in which the graduate student is not even named and barely referenced, constitutes adverse 'treatment,' then there is no right for any faculty member at any institution receiving federal funds to offer any opinions, however indirect, about any question surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct at the institution."

I was thinking, a bit ago. (Yes, I know, "look out!!!" right?) but I was rather wondering, since women outnumber men, in this world, have any of you chaps ever considered going for minority status?

Yes, yes, yes, I know. "Erika, you silly girl, what are you on about?"

If just on principal, alone, think about it.

"Minorities" are usually, realistically or unrealistically considered "disadvantaged" in life, compared to the majority. This covers a range of things:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Pregnant women regularly exposed to a range of detergents, solvents and pesticides have a substantially greater risk of giving birth to boys with genital deformities, according to a new French study.

The research, led by two professors at the Regional University Hospital Centre in the French city of Montpellier, found that women who regularly work with such chemicals, including cleaners and hairdressers, were at greatest risk of having sons born with hypospadias.

The birth defect, which affects about three in 1,000 newborn boys, is a condition where the urinary opening is abnormally positioned on the penis.

Hypospadias can be treated with surgery but it can affect the boy's fertility once he reaches adulthood.

The study, led by pediatric surgeon Nicolas Kalfa and pediatric endocrinologist Charles Sultan, was carried out over five years and examined 600 children at hospitals in four French cities, 300 of whom were boys born with hypospadias.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Inspired by The Hunting Ground, a widely praised — and criticized — cinematic documentary on campus sexual assaults, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is using screenings of the film to promote legislation that would establish a uniform definition of consent, as well as reporting and investigative procedures for all his state’s public and private colleges and universities.

Article here. Excerpt:

'"The Department of Justice spent nearly $800,000 to develop a computer game to “limit the aggression” of middle school boys.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) paid for researchers at Rhode Island Hospital to team up with a multimedia company in Colorado to create the game, which seeks to prevent dating violence among eighth graders in Providence, Rhode Island.

“The aim of the proposed study is to develop and refine a web-based intervention that reduces the risk of dating violence among middle-school aged males,” the NIJ grant states. “The final intervention, to be used by parents and adolescents together, is based on the empirical literature linking emotion regulation deficits to violent behavior as well as studies showing that parental involvement is crucial to offset dating violence risk.”

The proposal argued that since teenage boys like to play video games, they would also like to play one about “partner violence.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'President Obama signed the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act into law on May 29 as part of the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. It boosts funding for states that allow women to petition for the termination of parental rights based on clear and convincing evidence that a child was conceived through rape.
...
Currently, about 36 states address the issue in law, but many of them require a criminal conviction of the rapist, which leaves little protection for the vast majority of victims, since very few rapes lead to prosecution. The “clear and convincing” standard – in place in 10 states – allows a judge to block the alleged rapist’s access to a child in a civil proceeding with a lower burden of proof than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required in criminal courts. ...'