Article here. Excerpt:

'A recent documentary (I use the term liberally) called the "Hunting Ground" purports to be a "startling expose of sexual assault on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families."

But the film, with the help of depressing and dramatic music, exposes only a one-sided view of the issue designed to tug at the heartstrings and make all sexual assault accusations look credible when not all are.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The United States imprisons more people than any other country. This is true whether you measure by percentage of the population or by sheer, raw numbers. If the phrase mass incarceration applies anywhere, it applies in the good ol’ U. S. of A.

It wasn’t always this way. Rates of incarceration began rising as a result of President Reagan’s “war on drugs” in the 1980s (marijuana, for example), whereby the number of people imprisoned for non-violent crimes began climbing at an alarming rate. Today, about one-in-31 adults are in prison. his is a human rights crisis for the people that are incarcerated, but its impact also echoes through the job sector, communities, families, and the hearts of children. One-in-28 school-age children—2.7 million—have a parent in prison.

Press release here. Excerpt:

'In a compelling video testimonial, former Auburn University student Joshua Strange and his mother Allison recount their ordeal arising from false accusations of rape and physical assault.

The video reveals that when the criminal justice system weighed in on the rape allegation, a grand jury handed up a “no bill,” indicating an absence of probable cause.

Despite that finding, Joshua Strange was expelled by Auburn University on November 7, 2011 and is barred from ever returning. His college transcript reflects these allegations and the subsequent student disciplinary committee ruling of expulsion.

The video can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/ewEwnliupZ8

The numerous contradictions and inconsistencies from Joshua Strange’s accuser have never been questioned, nor has she been held accountable for the false accusations, SAVE notes.'

Statement here. Excerpt:

'We want to make you aware that "The Hunting Ground," a film about campus sexual assaults that debuted in Los Angeles and New York City Thursday, is seriously lacking in credibility and presents a one-sided view of Florida State's actions in the Jameis Winston case.

The filmmakers interviewed Erica Kinsman, but no one representing Florida State. This provides the viewing public with an incomplete and erroneous view of what the University did to investigate Ms. Kinsman's allegations. This distorted presentation is all the more egregious in light of the fact Ms. Kinsman has filed a lawsuit against the University over the case.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Congratulations to the National Parents Organization’s Troy Matson. His op-ed here strikes a blow not only in favor of shared parenting in his home state of Florida, but promotes SB 1248 that’s backed by NPO (Florida Times-Union, 2/27/15).

As followers of the National Parents Organization know, last year we graded every state’s laws regarding shared parenting. Each state received a grade of A — F reflecting the extent to which its laws encourage parents to equally share custody post-divorce. The results were not good, as Matson details in his fine editorial. Florida, that received a grade of C, did better than most.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Depressing news from the world of psychology: Nearly every stereotype about the gender gap with regards to narcissism, ambition and leadership is right.

That’s according to a study in the March issue of the Psychological Bulletin, the journal of the American Psychological Association. In a review of three decades of survey data from nearly half a million participants, researchers found that men are more likely to demonstrate narcissistic behavior than women, regardless of generation or age.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A proposal by two McGill law faculty students to have women-only hours at the downtown campus gym is causing an uproar at the Montreal university.

When student Soumia Allalou, 23, decided to get back into shape, she contacted the university's gym and asked when women-only hours were. She was surprised to find that there was no such thing.

"Personally I prefer to work out in a women-only environment. I just kind of assumed they would have women-only hours. I asked them if there was a project for that in the works and they said that they didn't think so," said Allalou, who wears a hair covering and cites religious reasons for her preference. She took to Facebook to voice her concerns.

Article here. Excerpt:

'As NFL teams do their due diligence on former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, a U.S. Senator suggested Thursday that front office personnel consider viewing a documentary in which a rape allegation against Winston is included.

At a press conference Thursday to re-introduce the Campus Accountability & Safety Act, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., was asked what it says about the NFL and our culture that Winston will likely be the first overall pick in the NFL draft in April.

"I think it's very important that any team that is thinking about drafting Jameis Winston watch this movie before they draft him," she replied.

In "The Hunting Ground", Erica Kinsman, a former FSU student who accused Winston of raping her in December 2012, spoke publicly for the first time. The film was screened at the White House on Wednesday.'

---

Article here. Excerpt:

'Even as new documentary The Hunting Ground gets activists fired up to combat the problem of rape on campuses, there’s a backlash brewing. Emily Yoffe has published a long piece excoriating what she sees the film’s one-sidedness at Slate, in line with her longstanding efforts to brand anti-rape activists as hysterics. “Sexual assault is a serious problem on campus, and activists are to be applauded for bringing attention and resources to it,” she writes. “But the atmosphere of alarm that pervades The Hunting Ground does not serve accusers, the accused, or their classmates, young people who are still learning how to think about sex.”

And today, essayist and op-ed writer Meghan Daum praised the film, but qualified her praise with concern that there’s a growing “grievance culture” on campus that obscures the real issue with rape.

"In grievance culture, sexual assault and victimhood exist as absolutes, independent of context or gray areas. The woman who gets drunk at a party and has sex she neither exactly consented to nor exactly resisted is just as much a victim as the clearly brutalized woman. The undergraduate at an elite college who continues to hang out with her alleged rapist long after the deed supposedly occurred is said to be suffering the same syndrome as the woman who lacks the resources flee a domestic batterer on whom she may be psychologically or financially dependent."

Article here. Excerpt:

'WHAT:
The Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities (CSMM) at Stony Brook University will host the International Conference on Masculinities: Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Equality, a four-day symposium to encourage men’s activism in support of gender justice and increase cooperation between feminist activists and academic researchers who address these issues.

The conference, the most comprehensive ever held in the United States dedicated to engaging men and boys for gender equality, features an international roster of renowned leaders on gender issues. Sheryl Sandberg and Gloria Steinem will make presentations on opening night along with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women, Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., CSMM Director Michael Kimmel and, via video, playwright Eve Ensler. Jane Fonda will address the conference on Saturday evening.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In March 2013, Cisco CEO John Chambers sent out a memo to all 400 of his most senior employees, vice president and above.

“We can no longer pretend that biases don’t exist, nor can we talk around them,” he wrote, quoting Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in her book Lean In. “The result of creating a more equal environment will not just be better performance for our organizations, but quite likely greater happiness for all.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Republican-led Tennessee legislative committee failed to extend funding Wednesday for the state's Economic Council on Women, with some of the lawmakers asking why there isn't a similar council for men.
...
"Other than generating reports, what benefit does the state have by having this council?" he asked. "My second question is, with women making up 51 percent of the population of the state, why don’t we have a men’s economic council, why don’t we have a Hispanic economic council, why don’t we have an African-American economic council, why don’t we have this group and that group? Why do we have a women’s economic council, and why is it needed?"

Qualls-Brooks replied that "men basically are running everything, anyway."

"When you focus and deal with issues that relate to women, then it ripples over and deals with children and families as a whole," she went on. "So when you focus on what women do, you’re enveloping and embracing everyone."

State Sen. Mae Beavers (R) proposed that the legislature create an economic council for "everybody," rather than just for women.

"My concern is balkanizing. If we divide and subdivide our population, is that beneficial in the final analysis?" said Beavers. "I always have a concern that we create the balkanization of our population. We’ve become, almost by implication, a victim group, and I don’t perceive women as victims at all."
...
State Senate Minority Leader Lee Harris (D) accused his Republican colleagues of perpetuating a "war on women," a term used by Democrats in the wake of the 2010 midterm elections to describe conservative attacks on reproductive rights and women's rights in general."
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'The gap is so great that the UK's university admissions authority has warned that being male could soon be seen as a new form of social disadvantage.

In the UK, the gender gap between men and women entering university has never been wider. In a remarkable statistic from the Ucas admissions service, the gap is more than 50% in a quarter of parliamentary constituencies. And no doubt this disparity will play out over future generations.

But hold that bandwagon there.

Because a global study from the OECD, based on more than 60 countries, has thrown up some very interesting challenges to generalisations about girls always doing better than boys.
...
First of all, it suggests that school systems give greater rewards to girls rather than boys, even when pupils are of similar ability.

Teachers are more likely to "mark up" girls' work, says the study. It suggests that this leniency in marking is an unacknowledged reward for girls being more school-friendly.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The initiative hopes to motivate men to work towards equality in all areas of their lives, including at home with housework, with their children, in their marriages and at work. The campaign includes tips that men can implement in their daily lives at work and at home.

Some of the tips include being an active father by participating in caregiving and being a 50/50 partner by doing half of the childcare and housework. Tips for men at work include actively giving women credit when it's due and sharing "office house work" such as organizing events and training new hires.

"When men lean in for equality, they win -- and so does everyone else," Lean In's website reads.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Daily Beast has retracted an article claiming that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker cut all provisions requiring the state’s universities to report sexual assaults. Before finally admitting she “screwed up,” the source of the post tried to defend herself on Twitter.
...
Then she refused to apologize, blaming both the Wisconsin budget and Walker himself for her mistake:

“And I’m not gonna apologize for what was in the budget. Because that was in the budget. Ask your gov. to apologize for bad optix.” — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015"
...
In a related story, a New York Times columnist wrote two weeks ago that Walker was responsible for 2010 cuts to education, resulting in teacher layoffs. The problem being, Walker didn’t take office until 2011.