Link here. Excerpt:

'After scouring hospital records and doorknocking, police have identified the mother as a 20-year-old Quakers Hill woman. She has been taken to Blacktown police station and is being interviewed.

A group of passersby managed to lift the top of the drain and saw the baby lying at the bottom early on Sunday. ...
...
... He had his umbilical cord cut and clamped which Lagats said seemed to indicate the baby had been delivered in a hospital, or at least received medical attention before being abandoned.

He said police were concerned for the mother’s welfare.

The baby’s abandonment has spurred fresh calls for emergency hatches to be rolled out nationally at hospitals.
...
“We are really worried about primarily his welfare and mum’s. We would want mum to come forward. We can give her the help and support she needs. She must be feeling distressed. If the parents come forward, we will be able to work with them to find out what support, what they help need and be able to assess where we go from here,” she said.

“Often when this sort of thing happens, people are in a place of desperation. There has been cases where mothers have had postnatal depression or those issues or are very young and don’t know where to go to for help.”
...
When the possibility of emergency hatches at hospitals was raised, Charet said there was support for struggling parents already available.

“I think people are scared if they come forward, there may be consequences. You can go to a hospital, they will support you,” she said.
...
Baby abandonment is currently treated as a criminal offence, with parents liable for prosecution.

Polley wants baby safe havens established across the country in places such as fire stations, police stations and hospitals.
...

Story here. Excerpt:

'Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania has settled a lawsuit brought by a student accused of sexual assault, admitting the school acted unfairly in charging the student.

In April 2011, a student identified as John Doe shared a kiss and at a later date “consensual physical encounters” with another student identified as Jane Doe, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this year. On May 1, 2011, Jane came to John’s dorm room and initiated consensual sex. The lawsuit alleges Jane admitted she initiated the encounter.

But 19 months later, Jane reported the kiss and initial physical encounters to Swarthmore, saying she had been coerced. After a two-month investigation, the school closed the matter without bringing charges against John.

Article here. Finally! Preach on, sister! Excerpt:

'Ayaan Hirsi Ali [link added], a harsh critic of Islam’s treatment of women, said Wednesday that modern American feminism is focused on “trivial bullshit” and needs to be reclaimed.

Speaking at the Independent Women’s Forum Women of Valor dinner, where she received an award for courage, Hirsi Ali reminded her audience of how far feminism has strayed from its original purpose.

“I want you to remember that once upon a time, feminists fought for the access — basic right — access of girls to education,” she said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Joe Sorge opened the Divorce Corp. Family Law Reform Conference with a call for less fighting because less fighting is good for everyone. Ned Holstein, Founder and Chair, National Parents Organization, and Joe Sorge, Director, Divorce Corps, ended the two-day conference with the call for action.

With his usual flair for presenting complex data in a form all can grasp and understand, Joe Sorge quickly made the case for how home and work life in the United States have changed dramatically yet our family laws and our family law courts and child support guidelines have remained stuck in the past. Modern family roles and structures have evolved, yet the laws have not.

Article here. Excerpt:

'There are a number of very strange aspects to this case. The lower court judge Hon. Jeffrey Dana Gillen never appointed a Guardian ad Litem to advocate for the best interests of the child and testimony by a child mental health professional was not allowed during trial. The lower court also placed a gag order on Hironimus preventing her from speaking about the case to the media or publicly raising funds for an appeal. She was also ordered not to tell her son that she opposes the procedure in any way, and for visitation to be with the father for two days prior to, and twelve days following, the procedure. 

Article here.  Excerpt:

'Some students have voiced opposition to the nature of the debate between visiting speakers Jessica Valenti and Wendy McElroy, whom Janus Forum fellows director Dana Schwartz ’15 said were chosen as representatives of conflicting viewpoints on campus sexual assault and rape culture.

Their opposition sparked the staging of two additional events — at the same time as the debate, a faculty member will present research on rape culture in the Building for Environmental Research and Teaching, and BWell Health Promotion will host a “safe space” for emotional support in Salomon.
...
Students who may feel attacked by the viewpoints expressed at the forum or feel the speakers will dismiss their experiences can find a safe space and separate discussion held at the same time in Salomon 203. This “BWell Safe Space” will have sexual assault peer educators, women peer counselors and staff from BWell on hand to provide support.

Article here.  Excerpt:

'On Monday morning, in a suite behind a neighbourhood drugstore and across from a city park, Toronto’s first dedicated “men’s centre” will open its doors to the public — and to fresh scrutiny from feminists wary of its motives. The Canadian Centre for Men and Families, run by the Canadian Association for Equality, often dismissed by critics as a “men’s rights group,” will focus on men’s “health and well-being,” by way of counselling, support groups and workshops. “Ultimately,” director Justin Trottier wrote in a press release, “Our aim is to catalyze a fundamental change in society’s attitude towards boys and men.” It’s interesting timing considering the fallout from the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, casting attention toward how men treat women. But another hope for the centre, Mr. Trottier told the National Post‘s Sarah Boesveld, is that its existence will help sap the venom from a pernicious gender war:'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Since 1980, the prevalence of incarceration in the U.S. has risen to an extraordinary level. U.S. mass incarceration is widely recognized to be a major public problem. While domestic violence policies have scarcely been discussed in that context, a harshly punitive regime ofdomestic violence emergency law developed in conjunction with mass incarceration. State actions under domestic violence emergency law now account for a majority of justice system actions addressing interpersonal violence. Domestic violence polices are central to the development of mass incarceration in the U.S. from about 1980.
...
Beginning about 1976, U.S. states rapidly enacted laws specifying civil processes for issuing domestic violence restraining orders. Civil petitioning for a domestic violence restraining order has developed into filing a pre-printed form that is perfunctorily judged ex parte. Restraining orders have also become a common condition for bail and for a plea bargain following a criminal charge of domestic violence. ... About 1.2 million initial domestic violence restraining orders are issued per year. Violations of a restraining order can be nothing more than the otherwise ordinary act of making a non-harassing telephone call. Most states have made violating a restraining order a criminal offense. Restraining orders are highly effective instruments for criminalization and incarceration.'

Also see: Gender Protrusion in Imprisonment:

'Socially recognized, acutely felt imprisonment confines highly disproportionately men... Around the world, for every woman prisoner, there are about fifteen men prisoners.

Article here. Excerpt:

'National Parents Organization just released its 2014 Shared Parenting Report Card.  It is the first national study to provide a comprehensive ranking of the states on their child custody statutes, assessing them primarily on the degree to which they promote shared parenting after divorce or separation.

“Despite what you might believe, shared parenting is not the norm in instances of divorce and separation. In fact, family courts award sole custody, usually to the mother, in over 80 percent of child custody cases,” said Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S., Founder and Chair, National Parents Organization. “Our report highlights that many states are not only discouraging shared parenting, but they are also depriving children of what they benefit from most — ample time with both of their parents — while also enabling a system that fosters parental inequality.”

Article here. Guy's right on target. Excerpt:

'Dr Zoossmann-Diskin, who is also founder of the Israeli association, Ben Shalem, adds: “Actually, some forms of female circumcision including the most common one, the sunna, which entails cutting the clitoral prepuce, are less severe than the widely spread form of male circumcision.” However, in many societies, male genitals are not protected and are treated as if they don’t belong to the child but to the parents and their community.

Dr Zoosmann-Diskin states that “we, the children born to Jewish and Muslim parents, have exactly the same rights as children born to Christian parents. If our parents refuse to understand this simple basic principle of human rights, then Europe has to intervene and protect us within its borders.” It could do this by granting asylum to those who are escaping circumcision.

And yet, the World Health Organisation recently took the view that circumcision could help decrease the risk of HIV infection Dr Zoossmann-Diskin believes this is just an ideological position backed “by improper cultural (USA) and religious motives”. He continues: “You don’t fight a disease by amputating healthy organs, even in cases, in which this amputation assures a great reduction in risk like in breast cancer.” Further evidence of the shaky health grounds behind the WHO’s position is that while the WHO recommends circumcision for men, it doesn’t do so for women, “despite the fact that the corresponding female tissue (the clitoral prepuce and labia minora) contain the same cells that facilitate the entry of the HIV virus”.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The November 2014 elections included a North Dakota voter initiative emblematic of the vigorous debate taking place nationwide about child custody.

The "Parental Rights Initiative" required courts to award "equal parenting time" to both parents after divorce or separation. The measure was defeated by a sizeable margin (62 percent to 38 percent), but it represents only the latest round in a combustible campaign to change how child custody cases are decided.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The final barriers to women joining front-line combat units — infantry, armor, artillery and special operations — will fall over the next 12 months under Pentagon plans to erase gender restrictions.

In all, more than 300,000 positions will open to women by Jan. 1, 2016, unless the services justify exemptions to keep some combat roles male only. Restrictions on women in combat have been vanishing since Jan. 24, 2013, when then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta rescinded the rule barring women from "direct ground combat."

The services have opened 71,000 jobs previously closed to women since Panetta's announcement, Pentagon data show. For example, the Navy notified Congress in July that it planned to open more than 16,000 jobs aboard submarines to women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The full-time gender pay gap may have closed for younger women but it widens dramatically for women in their 40s and 50s," says TUC secretary Frances O'Grady.

"Far too many women still find they have to take a step down to access flexible or reduced hours once they become mothers, and their earnings never recover even when they return to full-time work."

Some occupations are more unequal than others, with the biggest gender pay gap showing up in skilled trades such as electrician, florist or chef. Next come process, plant and machine operatives, followed by managers, directors and senior officials.

The most equal pay is to be found amongst sales and customer service staff, administrative and secretarial and the caring and leisure industries.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'There was a surprising shift Friday in the investigation of a reported rape at Monroe Community College. MCC officials sent out an alert to students Thursday night about the alleged incident, but now police say that rape never happened.

The false report is a problem within itself, but it's angering both advocates for rape victims and members of the African American community.

"It is highly concerning when someone makes a false allegation about something so serious," says Hannah Murphy.
...
MCC initially warned students that the alleged rape had happened in a parking lot near a residence hall. The accuser told officials the assailant was a tall, black man. Monroe County Legislator Elect Ernest Flagler is angered by this claim. He says it further perpetuates what he thinks is a stereotype of African American men, putting a target on the many black men who fit the description.

Story here. Excerpt:

'In what seems now to be a hoax, topless Femen protesters in Paris enacted the kidnapping of a Roman Catholic priest, creating a video that is coursing around the world.

The new kidnapping video was posted on Twitter Friday and gives every indication of having been staged. In it, activists announce that they have kidnapped a Catholic priest, and will release him only in exchange for the Pope cancelling his visit to the European Parliament. As of Friday evening, authorities have received no reports of a missing priest.