Article here. Excerpt:

'As Norway became the first NATO country to require women to register for the draft this month, it has American military analysts debating whether the US could be on the verge of taking the same step, too.

It was back in 1981 that the US Supreme Court ruled that requiring only men to register for the draft was constitutional, since there were US laws that banned women from fighting in combat. 

Article here. Excerpt:

'The first three women to successfully complete the Marine’s Combat Endurance Test (CET) have been asked to leave the rigorous, infantry officers training course for failing to meet the physical standards required.
...
"They were physically disqualified from the training last week for falling behind in hikes while carrying loads of upwards of 100 pounds, says Maj. George Flynn, director of the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) at Quantico, Va.

Dan Bollinger's latest essay on genital integrity does the unthinkable: Compares MGM to FGM. Male circumcision removes just as much tissue and nerves, causes just as much pain, and results in about the same sexual harm as the most common form of female genital mutilation.I sometimes make this statement in order to shock people into understanding that male and female genital mutilation (MGM and FGM) aren't diametrically opposed, but that they have a lot in common and we should work toward abolishing both practices.

---
Dan is Director of the ICGI.

Story here. What an insane idea! Placing the burden of proof on the state when trying a suspect for a crime, yet even rape! Well, it's just outrageous! Excerpt:

'Story here: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024910962_supremecourtrapexml.html

Reversing what it called “incorrect and harmful” earlier rulings, the Washington Supreme Court said Thursday the state cannot put the burden on rape defendants to prove that an alleged victim consented — a decision critics said will make it harder to punish dangerous sex offenders.

The court had previously ruled that when a defendant claimed the contact was consensual, it was up to the defendant to prove there was consent by a preponderance of the evidence. The rulings essentially made consent an affirmative defense to a rape charge, the way a killer can claim self-defense in a murder case.

We're taught as children to always tell the truth, but this lesson must have escaped NBA player Dante Cunningham's girlfriend and Hennipen County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Six months ago Dante Cunningham's girlfriend of eight months, Miryah Herron, accused him of beating her, and Cunningham was arrested by police. Three days later, Dante was charged with violating a protective order by calling and Skyping Herron from his hotel room. However, police found that Cunningham Herron had sent the messages to herself to frame Cunningham.

Despite finding the claims false, the county's attorney refuses to bring charges against Herron for a false police report, which would hold Herron accountable for her actions and clear Cunningham's name. Instead, teams are turning down Cunningham because of this; his model career-effectively ruined.

This isn't right, and is sending the message that partners can levy the weight of the criminal justice system against the other through lies, without consequences.

Unfortunately, the full-text is behind a subscription-wall. Link here. Excerpt:

'A California federal judge on Friday {5 September 2014} refused to throw out a proposed class action claiming an Allergan Inc. subsidiary concealed from consumers that its anti-aging creams derived from human foreskin cells pose a cancer risk, finding the products could be considered drugs that haven’t received government approval.

In an order mostly denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled plaintiff Josette Ruhnke’s complaint sufficiently alleged that the sale of SkinMedica Inc.’s line of “Tissue Nutrient Solution” products containing the compound “NouriCel”...'

The story's a bit dated but still current. For more information and with inquiries about the suit, including to join it, go here.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fact: Men are paid more than women on average in all 50 states. How do we fix it? Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, has a fairly simple suggestion.

Following Abramson's discussion at the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) on Nov. 1, Poynter reporter Kelly McBride asked Abramson how managers could address pay inequality while operating with a limited budget. Her suggestion is as simple as it is novel:

“You bring the guys down to give a little more to the girls.”

Candid, yet comprehensive. But could anyone ever go for such a "brusque" solution?

Article here. Excerpt:

'It just wasn’t part of my nature to talk about my feelings and emotions.  If I felt hurt, I wasn’t going to make an issue of it – I certainly wouldn’t let anyone know – I’d simply dust myself down, pick myself up and carry on.   I would talk about what I could do or what I was going to do, but never about how I felt or the circumstances behind emotions.  I would say that this is true for most men that our innermost angst remains locked away in our psyche.

For a long time, I didn’t recognise the violent assaults on me as Domestic Abuse.  I’d made a wedding vow that included the words, “ for better or for worst, in sickness and in health.”   The actions perpetrated against me, I reasoned, was because of some undiagnosed illness caused by the stress of bereavement and maybe even physiological changes due to childbirth.  My pleas to my ex-wife to seek medical attention for her extreme anger outbursts were ignored.

I kept telling myself the violence would stop 

Article here. Excerpt:

'The latest video to have caught the attention of the ranks of the constantly offended is one in which a young woman is filmed walking through areas of Manhattan. The video, filmed over a ten hour period includes various examples of men saying things ranging from "Hey, how you doin'?" to "Have a nice evening, darling". At the end of the video we are told that if we want to help those who have been affected, we should donate to "Hollaback!"

Article here. Excerpt:

“Men are so last century,” quipped New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd at the November 2013 Munk Debate. “They seem to have stopped evolving, sulking like Achilles in his tent. The mahogany-paneled, McClelland’s scotch and rum and ‘Mad Men’ world is disappearing … as they struggle to figure out the altered parameters of manliness and resist becoming house-dudes.” She ended her statement with a quote from comedian Sarah Silverman: “Dear men, just because we don’t need you anymore doesn’t mean we don’t want you. Love forever, women.”

Article here. The issues brought up aren't new but the particulars vary from what history has seen in times past. Typically attempts to suppress free speech and control others' behavior around sexuality have come from religious or socially conservative parties or institutions. In the current version of it in the context of the Houston mayor and campus feminist rape hysterics, it's self-styled "progressives" seeking to suppress others' rights. No matter who's doing it, it's still wrong. Excerpt:

'Two incidents involving basic constitutional freedoms—not closely associated with one another in the media or by those involved—highlight the growing power of sexual radicalism in our society. Radical sexual ideology in a broad sense has not generally been recognized as a political phenomenon worthy of attention. But we can see in these developments—both of which are eliciting outrage from different defenders of the Bill of Rights—that politicized sexuality transcends particular controversies such as same-sex marriage or abortion. It can be seen as a true political ideology, akin to earlier radicalisms like socialism and nationalism and equally threatening to freedom.

In Houston, the lesbian mayor recently demanded that pastors opposed to the city’s “bathroom bill”—an “anti-discrimination” ordinance that would allow people to choose public washrooms according to “gender identity”—surrender their sermons and other documents to city officials. The subpoenas have been withdrawn following public outrage, but the very idea that government officials should claim the power to examine—and therefore pass judgement upon—expressions of political opinion by any citizens, religious or secular, is disturbing in a free society.
...

Story here. Excerpt:

'Now we know why Nicki Minaj [link added] and her longtime boyfriend broke up ... one of them was on the verge of going to jail after she smashed the windows of his Mercedes with a baseball bat.

Here's what we know. During the summer, Nicki and Safaree Samuels got into an argument. She started screaming, he got pissed, and she EXPLODED in anger, grabbing a bat and chasing him out of the house. She wisely chose property over person, and pulverized the 2012 Benz.

And for bad measure, she threw his clothes in the garbage -- just like in the movies.
...
As for why Nicki didn't get in trouble ... it appears she owned the Mercedes, but allowed him to use it, and you can't get arrested for destroying your own property.

They broke up a short time later. Wise move.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Academic science has been in a bit of a cultural schism; groups like the National Science Foundation and universities have spent billions of dollars promoting the idea that academic science is the only real science - discovery - which has led to a glut of PhDs who want to stay at universities.But when it comes to diversity and fairness, the corporate world is way ahead.

So academic science is better than the corporate kind, except when it's worse. Some discrimination is too obvious to be ignored - handicapped people and Republicans have normal representation at undergraduate levels but they can't get tenured jobs. Others are simply a difference in perception; everyone notices if physics is only 40 percent women but no one is concerned if the social sciences are only 30 percent men. 

But academic science is being harmed by its own public relations. Despite promoting the perception that it is non-corporate and therefore ethically superior, academic science is actually a lot like a small business of 4-5 employees. In a large corporation, maternity leave is not a problem but in a 4-person company, that is a drop in productivity of 25%. Female doctors juggle family and work just fine, they don't feel like they have to leave medicine when they have kids, and so there have been calls to adopt a little more of the private sector approach to both diversity and family practices in academic science.

What is odd is that the most drop-out in academia is not happening computer science or physics, like is claimed, it is happening in female-dominated fields like biology and psychology.

Article here. Excerpt:

'I am a first-year student at Harvard Law School, and I join the 28 members of our faculty who recently protested the university’s adoption of a new and expansive sexual harassment policy. While I agree wholeheartedly that universities have a moral as well as a legal obligation to provide their students with learning environments free of sexual harassment, I echo the faculty’s concern that this particular policy “will do more harm than good,” and I urge the university to reconsider its approach to addressing the problem.

If considered only in the abstract, many might wonder how a policy with such a laudable aim could draw any serious objections. And I might well have been among them — were it not for the fact that such a policy nearly ruined my life.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Know Your IX, an organization dedicated to ending campus sexual violence (a worthy goal), has a new guide out for journalists and editors describing how to write about the problem.

Unfortunately, the guide enshrines the “guilty until proven innocent” mentality that is currently permeating college campuses. For example, the guide says not to use accurate terms such as “accuser” and “accused” and instead urges journalists to pre-judge the situation.

“[D]on’t refer to the survivor as ‘the accuser’ and the perpetrator as ‘the accused,’ as ‘accuser’ carries negative connotations and grammatically places the action upon the survivor, rather than the rapist,” the guide says. “Instead, use more neutral language — if you have permission to use the survivor’s name, refer to the survivor by their name throughout. Otherwise, use descriptors such as ‘the survivor’ or ‘the student,’ or consider using a pseudonym.”