Story here. Excerpt:

'On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz used some fairly graphic language to describe Republican Gov. Scott Walker during a visit to Wisconsin.

"Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand," Wasserman Schultz said at a roundtable discussion in Milwaukee on women's issue, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. "I know that is stark. I know that is direct. But that is reality." She added: "What Republican Tea Party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. It is not going to happen on our watch."

In response, Republican Lt. Gov Rebecca Kleefisch said she was "shocked" that Wasserman Schultz used language that would normally describe domestic violence, in reference to Walker: "I think the remarks were absolutely hideous and the motive behind them was despicable."

Steven Svoboda, NCFM Board member, attorney, and regular reviewer of works of interest to men's rights activists (and others) and advocate for genital integrity and children's rights, has sent along four new reviews of books and/or films.  Always informative and entertaining, I look forward to reading them each time they arrive in my e-mailbox.  Each review is in its own .pdf:

• A Call To Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, President Jimmy Carter, 2014.
• Divorce Corp., Joseph Sorge with James Scurlock, 2013.
• Doyle’s War: Save the Males, R. F. Doyle, 2013.
• Bedrooms, Backseats & Courtrooms: The Truth about Sex in America Today, Fathers by Choice, 2008.

NPR's program "All Things Considered" today aired a segment on the Men's Rights Movement, which you can find here.

Called to my attention by our friends at SAVE, a frighteningly close representation of what may in fact one day be an official state document in California and who knows where else. The author is unknown, but clearly has a knack for ironic comedy. (Well, if you don't laugh, you'll cry, right?)

SAVE is keeping a list of groups that have issued statements in opposition to the Campus Accountability and Safety Act now waiting for California's governor's signature. We'll see what he does.

Article here. Excerpt:

'My mother’s brand of feminism went from wanting equal rights to wanting to smash the patriarchy, which she defined for my brother and me as “men’s historical oppression of women, which they continue to do today.” No man could escape complicity, not even little boys, she said. Suddenly, men were the root of all of women’s problems and since they had all the power, we had to fight them.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Male circumcision vs. FGM

A common question I am often asked is "Leyla, isn't male circumcision (MGM) just as bad as FGM? Is it not sexist to leave male circumcision out of the debate and only focus on female circumcision?"

Okay. Deep breath. Let me start by saying I do not think any child should be cut whether it's a boy or a girl. I do not agree with the practice of circumcising a male baby for non-medical reasons, as babies and children cannot give consent. Having said that, I cannot accept a comparison of male circumcision to FGM. The practices themselves, as well as the intent behind them, are fundamentally different. Allow me to explain.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A campaign to promote medical male circumcision has been stepped up in the Western Cape with the launch of two mobile surgical theatres.

Circumcision, which can be done in 30 minutes, protects men against HIV, as well as sexually transmitted infections.
...
“We’re finding very few men are asking for MMC at clinics. We need to think out of the box – so we’ll be launching radio adverts and putting branding on taxis and spaza shops to encourage men to get medically circumcised through our 'Get Wise, Circumcise’ campaign,” said Nikki Soboil, CEO of SWHP.

A cartoon character, "Clever Dick" is the campaign’s ambassador.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a South African community where large numbers of men had been circumcised, women who had sex only with circumcised partners had a 15 per cent lower risk of being infected by HIV compared with women who also had uncircumcised partners, it found.

"The risk reduction is small, but it is a start," said investigator Kevin Jean of France's National Agency for AIDS Research (ANRS).

The study was presented on the final day of the 20th International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia.
...
There was also good news from the questions on sex behaviour: men were unlikely to engage in unprotected intercourse after being circumcised, he said.

"What we are seeing is an indirect effect," he said. "Circumcision reduces HIV among men, and if fewer men are infected, they are less likely to infect women."

He stressed, though: "The message still has to be made that they use condoms."'

Article here. No mention if men are afforded the same right. Excerpt:

'The nation’s highest immigration court has found for the first time that women who are victims of severe domestic violence in their home countries can be eligible for asylum in the United States.
...
Since 1995, when federal officials first tried to set guidelines for the immigration courts on whether domestic abuse victims could be considered for asylum, the issue has been reviewed by four attorneys general, vigorously debated by advocates and repeatedly examined by the courts. With its published decision, unusual in the immigration courts, the appeals board set a clear precedent for judges.

Book described here.  Excerpt:

'We occupy an environment where the male sex is devalued and abused on a wholesale level. Males are mocked and belittled unceasingly. We ingest the besmirchment of males as a sex and slander with impunity: males are killers, rapists and opportunistic criminals lying in wait. Males are filthy, vile and disgusting. Males are cheating dogs, and chauvinistic pigs. Males have screwed up the world and subjugated all life thereupon.

This prejudice is epic, and every single person is on one side or the other of this bigotry. You think you understand the depths of our contempt for the male sex? You have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Mistreatment of males is the paramount struggle of our day.

So, here's where we are as a species: females are the producers of life and objects of unsurpassed beauty... guys are the mutants who amuse them and carry their heavy stuff.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'The Australian Government is funding 14 specialist prostate cancer nurses to provide support for patients, their families and carers, particularly in rural and regional areas.

Minister for Health, Peter Dutton said prostate cancer was the most common form of cancer affecting Australian men (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers), with 19,821 men diagnosed in 2010.
...
The Government has committed $6.2 million from 2013-14 to 2016-17 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) to select sites, facilitate training and fund the placement of the 14 new positions.

The initiative will more than double – from 12 to 26 – the number of prostate cancer nurses employed through a pilot programme currently being run through the PCFA and the Movember Foundation.

Approximately 4,000 men and their families are expected to benefit from a Commonwealth-funded prostate cancer nurse over the four year programme.'

Video here.

At time mark 7:06: "Testosterone rots the brain" -- John Fugelsang

Story here. Excerpt:

'According to CNS News.com, on Thursday, Pelosi said on a conference call that American women have been victims throughout the history of the nation.

“It was a struggle all the way,” Pelosi said. “Women marched. Women starved. Women were starved. Women were force-fed. Women could barely speak up in their own homes.”

She continued:

"Women left their homes to take the message. And it was successful, and the right to vote, again, so precious, so hard fought. ... We hope women will continue to exercise forcefully, because then all of the issues we care about, whether it's equal pay for equal work, paid sick leave, affordable quality child care, raising the minimum wage, women's health and--and safety issues will all be well-served."

Article here. Remarkable in that she ran a F-->M DV advice letter. Most requests for advice re DV from men to advice columnists get discarded. If inclined, please take a minute to thank Amy Dickinson* for answering it. Excerpt:

'You are being verbally and physically abused. Your wife is controlling your movements and policing your money. Every time you seem ready to leave, she manipulates you into staying. Your friends and your daughters have urged you to get out.

Please seek professional help immediately. Your marriage has already stolen your sense of well-being; this relationship is bad for your mental, emotional and physical health. It is also bad for your baby grandson to witness his grandmother screaming at you. Protect him by separating.'

---
* http://amydickinson.com/contact. It's a bit hard to catch, but her email address is on the page: Askamydaily [at] gmail.com.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Presumably the advent of a nail polish capable of detecting date-rape drugs in one’s cocktail would mark a high-water point in the empowerment of women against predatory men. Not so fast: The feminist backlash against the product has been vehement. According to ThinkProgress, such an innovation “actually reinforces a pervasive rape culture in our society.”

Feminists of the vocal, bathe-in-male-tears sort find proof of “rape culture” all about: in newspaper satire, in ’80s movies, in the verb “to force.” So one would think news that between 1997 and 2013 at least 1,400 children in
Rotherham, England [link added], were victims of sexual exploitation would confirm the feminist narrative and ignite their righteous fury.

Not so fast.
...
In Rotherham there is a real-life “rape culture.” But you will not learn anything new about it from Salon Daily Beast, Jezebel, or Slate. It has gone unmentioned at Feministing, Bitch Media, or the Feminist Majority Foundation. There have been no outraged op-eds from Jenny Kutner, Jessica Valenti, or Samantha Leigh Allen.

These are, apparently, not the rapes they are looking for.

It is hard not to interpret the feminist blogosphere’s silence on Rotherham as an indication of the movement’s ultimate lack of seriousness. Perhaps they are not interested in confronting the ethnic and religious homogeneity of many of the perpetrators: Emma and the majority of the 1,400 victims were abused by “Asian” men — i.e., Muslim men typically from Rotherham’s Pakistani community. Local government leaders, social services, and law enforcement — for fear of being labeled racist — ignored numerous reports they received.