Article here. Excerpt:

'Consequences for assailants are "not significant or harsh enough to act as a deterrent," [Das] Williams [link added] said, and light penalties are undermining students' trust in their schools to handle cases of sexual violence.

Community colleges should also be able to expel students from the entire system, like UC or CSU, he added, so that they can't just transfer to another campus.

Punishment has been the biggest point of contention surrounding campus sexual violence. While victims have pushed for stronger responses from universities, a growing opposition has countered that expelling students could ruin the rest of their lives.

Williams acknowledged that this last proposal could be controversial, but said it provides an opportunity for justice that victims do not always get.

Article here. Excerpt:

'An even more troubling manifestation of rape culture is the current backlash against the anti-rape movement that has led a handful of male students to sue universities with the claim that they were falsely accused of sexual assault. Are false accusations wrong? Yes, of course. However, in these cases these men were found guilty of the act after full investigative proceedings; and of course the in these "frivolous" lawsuits the men attempt to make the claim that the sexual encounter was consensual. They make this claim while displaying their true lack of understanding of what compromises consensual sex, which includes not knowing that an intoxicated "yes" or an intoxicated failure to "say no" is NOT consensual sex. All this, while according to the FBI, only 8% of rape reports are considered to be unfounded.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Obama administration has been trying to crack down on campus sexual assaults by lowering the standard of evidence needed by university and college panels to convict suspects, but the policy change has provoked a backlash as accused students fight back with lawsuits.

Instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” as practiced in criminal courts, the new standard is “preponderance of evidence,” meaning it’s more likely than not that an assault occurred.

The policy change has resulted in more convictions and is starting to get expensive.

Really expensive.

While only four such lawsuits were filed against universities from 2008 to 2010, between 2012 and 2014 there were 18 cases, representing a four-fold increase, according to a report by Stop Abusive and Violent Environments that is touted as the “most comprehensive listing of campus sex lawsuits ever.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'PARIS (AP) -- The mother of a pupil at a French pre-school stabbed a teacher to death in front of her class Friday, the last day of the school year, authorities said.

The education minister said the mother apparently had "serious psychiatric problems," and pledged support for teachers in the face of angry or violent parents. Police said the mother was taken into custody.

Deadly attacks in a school are extremely rare in France, and the stabbing in front of a class of 5- and 6-year-olds raised concern at the highest levels. French President Francois Hollande expressed outrage at the attack at the Edouard Herriot school in Albi in southern France.

Education Minister Benoit Hamon traveled immediately to the school, and told reporters that the mother of a pupil "committed this abominable act in a class against a remarkable teacher." A police official said the mother stabbed the teacher with a knife soon after school started Friday morning.'

LMAO! Hardly a MR issue/topic, but it's a slow day and we're due for some comedy relief. If nothing else, this article shows the degree to which things like WST have become laughable. Hey, can an EE earn credit toward his degree as an EE for expanding his "engineering horizons" by taking a one-day clay pottery workshop, too? Excerpt:

'Female Arizona State University students can receive extra credit for defying social norms and refusing to shave for 10 weeks during the semester.

Women and Gender Studies Professor Breanne Fahs, encourages her female students to cease shaving their underarms and legs during the semester and document their experiences in a journal.
...
Men are also allowed to receive extra credit, as long as they shave their bodies from the neck down.

Fahs says the experiment illustrates social issues with gender roles, particularly with the male participants.

Truly fantastic news! David does a number on Goliath in this one! Article here.

'Today Israel’s High Court of Justice issued an unprecedented ruling—rabbinical courts in that country no longer have the authority to determine whether boys will be circumcised should divorcing parents disagree on the matter.

The 6-1 vote in favor of stripping the rabbinical court’s power, means the disputed circumcision of a child is no longer a divorce issue. To the extent that such issues arise, they will now be handled in family court and will be subject to a best-interests-of-the-child test.

The matter came to the High Court of Justice after a rabbinical court ordered a then one-year-old boy to be circumcised as part of a divorce proceeding. His mother, pictured above, is opposed to circumcision due to the pain of the procedure and it’s potential for complications.

Following today's ruling the mother stated: “Social pressure is no reason to force cutting my son’s body as nature, the universe naturally created him.”

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON / July 1, 2014 – A new SAVE report reveals a sharp increase in the number of lawsuits filed by students alleging they were wrongfully expelled on allegations of sexual assault. Following implementation of a 2011 Department of Education sexual assault policy, the number of lawsuits rose four-fold, the report shows.

From 2008 to 2010, only four lawsuits were filed against universities. But from 2012 to 2014, eighteen cases are known to have been filed, representing a four-fold increase. Nearly all charge the university failed to comply with fundamental due process requirements in adjudicating the claim.

The report is believed to be the most comprehensive listing of campus sex lawsuits ever compiled: www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Campus-Sexual-Assault-Lawsuits.pdf

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the bizarro world of the right wing, those who are waging a relentless war on women's reproductive rights claim that there is a war on men being waged by feminists who are trying to emasculate American men. As the echo chamber for this alternate reality, Fox News' anathema lists now include feminists who have the audacity to question the patriarchy so beloved by the Fox enabled right wing who actually believe that women who don't know their place are hurting America! Fox & Friends has engaged in feminist bashing meme as well as promoting the dark and angry world of men's rights. On Monday, they established, as Fox Fact, that there is a war on men because nasty feminists accused a men's right's conference, which called for the defeat of feminism, of fostering hate speech. Funny, Fox & Friends fully supports free speech for Christians; feminists, not so much!

Article here. Excerpt:

'Relationships can be an emotional rollercoaster. Throughout the ride, men and women can be everything from loving and nurturing, to sometimes verbally and even physically abusive during fights. While aggression in heterosexual relationships is believed to stem from men, a recent study presented on June 25 at a symposium on intimate partner violence (IPV) at the British Psychological Society's Division of Forensic Psychology annual conference in Glasgow, found women are more likely to be “intimate terrorists,” or physically aggressive to their partners than men.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, blasted the ruling as "a direct attack on women and our fundamental rights" from "five male justices." Others hailed the ruling as a resounding win for freedom of conscience. What's largely missing from the debate is the voices of feminists who believe it's dangerous to tie women's freedoms to government-mandated benefits.

It's unclear how broad the ruling's effects will be. The case applies to a specific type of business: corporations with a limited number of shareholders such as Hobby Lobby, the crafts store chain. The court's majority has held that, since religiously affiliated nonprofits such as schools and charities are partially exempt from the contraceptive-coverage mandate (which they believe would force them to pay for abortion-inducing drugs and devices), family-owned businesses are entitled to the same exemption.

Framing the issue as a "war on women" is misguided and polarizing. The fact that the court's three female justices dissented, along with Justice Stephen Breyer, is a function of ideology rather than gender. It is also worth noting that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who provided the swing vote in the case, is a strong supporter of women's rights and reproductive rights. And there are many women who believe the birth-control mandate infringes on religious liberty - among them Hobby Lobby cofounder Barbara Green. To suggest that those who share this view are woman-oppressing Neanderthals if male, and dupes of the patriarchy if female, is hardly conducive to civilized discourse.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The young South African thought he was going to the hills to become a man. He came back with a horrifying injury that made him an outcast.

In 2012, Asanda lost his penis to gangrene in a botched circumcision ritual performed by a traditional surgeon wielding the same spear on more than a dozen initiates. He was an unusual case among thousands of men hospitalized after such ceremonies in past years because he broke a code of secrecy about the tradition and spoke out in protest. For that, he endured public humiliation and even a severe beating a few months ago.

"People would just stare at me, as if I were not a man," 25-year-old Asanda told The Associated Press. He did not want his family name published for fear of a bigger backlash from his community.
...
Septic shock causes many fatalities. The problem is most severe in the Eastern Cape province, where nearly 500 young men have died in circumcision rituals since 2006, including 83 last year, according to the provincial health department.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The very first International Conference on Men’s Issues happened over the weekend, in the unlikely surroundings of a VFW Lodge in Detroit. The thought of a bunch of men’s rights activists converging to swap stories of how good women have it these days isn’t one that fills anyone with joy (unless they’ve been on the Reddit red pills for a while), and I’m loath to give it any more publicity — but fuck it, the event has already happened, and it provided a pretty good snapshot of where the MRA movement, such as it is, is at in 2014. And, perhaps most frustratingly, its very existence basically precluded any sensible discussions of the issues it professed to address. Good job, everyone.

It’s easy to write off MRAs as lunatics — any group who can call feminism “a multibillion-dollar hate industry” isn’t exactly asking to be taken seriously, especially since I’m writing this on a day when the Supreme Court just decided that a corporation’s right to believe in whatever bullshit it likes is more important than a woman’s right to insurance-subsidized birth control. If you want proof that the world is still biased very much in favor of men, have a read through Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent on the Hobby Lobby case, and then meditate on this for a bit:

There are many things to dislike about r/RedPill types. Many, many things. But here’s the issue: quite apart from their hatefulness, they do their “cause” — such as it is — absolutely no good at all. As with extremists in many other areas, they hijack and polarize a discussion that is worth having.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Efforts to legislate "affirmative consent" as the standard for college disciplinary proceedings on sexual assault, which I discussed in my last column, continue to advance. The California bill requiring colleges and universities to adopt such a standard to qualify for state student aid, S.B. 967, was overwhelmingly approved by the State Assembly's Committee on Higher Education on June 24. And now, reports legal expert Hans Bader, similar measures may be coming on a federal level. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who leads the congressional crusade against campus rape, apparently supports a definition of sexual assault that includes any sexual activity without "explicit consent"; so does the federal Office on Violence Against Women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'It started when the mild-mannered journalist tried to get press credentials months in advance to cover the event and was repeatedly ignored.

As any good reporter would, he showed up at the Hyatt anyway and asked the attendees about the so-called “war on women” they are fighting diligently against.

When word got around that Watters [link added] was asking questions like,”have you ever been hurt by the war on women?” or, “have you ever burned your bra?,” the alpha-females of the group took charge and called the police. He was promptly removed, but not before being called a “sexist,” of course.

After some fun chatter with the friendly officers who escorted him out, Watters was informed by a stern police woman that the Hyatt hotel demanded he not return and said he would be arrested if he did.

“I feel very discriminated against,” he said.'

A rather biased article has been published in the Washington Post about the Men's Issues Conference in Detroit by Monica Hesse:

'The feminists hadn’t shown up yet, but they could, at any moment, with their protest signs and screaming. The threat of them was an infuriating and exhilarating specter throughout the weekend, a symbol of the oppression facing the men’s rights activists who had gathered to meet for their inaugural conference.