Article here. Excerpt:

'U.S. fertility is not recovering from the financial crisis — and demographers aren’t sure why.

The fertility rate fell to a record low 62.9 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 2013, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The total number of births, at 3.96 million, inched up by a mere 4,000 from 2012, the first increase since the financial crisis. But the total fertility rate, or TFR, the average number of children a woman would have during her child-bearing years, fell to just 1.86, the lowest rate in 27 years. TFR is considered the best metric of fertility. A TFR of 2.1 represents a stable population, with children replacing parents as they die off.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Let this article be proof of the nature and character of many of the people who oppose progress for Men’s Human Rights. And let this issue be a rallying point for those who truly oppose violence and advocate social justice.

The first First International Conference on Men’s Issues is scheduled to be held on June 26-28 in Detroit, Michigan. It is scheduled to be a great event. Never before has such a diverse a group of people met to engage in an exchange of ideas from a perspective of compassion for men and boys.

This event will unite academics and advocates from diverse backgrounds and across the political spectrum. Included among them is Dr. Warren Farrell, three-time board member of the National Organization for Women-New York, Senator Anne Cools (the first black female senator to be elected to Canada’s upper house), Erin Pizzey (the founder of the first-ever battered women’s shelter), and many more.

Unfortunately, this is apparently too much for those who oppose the idea of a men’s human rights movement. Organization against the conference for a planned protest on June 7 appeared on Facebook, where threats of violence were made by anti-MHRA commenters were allowed to remain but comments by men’s advocates requesting an open dialog were repeatedly deleted. In the characteristic Orwellian nature of those who oppose men’s issues, the administration of the group rationalized this by claiming that they need to “make a safe space.”
...

Remember those ads on TV years ago: "Read TIME... and un-der-staaaand!". I have a different motto for them these days: "Read TIME and *BLOW CHOW*!!" :) Article here. Excerpt:

'A growing movement driven by misogyny and resentment is pulling in frustrated men struggling with changing definitions of masculinity. A men's fitness columnist on why they should walk away.

Imagine a kid who got a cone with three scoops of ice cream in it. Good flavors, too. Like peanut-butter chocolate, plus a scoop of cookie dough. In a waffle cone. And then this child whines about the lack of chocolate sprinkles on top.

Welcome to the men’s rights movement.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The emotional needs of young women have (quite rightly) been discussed at length by experts, journalists and politicians over the past five years. Yet what those who present low self-esteem and body insecurity as "feminist" issues fail to grasp is that their male counterparts are struggling just as much, they are simply less able to articulate their needs. After all, generations of social conditioning tells us that men don't "do" feelings.

I walk into a classroom of today’s teenage boys and I see a large majority overstimulated by 24 hour internet access, jittery from the sheer pace of their lives, sometimes apathetic towards a society from which they feel utterly disenfranchised, occasionally asserting a kind of laddish, vaguely misogynistic aggression in an attempt to carve some sort of identity for themselves.

Great swathes of their generation have fathers who are absent, either physically or emotionally, and have probably spent their school years being taught by women. In the absence of male role models, many have turned to social media and online pornography to learn about life’s fundamentals. If they have any doubts about their personal and social rejection, they need only refer to our press, which has taken to harping on relentlessly about how men are the enemy in the name of female empowerment.

Indeed it is. What, no one told you? No signs at work? No mass emails from H/R announcing events, research fund-raising Bingo tourneys, etc.? No ribbons to wear? Just like last year! Anyway, here's the site: http://www.menshealthmonth.org/

Article here. Excerpt:

'An excerpt from THIS article by Glenn Sacks:

"Thirty-five years ago today, Lillian White gave birth to her youngest son. Yesterday, she knelt down and kissed his coffin at his graveside.

Darrin White committed suicide two weeks ago in Prince George, B.C., after a judge ordered him to pay his estranged wife twice his take-home pay in child support and alimony each month.

In death he has become a poignant symbol of family courts gone awry, of a divorce system run by people with closed minds, hard hearts and deaf ears.

Across the country last evening, activists held candlelight vigils in memory of men such as Darrin. During his funeral Mass, Father Leo Fernandes of St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church urged Darrin’s friends to continue the struggle to which he succumbed.

Like those who completed Puccini’s last opera after his death, Father Fernandes said people close to Darrin should ask themselves: “What are you going to do about it? Hopefully, there is more. It is up to you, his friends, to accomplish what he was unable to. If his dream was to challenge the scales of justice in our country, then so be it. Do it for his sake.”

Darrin wasn’t a complicated man. He liked taking nature walks and enjoyed cycling. He read books about the outdoors and loved animals. He was a certified locomotive engineer who earned his living driving trains first for Canadian National, then the British Columbia railway.

When his marriage fell apart in January, Darrin found himself in a situation shared by many men. While he had worked long hours doing what society told him a father was supposed to do — bringing home the bacon — his devotion became a strike against him.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 30-year old Sioux Falls woman has been charged with rape, sexual contact with a child, and sexual exploitation of a minor after her boyfriend discovered her naked in their apartment Wednesday night with at least three boys between age 7 and 10.

Sioux Falls police spokesman Sam Clemens said Anne Elizabeth Doubler's boyfriend returned home with the couple's 4-year-old son and caught her with the boys. The incident took place in their apartment in the 600 block of North Lewis Avenue.
...
The boyfriend told police that Doubler admitted to having sexual contact with the boys, Clemens said. He then called police as the other boys scattered, he said.

Police later interviewed the boys, who confirmed that they had had sexual contact with Double, Clemens said.
...
Police are still working to identify all potential victims and find out how long it may have been going on.

Femen at it again! Story here. Bat-$hit crazy, but thoroughly entertaining. (Re Viewing-At-Work: Two pics, not exposing the "visually sensitive" parts of the protester's upper body, but she is still topless. So use your discretion.) Excerpt:

'A topless member of the radical protest group Femen used a metal chisel to stab and bash in the face of Putin's statue in a famed Paris wax museum on Thursday.

The activist, who had 'Kill Putin' written on her bare chest, reportedly screamed "Putin is a dictator" while destroying the figure at the Grevin Wax Museum, French daily Le Parisien reported.

Police arrested the activist shortly after the attack, which happened near statues of US President Barack Obama and recently abdicated Spanish King Juan Carlos, both of which escaped without a scratch.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'On Wednesday, June 4, National Parents Organization founder and Chairman Ned Holstein, MD, MS, participated with other shared parenting luminaries in a panel discussion sponsored by Newswise Live, a program that seeks to educate journalists on the important issues of the day. The panel consisted of Dr. Holstein; Warren Farrell, PhD, longtime supporter of the rights of men, fathers and boys and author of numerous books including Father and Child Reunion; Canadian family lawyer Georgialee Lang; and actor Jason Patric who recently won Round One of his two-year battle to play a real part in the life of his son, Gus.

The takeaway from the presentations of all panel members and the answers to reporters’ questions was that equal parenting and equal parenting supporters are on the right side of history. Dr. Holstein cited a long-term shift in the direction of equal parenting both in courts and legislatures, and in the popular imagination.

Article here. Excerpt:

'ewish feelings about circumcision—for and against—are complex. The following quotes, all of them by Jewish people and all of them real, demonstrate the diversity of thought when it comes to questioning the ancient ritual. If you are Jewish and would like to add your quote, send Beyond the Bris a note and we'll include your statement in a future posting.

Lisa says:

Article here. Excerpt:

'The next National Women’s Studies Association annual meeting will take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 13-16, 2014 and is aptly named “Feminist Transgressions.” Indeed, the conference itself is “transgressive” in that it minimizes the cause of women to focus, yet again, on the cause of Palestine, aka the destruction of Israel.

This is only the latest, among many other examples, of the way in which Women’s Studies—an idea which I pioneered so long ago--has been Stalinized and Palestinianized. I wonder whether the forces of evil will try to pass a resolution in favor of boycott, divestment, and sanctions—not against Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, or Russia—but against Israel only.

The Association’s line-up of professorial and celebrity talent is 100% politically correct; the speakers are mainly African-American, African-Hispanic, and African/Asian Caribbean. While I may not agree with some of their views, e.g. the pro-sex “work” agenda which is being presented at this conference, I recognize that these speakers--my old friend bell hooks, Ana-Maurine Lara, Ana Irma Lassen, and Kamala Kempadoo--are all genuinely feminist.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The recent murders of four family members in Petersburg has one Virginian man fighting for state lawmakers to create a domestic violence registry, similar to the sexual predator registry.

Marlow Jones created an online petition that proposes a person with two protective orders filed against him or her within one year would have to register as a “domestic violence offender,” just like a violent sexual offender has to register for a minimum of five years.

LINK: Jones’ online petition

“It’s a win-win situation for everybody,” Jones told WAVY.com. “You and I can use it for our daughters, our daughters can use it when they date.”

However, some attorneys question whether a registry is constitutional, including Portsmouth’s Richard Davis.

Article here. Excerpt:

'North Kent Women’s Aid has decided to get into the spirit of the 2014 World Cup by setting up a clinic for victims of domestic violence during the tournament. Reports about the clinic cited a 2013 study published by the University of Lancashire that claimed the risk of domestic abuse rose by 26 per cent when England won or drew a match, and by 38 per cent when they lost. One police officer, quoted in the research, said ‘the World Cup appears a reason for many to party, however delight and expectation can turn into despair and conflict with the kick of a ball’.

Article here. Excerpt:

There may be no way for us to know exactly what was going on in the lives of Richard and Roxanne Jeskey during the days that led up to his brutal murder inside the couple’s Ohio Street apartment three years ago.
...
Roxanne Jeskey recently was found guilty of her husband’s murder, with a judge dismissing the notion she was legally “insane” at the time. She awaits sentencing.

Shortly after the judge deemed her guilty, I received an email questioning where the domestic violence crowd was before, during and after the trial.

The suggestion being that because this was a case of a woman killing a male partner, the ‘DV’ professionals in the state were not terribly interested.

There was no indication of prior abuse to Roxanne Jeskey by her husband. The judge rejected any suggestion of self-defense as a motive for the murder.

Statistically it will be logged as a domestic violence homicide.

So where were they?

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Montana Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of charges against a Billings woman who is accused of repeatedly making false rape claims.

Prosecutors believe Christina Nadine Nelson, 23, made several false rape or assault claims between 2009 and 2012.

In addition, there is an arrest warrant issued for Nelson's arrest out of Flathead County in connection to one of the false claims.
...
Billings detectives learned that a total of five medical rape exams were conducted on Nelson and she made two reports of assault between 2009 and 2012.

"Christina had a motive or pattern of accusing young men that she had dated of raping her and assaulting her when no such rape or assault had occurred," prosecutors state in court documents.

It is unknown if Nelson is in Billings or if she has returned to Germany, where she was born.

After Baugh dismissed the case, Nelson was allowed to travel out of the country.'