Story here. Excerpt:

'The Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem rejected an appeal Monday by a Netanya woman fined NIS 500 ($140) per day for refusing to circumcise her son, as is required by Jewish law (halacha).

The penalty was initially levied by a rabbinical court in Netanya earlier this year at the request of the woman’s estranged husband who has demanded that the circumcision take place. The two are reportedly undergoing divorce proceedings, and the court stated that it believes her refusal was part of some ploy to save her marriage.

The woman’s lawyer claimed that the rabbinical court had no authority to order the woman to circumcise her son, who is now a year old.

“I’ve been exposed to a lot of material regarding circumcision and I have decided not to circumcise my son,” the woman, who has not been identified, told Channel 2 News Monday evening.

Article here. Excerpt:

'New figures show the number of visible minorities in Canadian prisons has increased by 75 per cent in the past decade, while the number and proportion of inmates who are Caucasian has declined significantly.

As well, Canada’s prison population is now at its highest level ever, even though the crime rate has been decreasing over the past two decades. Ten years ago, the number of inmates in federal prisons was close to 12,000. It’s now more than 15,000.

These are just some of the statistics expected to be examined Tuesday, when the annual report of Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers is tabled in Parliament. His report is widely expected to be a scathing indictment of federal correctional policy.

“You cannot reasonably claim to have a just society with incarceration rates like these,” Sapers said Sunday in a speech he gave at a church in Toronto.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In what started as a pleasant dream, this poet vanquished words like “duodenum” with ease.

At 30 seconds, however, a six-letter word really gets him going.
...
and I hope that one day
I can grow up to be as great a father
as she was for me
you did not ask me spell deadbeat sir...
but if you want dead beat here it is:
f-a-t-h-e-r, d-a-d, d-a-d-d-y, p-o-p
p-o-p-s, if you want the slang
you asked me to spell father
and father is,
always has been
and always will be spelled
m-o-t-h-e-r'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The characters populating Michael Kimmel’s new book, “Angry White Men,” are familiar types: Rush Limbaugh’s ditto­heads, neo-Nazis, wife beaters, rampaging shooters and the divorced rageaholics of the men’s rights movement. Crowded together under one banner, they make for a scary and unpleasant lot: full of fury and blaming everyone but themselves for their problems. Mostly, they blame women: ex-wives, would-be girlfriends, the phantom black women who stole their jobs. The editor of a men’s rights website proclaims, “The real question here is not whether these women deserve the business end of a right hook, they obviously do, and some of them deserve one hard enough to leave them in an unconscious, innocuous pile on the ground.”

Kimmel, a sociologist at Stony Brook University in New York, is unusually adventurous for an academic. As he did in his last book, “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men,” here, he ventures into unfamiliar territory and finds himself engaged in the kinds of conversations he is unlikely to have at department meetings. At a gun show in Shippensburg, Pa., Kimmel passes time with a guy he calls “Rick,” who mans the K.K.K. table and says what you would imagine such a person would say about the black man in the White House. At a batterer’s intervention group, Kimmel gets into the action, prodding one man who had hit his wife by asking, “Well, why didn’t you just pick up a knife and stab” her?
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Nancy Fraser's key point applies now with the gearing up for the US presidential election in 2016. Feminism is mobilized by Hillary Clinton's supporters to sell her presidential bid, but the key point is this: Would a Clinton presidency improve the lot of women in the United States and abroad, and would Clinton be a progressive president?
...
Equality between men and women should lead to the emergence of many women leaders and an increased presence of women in politics. It should therefore lead to an increase in the number of women candidates at all levels of political representation. The fact that a woman is in a position to run for president is thus positive. Does it mean that voting should be restricted to a gender issue? Clinton already has done what George W. Bush and his daddy had done before: amassed money to build a war chest to crush opposition during the primaries. This is also the way Romney eliminated his Republican rivals. In other words, the Money Power sides with a candidate who then outspends and therefore outlasts all others.

In the past, when Clinton talked about a vast "right-wing conspiracy," she and her husband had a lot of enemies on the right who are still around today. Yet the Clintons have made many friends among the 1% and are supported by plutocrats who hardly differ from the fat cats in the Republican camp. In what way could she transform American politics when she already has shown her willingness to play by the rules of plutocracy? Her gender is neither here nor there.

Link here. Excerpt:

'Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 25, 2013
...
This fight is deeply personal to me. As a prosecutor, I saw firsthand the ravages of violence against women. As a proud father of two daughters, and as a husband to a strong woman who has invested so much of her public passion towards improving the lives of women, I know the difference it makes when women and girls have the opportunity to pursue their full potential and live free of violence. By contrast, gender-based violence not only undermines human rights, but poses significant obstacles to public health, economic and social development, and long lasting peace. It ruptures families. It breeds poverty and instability, and it can prevent women and girls, and their entire communities, from realizing their full potential.

We know we have much work to do. Despite all the collective international outrage, gender-based violence continues with impunity, and on a harrowing scale. Gender-based violence remains an epidemic of global proportions that cuts across every social and economic class, ethnicity, race, religion, and education level. In fact, nearly one-third of women worldwide have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence. That is an unacceptable statistic and must be a wake-up call.

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Mention the words “child support” on Twitter, and you’re likely to set off a bitter discussion. Men complain about a system that unfairly enriches women at the expense of men, while women complain about a system that fails to serve their needs as single mothers. Recently, Salon reprinted an essay by Anna March that attempted to make the feminist case that mandatory child support laws – which March termed “forced fatherhood” – are inherently unfair to men.

From an USAID mailing-list email:

'Beginning on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and ending on International Human Rights Day (December 10), USAID joins the global community in observance of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.

The U.S. Government has increased awareness of gender-based violence and made the prevention and response to it a priority in foreign policy and development assistance programming. In August 2012, USAID joined other government agencies to launch the first-ever U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally [PDF, 1.8MB]. President Obama signed an accompanying Executive Order, which directed all relevant agencies to implement the strategy and created an interagency working group.

Story here. Excerpt:

'An organization advocating against circumcision of baby boys targeted a Queens doctor in its latest demonstration.

A group of about 18 protesters marched in front of the Forest Hills Gardens home of Dr. Susan Blank and along Union Turnpike, according to Anthony Losquadro, founder and executive director of the Brooklyn-based Intaction.

Blank is chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Task Force on Circumcision, which last year updated its policy on the procedure to say that research indicates it is associated with some health benefits.

Intaction, which argues that circumcision is akin to female genital mutilation, wants the AAP to retract the policy. They believe the decision of whether to be circumcised should be left up to men when they are adults.

He said anti-circumcision activists have sent thousands of letters and e-mails to the academy, but have received no response, so they took the next step by protesting.'

From a NPO email:

A member of Congress has introduced a bill called the International Violence Against Women Act that would provide foreign aid for domestic violence programs only for women abused by men. It would ignore and marginalize men abused by women as well as LGBT victims. We have started a new petition calling on members of Congress to vote against the bill and hope you'll take a moment to sign it.

Thank you for your support.

Article here. Excerpt:

''It may seem foolish to be optimistic on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The World Health Organisation affirms that one in three women will experience violence from a male partner. A recent UN study in a half-dozen Asian countries finds that one in four men have raped.

Our optimism stems from an extraordinary change across the globe: more and more men are finally joining women to say all forms of violence against women must end. Even more critically, men around the world are saying we must play a key role in creating a future without violence against women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'When I joined the U.S. military in January 2011, a family member asked me: “Aren’t you worried about being raped?” And she wasn’t the only one. Many people cautioned me that I would be entering an institution synonymous with machismo, authoritarianism, and violence.

What I found instead was very different: professionalism, respect, and a strong presence of women in the highest ranks. I also found the most transparent, aggressive, and in-your-face Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) program I had ever witnessed.
...
So even if the preponderance of evidence fails to support a conviction for rape or sexual assault, an accused soldier may still be discharged from the military and punished for a related offense like failure to obey an order (92), cruelty toward and maltreatment of a subordinate (93), unbecoming conduct (133), fraternization (134), or providing alcohol to a minor (134).

If service members fail to obtain justice through the regular process, which is largely at the discretion of their Commanding Officers (COs), there already is a way for them to circumvent the CO and file a complaint of wrongs against the CO under UCMJ Article 138.

That is why I have been surprised to hear U.S. Senators imply that service members currently have no recourse outside their CO and that a new, parallel organizational structure is needed.

Story here. "White Knight" taken to an extreme. Excerpt:

'A woman jumped from the third deck at the O. co Coliseum after Sunday's Oakland Raiders game, injuring herself and a man who tried to catch her, an Alameda County sheriff's office spokesman said.

The woman went into section 301, an area that is closed off to the public, and moved to jump off the edge around 4:30 p.m., just after the game's end, Sgt. J.D. Nelson said.

People on the second deck concourse level below tried to persuade her not to jump, Nelson said.

"She jumped anyhow, and one guy tried to catch her," Nelson said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A West Country woman lied to the police that a friend raped her - then spread gossip through his small town that left him and his family facing death threats.

Single mother of two Ashleigh Loder, 25, was convicted of perverting the course of justice, a crime which carries a sentence of up to seven years, for falsely accusing Fran Syvret.

But misandrist Judge Phillip Wassall, nicknamed ‘Blubber’ because of his weight, and the fact that he was who was once mocked publicly after crying during a court case in Truro , gave her just six months – of which she is likely to serve half.

Victim Fran found himself facing ruin, and suffered victimisation from gullible locals, when Loder lied he raped her.'