Article here. Excerpt:

'Violent temper. Refusal to admit wrongdoing. Penchant for expressing every feeling as anger. Penchant for expressing anger through physical intimidation. Homophobia and transphobia. Impulsive, risky behaviour with no consideration of potential consequences. Obsession with the competitive parts of politics (campaigning) and disdain for the collaborative parts. "Boys will be boys" brand excuses for egregious behaviour.
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This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about Rob Ford’s embodiment of the socially constructed norms that shape and constrain our culture’s understanding of what it means to Be A Man. I thought about it a lot after the Mayor violently confronted journalist Daniel Dale on the property adjacent to his home, fist cocked and charging at full speed.
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People who called Daniel Dale a wuss on Twitter for being afraid of a much-larger man approaching him violently? Enablers. People who said Ford’s "murder rant" was just the kind of murderously violent speech we all engage in when we’re a little angry? Enablers.

But then, when it comes to the replication of gender norms, most of us are enablers.

Toxic masculinity is not "men being awful;" rather, it is people of all genders holding, performing and perpetuating rigid ideas of who we are allowed to be. Rob Ford, in particular, has spent a lifetime striving to perform what a Rich, Powerful White Man should be (a whole other level of toxicity beyond the merely masculine). His pursuit of idealized masculinity seems unmistakably modelled after that of his simultaneous bully and protector brother, who has often been framed by the media as "the smart one" and seems to have always been perceived as more competent, more likeable, more of A Man.
...

Story here. Excerpt:

'A man falsely accused of rape could be called to give evidence against his accuser in court before she is sentenced for her myriad of lies.

Natasha Foster told police she had suffered a serious sexual assault in November 2011.

But as the investigation into her claims got under way, the 23-year-old, from Ballymena, Co Antrim, admitted she had lied about the attack.

She was subsequently charged with perverting the course of justice for knowingly making a false statement to police. She pleaded guilty to the offence in September.
...
Judge Desmond Marrinan said the man wrongly accused by Foster may be called to give evidence against his accuser prior to her sentencing.

No facts have yet been outlined in court regarding the case.
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In January this year shamed Dromore woman Belinda Potts Sneddon received a suspended jail term for falsely claiming to police she had been raped by a stranger in a local park.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Attorney David Schorr slapped a court-appointed shrink with a defamation lawsuit for telling the judge deciding a custody battle with his estranged wife that he was an unfit parent — for refusing to take his son to the fast food joint for dinner.

“You’d think it was sexual molestation,” Schorr, 43, told The Post Thursday. “I am just floored by it.”

Schorr says in his Manhattan Supreme Court suit that E. 97th Street psychiatrist Marilyn Schiller filed a report saying he was “wholly incapable of taking care of his son” and should be denied his weekend visitation over the greasy burger ban.
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“I wish I had taken him to McDonalds, but you get nervous about rewarding bad behavior. I was concerned. I think it was a 1950s equivalent of sending your child to bed without dinner. That’s maybe the worst thing you can say about it,” he said.

Adding insult to injury, he said: “My wife immediately took him to McDonalds.”

Link here. Excerpt:

'A rabbinical court in Netanya this week forced a divorced woman to facilitate the performance of a Jewish circumcision for her son, Behadrei Haredim reported.

During the divorce process, which Israeli Jews contest in rabbinical court, the husband requested that the regional rabbinical court in Netanya, about 20 miles north of Tel Aviv, to compel his wife to give their son a legal circumcision. The court accepted his request.

The woman argued that the rabbinical court does not have jurisdiction over her son, and may not decide on what constitutes a dangerous medical procedure for him, especially since the boy is not a party to the divorce procedure.

She argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Hollywood, like most other industries in the U.S., has a woman problem. The ratio of male to female characters in films is two to one, making it twice as difficult for lady actors to land a role as their male counterparts. When women do snag a little screen time, they're often required to strip down for exploitative sex scenes -- far more often than is required of men. And often, that's their only function in the film; women characters are rarely shown talking to each other about anything other than men, relationships, or sex.
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I can hear you already, men's rights activists: Why does this even matter? Shouldn't I be allowed to watch a testosterone-fueled festival of tits and ass if I want to? Isn't this rule just encroaching on the free speech rights of filmbros worldwide? Why do you women want to ruin everything, gawd?

Article here.

'Circumcision for newborn boys is considered one of the most common medical procedures in the world. But one Memphis mother says her son was mutilated during the common surgery.

Maggie Rhodes turned to the Action News Five Investigators to warn other parents about her experience.

"When he was in the room, he was screaming like life and death like, like there wasn't no tomorrow," she said. "When she pulled back the cloth, like the thing was like gone."

Rhodes' son will need reconstruction work to correct what she considers a botched procedure. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 1 in 500 newborn boys experience significant acute complications as a result of circumcision.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Missing from this Advanced Placement English class at Williamston High School are the boys. Just three in Jean Eddington-Shipman's class this semester.

"When I first started teaching AP 27 years ago, it was a much better balance," Eddington-Shipman said.

Not anymore.

Girls are very consistently at the head of the class.

Last year, 80 percent of the top graduates from East Lansing, Everett, Mason, Owosso, and Sexton high schools were girls, according to the Great Grads published in the Lansing State Journal. At Williamston High School, it was two-thirds.

I've never had a graduating class where there were more boys that were top graduates than girls," said Williamston Principal Jeffrey Thoenes, who's spent nine years as a high school principal both in mid-Michigan and in Mt. Pleasant.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'You have to try to imagine the criticism the editor (Katherine Krueger) must have heard. She goes on at such great length. On the blog yesterday, we talked about the letter, here. The newspaper is The Badger Herald, at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
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So Hookstead is not only a denialist; his denialism is proof of the existence of the culture. There should be a name for the culture where there are articles of faith so strong that if you say X is not true, you are viewed as reinforcing the proposition that X is true.
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Krueger condemns her fellow student in language so strong that I had to go back and reread his letter to try to figure out what was so inflammatory. Krueger calls it "morally repugnant, patriarchal... offensive... the embodiment of rape culture... horrifically misguided... repellent... reprehensible... hateful... infuriating... ugly."

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'You expect movie ratings to tell you whether a film contains nudity, sex, profanity or violence. Now movie theaters in equality-minded Sweden are introducing a new rating to highlight gender bias, or rather the absence of it.

To get an "A'' rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 13-year-old Kansas eighth-grader says he was suspended from school on Wednesday because he refused to take off his Vera Bradley purse.

His furious mother says it is discrimination because girls are allowed to have purses with no repercussions.
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Skylar is a student at Anderson County Senior-Junior School. He said he has been carrying the colorful fabric Vera Bradley bag over his shoulder for some time with no issues.

"It expresses myself and I think everyone else can wear it, so I wear it as well," Skylar told KCTV5's Dave Jordan.
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She said she reviewed the student handbook but did not see a mention to bags or purses. She questions the suspension and the timing.

"Skylar has been going to school since August with that same Vera Bradley bag on, hasn't taken it off. What is the problem?" she asked.

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'Reasons Why Alimony May Be Considered Offensive:

1. An alimony obligation that forces one party to significantly financially downsize his/her lifestyle, while the alimony-receiving former spouse continues to live at the same standard of living as had been enjoyed during the marriage is inequitable and offensive to the alimony-paying spouse 2. Paying alimony to an ex-spouse, who is cohabiting with someone else 3. Agreeing to lump sum alimony, and watching your ex remarry shortly 4. Alimony quashes the motivation to work and become self-sufficient 5. Alimony encourages a "victim" mentality, which is insulting when the recipient is educated and capable of working.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'For decades we’ve had “single mothers by choice.” Now fathers are making the same one. This article on the subject of men opting for fatherhood without a partner is long, thoughtful and informative (The Guardian, 11/1/13). It’s also, to my mind, less judgmental than it ought to be.
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But the many reasons single parenthood isn’t a good idea for children when women do it all apply to men as well. One big reason is money. Two parents can earn more than one and the lack of money alone creates a host of problems for single parents and their kids. ...
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In short, the children of single fathers will be exempt from none of the slings and arrows that those of single mothers try, often unsuccessfully, to withstand. So the smart money says their outcomes won’t be any better.
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However, one factor portends an ever-greater movement in the direction of single fathers adopting kids.

"What I find with single men, is one of two things," [U.S. lawyer and surrogacy expert Melissa] Brisman says. "Either they have been very successful in their careers and built businesses and they've not had time to meet anyone. Or they've had a very bad divorce and are afraid to get married and have their businesses threatened, or their custody threatened, and they would just prefer to go it alone. They know with surrogacy they won't have these issues." Brisman is convinced that the tendency of family courts to award custody to the mother is a key driver in the rise of heterosexual single fathers.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'While everyone was fretting over the Federal shutdown, the Alabama Supreme Court took the unexpected, but absolutely correct action, of overturning Bayliss v. Bayliss. The Bayliss precedent has been used by courts to provide post-minority support for college. It has become an expected right for the "college life" for Alabama children.

Now, with Bayliss overturned, the choice to provide monies for college is the choice of divorced parents. These parents, just as with the children of non-divorced parents, may add conditions that may be met by their children in order to provide college costs.

It is the first lesson in responsibility for many children to seek funds through scholarships, grants, parents, grandparents, and "God forbid" work. Now all children, whether or not their parents are together, may learn this lesson.'