Article here. Excerpt:

'The Commission will study all aspects of child custody decision-making in Maryland, including the principles governing it, and current practice and processes. The study will encompass how to make child custody orders and modifications fairer, more uniform, and equitable; reduce litigation in child custody proceedings; promote and ensure children's continued relationships with both parents; and maximize involvement of both parents in a child's life. Further, the Commission will consider how the Court may mitigate adverse effects of child custody litigation, as well as the advantages, disadvantages, and impact on children of joint physical custody. In addition, the Commission is to evaluate the governing statutes in other states, and consider whether Maryland law needs a statute specific to child custody decisions.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Swedish female police officer, accused of beating a drunken man and setting her dog on him, is being prosecuted for assault after the incident was captured on film.

The woman, who denies the charge, was filmed lashing out at the man using her baton an estimated 14 times. Her police dog also got involved and pounced on the man who later fell to his knees and yelled "are you totally stupid or what?" at the officer.

"I have made the decision (to prosecute) because I objectively think we have the foundations for a conviction for either assault or professional misconduct," said prosecutor Mats Åhlund to newspaper Dagens Nyheter.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The tears flowed as Mike Morgan phoned his mum, between sobs insisting: “Mum, I didn’t do it.”

Accused of rape, the outgoing showman who loved the bright lights and kudos of being manager of one of Liverpool’s top gay bars, crumbled and cried as he turned to the person he trusted most.

And though the claims were unfounded and allegations not pursued, his loving mum Linda has revealed how the ordeal effectively killed him.

“Mikey couldn’t live with it,” she says.

“He knew he was innocent but he didn’t want to carry on believing people could even think he was capable of such a horrendous crime.”

His health deteriorated and, on February 13, this year, Mike Morgan passed away in his sleep – as he had predicted he would just two weeks before.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Our Truth Team is still checking Fact Sheets for DV Awareness Month. This week we have the results of our second review. Unfortunately, the Futures Without Violence Fact Sheet is lacking, so we had to give them an F.

What's disturbing about Fact Sheets that don't mention the prevalence of mutual abuse, like the one on FWV's website, is that they are putting more victims at risk.

More than half (58%) of all domestic violence is mutual, and a Centers for Disease Control survey found that injury was more than twice as likely in these cases. In other words, when domestic violence escalates, that's when most injuries occur.

Please contact FWV and ask them to update their Fact Sheet with current, accurate, and complete data.

Contact Futures Without Violence today:

• (415) 678-5500
• info-at-futureswithoutviolence.org

On behalf of everyone affected by domestic violence, thank you!

Translated article here. Excerpt:

'Congratulations Sweden and the Swedish Church, our new archbishop Antje Jackelén is genital mutilation of young boys!

It now has new archbishop of the diocese of Lund is one of the women bishops and priests in the Swedish Church, who wrote an article that was published by the DN 6/22 in 2012.

In debate article then writes Antje Jackelén and her colleagues that "We must show respect for the right to be different."

And this right to be different mean Antje Jackelén & Co. that you should be okay with underage boys and male children of the tender age of eight days mutilated in the name of their religion.

For there is a man who writes:

Article here. Excerpt:

'In two related studies, researchers surveyed 1,400 Swedes about domestic violence and found that 8 to 11 percent of men reported being victims of physical violence at the hands of their spouse in the past year.

The corresponding figure for women was 8 percent.

"We were surprised by the results," professor Gunilla Krantz, who led the research, said in a statement.

"Both men and women use the kind of violence that can harm the other person. The concept that women use violence only in self-defense is not true – women are capable of using it aggressively as well."

The respondents mentioned behaviour ranging from punching, kicking and pushing to strangleholds and threats at gunpoint.

The study also revealed, however, that between 8 and 11 percent of male victims reported that they had also been perpetrators of violence and Krantz added that the results should be interpreted "with caution".

"We do not know in detail what led women to use violence in aggression," she explained.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, New York State officials are urging people to wear purple on Wednesday, October 16.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the declaration and encouraged New Yorkers to participate in the annual Shine the Light on Domestic Violence campaign on Wednesday.
...
“Domestic violence is an equal opportunity problem. It cuts across all socioeconomic strata. There is no one that is immune from it, it can happen to men who are abused by their female partners, it happens in same-sex relationships, so we know that it is as widespread as the kinds of relationships that exist,” said Wright.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Donald Mudd didn’t even know that men could get breast cancer. Mudd told FOX station WFTX in Fort Myers, Fla. that he had a painful lump on his right breast that developed into the size of a golf ball. His physician told him that there was a mass and he needed a mammogram.

That was the beginning of a disappointing ordeal as Mudd, who doesn’t have insurance, contacted a hospital that advertised free mammograms during October for ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month.’
...
Mudd said that he tried again with six other organizations, but was rebuffed each time.

“I was a little bit in shock to even find out that men could have breast cancer, and then I find out that because of my gender those programs are not available to men,” Mudd said.

However, reporter Christy Dimond was able to find some help for Mudd from the Susan G. Komen foundation. Mudd was set up with an appointment at a volunteer clinic that gets grant money to provide screening for uninsured patients, regardless of gender.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Unwed dads usually face tremendous challenges when trying to assert their rights as fathers. Historically, dads have tried (usually in vain) to navigate the family law system themselves, without any real knowledge as to how to do so successfully. Although there is no substitute for competent legal counsel, hopefully the list below will help dads better understand what they should and should not do when tackling legal issues concerning their children.

The following list contains five important things that unwed fathers need to know:

Story here. Excerpt:

'Women would do a better job than men of solving the current government stalemate, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said on Monday -- because "a woman doesn't want to ruin the person on the other side of the aisle or the table."

"If we put all the women, Republican and Democrat, in the House together, the consensus from all of us is that we would get this done in a few hours," Wasserman Schultz -- the head of the Democratic National Committee -- told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
...
Women are not less ideological, but they're "less dug in," she said, after she was asked why only four women signed an August 21 letter to House Speaker John Boehner, urging him to "affirmatively de-fund the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare" in any continuing resolution.'

I just returned from an engineering conference in Poland. While there, the subject of feminism came up. The guys told me about an extremely popular movie that was made in Poland in 1985. It values men and the role they play. I thought I'd share the plot of a movie called "Sexmission". See if you can rent it where you are. (I now live in Norway so it will be a few weeks before they send me a copy with English subtitles.)

Two men, Albert and Maks, are chosen to be cryogenically hibernated as part of a test. However, something goes very wrong and they are left frozen for many more years than they were supposed to. They wake up in a post-apocalyptic underground totalitarian world inhabited entirely by women, and find themselves defending the very fact that they're men.

"Shame" is a film short, coming in at under 10 minutes. It portays a young man ("Lance") living at home with his parents, just returning with scratches on his neck after a date with his abusive girlfriend. The script is demonstrative and seemingly meant to portray the uneasy ambivalence Lance and his father both feel about Lance's situation. Lance's mother, on the other hand, is at her wit's end and ready to confront the girlfriend. She calls the police and when they arrive, they take a report and instruct Lance to seek an arrest warrant and order of protection the next day.

This film short is meant to send a message: that yes, men are DV victims. And, it points out that it is most often men who are slowest to acknowledge their own or other men's troubles with being a DV victim. Just before the credits, it shows a citation of a CDC report on DV that states that 53% of DV victims in the study were male.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women have long out-paced men in academia, yet they remain underrepresented in certain areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (commonly referred to as the STEM fields). Since STEM graduates not only have more job opportunities, but also higher paying jobs, many see boosting women’s participation in these disciplines as a key to reaching gender equality. There has been no dearth of public and private efforts to try to “solve” the problem. And the latest to get in the game is libertarian billionaire David Koch, who last week pledged $20 million to MIT to build a top-of-the-line childcare facility in an effort to attract and retain more women in the STEM fields.
...
In other words, attracting talented women to MIT hasn’t been the challenge; what they study when they get there is. And fancy childcare won’t impact that determination.

Article here. Excerpt:

'I am a senior police officer and I see myself first and foremost as a policing professional who happens to be a woman. On the other hand, as a citizen, a wife, a mother, a daughter and a friend, I see clearly that I am a proud woman who happens to be an experienced, well-trained and skilled police officer. As always, it is a matter of balance – a skill that most women develop as a matter of routine.

But does maintaining that balance affect the way I do my job? Am I a better police officer for being a woman? Others may have a view on that, but for me, the honest answer to both questions is yes.

During my service I have developed a leadership style based on empathy, encouragement and compassion. I try to listen, to lead by example, to work hard to gain the professional respect of my colleagues – men and women. But in policing terms I make it very clear that I command. None of these is an exclusively female attribute, but they all contribute to a style which I believe is based on my gender.'