Article here. Excerpt:

'In a recent article in The Connecticut Law Tribune president-elect of the Connecticut Bar Association Mark Dubois, Esq. began, “I read somewhere that some lawyers are suggesting that the courts or the legislature develop standard guidelines for alimony. The idea seems to be that there is too much variation from judge to judge, region to region and the public would be better served with a more predictable and uniform system. We had better be careful with this; we might put ourselves out of business.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'The rally to end domestic and sexual violence has been going on each year in Fargo for 23 years. But, Tuesday night's event brought a new message.

"The vast majority of men in the community don't condone sexual violence, but sometimes they've never been asked to the table, they don't know what they can do to help the problems," Greg Diehl, Executive Director with the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center said.

The convention center at Fargo's Hilton Garden Inn was buzzing with conversation. But, they weren't the typical discussion you might overhear at a dinner table. In fact, they weren't topics you'd often hear from men at all. According to a study by the AVON Foundation, only 17-percent of men talk about rape and abuse with friends.

This is a very fun short film (and in support of boys).

Article here. Excerpt:

'Boston College is moving to discipline a student who allegedly wrote anonymously on Facebook that he had raped three women while at BC, before later turning himself in to university police and administrators to tell them the online post was a hoax.
...
Chebator said BC officials were alerted to the post shortly after it appeared. Administrators and the Boston College Police Department launched an investigation.

Later that evening, “a student came forward on his own to BCPD and admitted that the entire post was a hoax,” Chebator’s email said. “The student appeared quite remorseful; nevertheless, this matter will continue to be investigated and the student will be referred to the student conduct system for resolution of this matter.”'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A former computer technology teacher at a Haltom City, Texas, high school who had multiple sexual encounters with several students was sentenced to four years' probation Monday.

Tonya Flink, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of improper relationship between an educator and a student. She is now married to one of her victims, prosecutors announced Monday.

“This was an unusual case in that one victim married the defendant and was not cooperative,” Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Robert Foran wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram Monday. “The second victim is in agreement with the outcome. After taking into consideration all of the facts and circumstances of both cases, we felt this was an appropriate resolution.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 9-year-old boy in Michigan has been suspended indefinitely for bringing a toy that looks like a gun to school.

Gage, a student at the Creative Montessori Academy in Southgate, reportedly brought the toy to school, showed it to his friends before class, and pointed it at a friend while saying “bang, bang.”

Gage’s parents allege that the toy didn’t even resemble a firearm, but it was merely a spinning top that he brought to school to show his friends. Also, the other students involved say that Gage never actually said “bang, bang,” and that the teacher who reported the incident was wrong.

The parents say that their son suffers from epilepsy, and that he needs to be in school in order fully comprehend reading and writing. They say the indefinite suspension is not conducive to Gage’s education and continued progression.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Swiss voters rejected a third proposal in two decades to end the draft in a referendum, opting to keep the military tradition which critics say costs an annual 4 billion francs ($4.4 billion) in lost work days.

The initiative to replace Switzerland’s 165-year-old militia service with volunteers was supported by just 26.8 percent of voters today, Swiss television channel SRF said on its website. About 73.2 percent voted against the proposal. A poll by gfs.bern signaled that outcome as probable.
...
Young men must complete 300 days in the army, or opt for civilian community service on ethical grounds, which lasts about 150 days longer. Women are able to join the armed forces on a voluntary basis.

Neighboring Germany, Italy and France have all abolished the draft, as has the U.S. Austrian voters rejected an abolition in a nationwide referendum earlier this year.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(JTA) — Amid calls to ban the ritual circumcision of boys in Scandinavia, the Council of Europe is slated to vote on whether to define the practice as a “clear human rights violation.”

The definition is included in a report on circumcision and female genital mutilation that was submitted recently to a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, an international organization whose resolutions are nonbinding. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday.

“Circumcision applied to young boys clearly is a human rights violation against children,” reads the report, which was brought before the assembly for approval by Marlene Rupprecht, a lawmaker from Germany and rapporteur for the council’s Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.'

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

During DV Awareness Month, we'll be taking a look at the accuracy of VAWA-funded groups' DV Fact Sheets.

The Partner Abuse State of Knowledge shows that men and women engage in partner aggression at similar rates. But many DV groups still use unreliable studies and inaccurate statistics, creating the impression that almost all partner abuse is men abusing women.

We believe the way to start, if we are to end discrimination against male victims, is by telling the truth. We're looking at DV Fact Sheets, asking 10 specific questions, and giving grades for accuracy.

Want to get involved? Visit the Truth Team Campaign: http://www.saveservices.org/camp/truth/

Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org

Press release here. Excerpt:

WASHINGTON / October 1, 2013 – Victim-advocacy group Stop Abusive and Violent Environments warns that factual errors and misrepresentations in public education efforts sponsored by domestic violence organizations may represent an obstacle in the on-going effort to rid the nation of domestic violence. SAVE issues the alert in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is observed in October each year.

The Partner Abuse State of Knowledge (PASK) project, a summary of over 1,700 domestic violence research studies, concludes that mutual abuse among partners is commonplace, and men and women engage in partner aggression at similar rates: http://domesticviolenceresearch.org/

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many people think of construction as a typically male occupation. But did you know that as of 2010, there are about 800,000 women working in the construction industry? That amounts to approximately 9 percent of the industry workforce.

While the hazards involved in construction work are well known, female construction workers face unique challenges. To increase awareness of these issues, OSHA has signed an alliance with the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). The alliance, which lasts 2 years, will develop targeted training resources and other informational materials to help construction employers ensure the safety of their female employees.
...
OSHA has additional information about women in construction on a webpage created specifically for the alliance. Check it out at https://www.osha.gov/doc/topics/women/index.html.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has released a resolution focused on the “violations of the physical integrity of children,” including the circumcision of young boys for religious causes, which remains a controversial issue in European societies.

The resolution calls for the European states to “promote further awareness in their societies of the potential risks of some of these procedures,” which the assembly lists as the circumcision of boys, early childhood interventions in the case of intersexual children and the coercion of children into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery.

The assembly said that though such practices are projected as beneficial to children, they often fail to be so.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A nurse who let a three-and-a-half week baby bleed to death after carrying out a circumcision using just scissors, forceps and olive oil has been banned from practising in the UK.

Grace Adeleye, 67, performed the dangerous African treatment known as a 'clamp and cut' on Goodluck Caubergs for a fee of £100 at the baby's home in Chadderton, Greater Manchester.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel heard that Adeleye carried out the circumcision at around 5pm on April 16 2010 and that Goodluck was still bleeding at 7am the following morning.

Adeleye had reassured the baby's parents, whom she had been put in touch with by a mutual friend, that the bleeding was slowing.

But Goodluck was eventually taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital later that morning where he died shortly after arrival.
...
Adeleye had previously received a 21-month jail term suspended for two years at Manchester Crown Court and quickly announced she would be retiring from nursing.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Currently, more women than men attend college and that isn't expected to change any time soon: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, female enrollment is expected to increase by 16% from 2011 to 2021 while male enrollment is only projected to increase by around 7%.

Miles Groth, a psychology professor at Wagner College, spoke on Sept. 27 at the University of Toronto on the need for men's centers at colleges in Canada. He feels men's centers are needed to help male students feel welcome in the face of changing college demographics. He thinks U.S. colleges should be addressing the same issue.
...
"I often ask students to write about their experience of overt and covert gender discrimination against males in academic environments, and they routinely describe instances of public humiliation and systemic indifference," writes Dennis Gouws, an English professor at Springfield College, in an e-mail.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It looks like political correctness goes beyond our borders. A group of notable feminists from our northern neighbor are demanding a change to their country’s national anthem with the goal of making it more 'gender neutral.'

The Globe and Mail reports:

At issue is the line: “True patriot love in all thy sons command.” According to Restore Our Anthem, a group that includes writer Margaret Atwood and former prime minister Kim Campbell, these lyrics are exclusionary of women, and do not reflect the original intent of Robert Stanley Weir, who wrote the English words for O Canada in 1908.