Article here. Excerpt:

'RAPE and sexual abuse remain two of society’s greatest shames. False allegations like those reported in today’s Oxford Mail do nothing to help society tackle such sick crimes.

Fortunately, we have come a long way from an infamous BBC documentary broadcast 30 years ago which showed a grossly unsympathetic interrogation of a rape complainant by Thames Valley Police officers.

The force says it is committed to helping women make complaints and bringing as many cases as possible to court to send out a real deterrent and message to victims that justice will be sought.
...
Firstly, it plays into a dangerous myth that a large number of rape claims are false, a myth that plagues complainants with self-doubt that their ordeal was somehow their “fault”. Secondly, it risks deterring women who are prepared to speak out because – no matter how sure they are of their case – they fear they will not be believed by police or jurors.

Article here. Excerpt:

'(OSLO) - At a meeting held 30 September 2013 in Oslo, the children's ombudspersons from the five Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland), and the children's spokesperson from Greenland, in addition to representatives of associations of Nordic paediatricians and pediatric surgeons, have agreed to work with their respective national governments to achieve a ban on non-therapeutic circumcision of underage boys.
...
Circumcision without a medical indication on a person unable to provide informed consent conflicts with basic principles of medical ethics, particularly because the operation is irreversible, painful and may cause serious complications. There are no health-related reasons to circumcise young boys in the Nordic countries. Arguments that may argue in favour of circumcision in adult men are of little relevance to children in the Nordic area. Boys can make up their own minds about the operation when they get old enough to provide informed consent.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I don’t want to write a standard review of The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things. It’s the new book by the editors of the feminist website Jezebel, and simply saying that it’s a very angry book — as well as being very funny in parts — isn’t enough. Because when you say feminists are angry, they respond that you are a “Frat Bro” or a right-winger, and the conversation stops. And a deeper analysis of feminist apoplexy is important because the rage of the Jezebels is indicative of a serious cultural problem that is potentially fatal for the United States, which has become a very, very angry country.
...
I bring up Bly because when reading The Book of Jezebel you are confronted not just with humor and a high level of intelligence, but deep, deep rage. Not anger — rage. It goes much deeper than politics, although in modern America politics is where this rage find its expression. Thus the malevolence towards “dead white males” and the liberal obsession with feelings and personal grievance. The bogus “war on women” is really nothing but liberal women acting out against bad fathers. The frightening thing about this rage is that it is insatiable even as it demands resolution through politics. Before the 1960s and the disintegration of the family, a political revolutionary would map out his plan for correcting the flaws he saw in the political system. Today’s radicals speak in tones that are more personal. Their opponents are not just wrong, or obstacles to get past to attain better living conditions — they are evil, they are guilty, and they are personally culpable for screwing our lives up. Politics can’t cure this wound.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'The appalling story of the suicide of a 12-year-old Florida girl who had endured months of vicious online and in-person harassment, and the arrest last week of two of her alleged tormentors -- ages 12 and 14 -- raises tough questions about bullying, the role of social media in children's lives, and adult responsibility. But the tragedy also reminds us of a basic truth often overlooked in our age of feminist consciousness: human cruelty knows no gender.

Link here. Excerpt:

'A gene important in skin tanning has been linked to higher risk for testicular cancer in white men, according to a study led by scientists from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the University of Oxford in England. Nearly 80 percent of white men carry a variant form of this gene, which increased risk of testicular cancer up to threefold in the study.

Video here.

"This is what a date would be like if men treated women with absolute equality..."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Governor Martin O’Malley has convened a Maryland Commission on Child Custody Decision Making. Maybe this is an indication that our Maryland government thinks there is a problem? We sure hope so.

The Commission is the result of HB687 passed during the 2013 legislative session. As part of the Commission’s work it is holding public hearings around the state. Please attend one of the Public Hearings and bring your ideas on how to make shared parenting the norm in Maryland.

National Parents Organization of Maryland worked to pass this legislation to begin the process of bringing shared parenting to Maryland. Maryland need not lag behind other states. Please let us know if you will be attending one of these hearings.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Deep in the underbelly of the Internet is a hidden corner known as the "Manosphere"— a collection of websites, Facebook pages and chat rooms where men vent their rage and spew anti-women rhetoric.

Protected by the anonymity of the Internet, men feel free to post hateful and violent comments. Posts such as "I really wouldn't mind shooting a [expletive] dead in the face, they are evil, all of them," and "Women are the natural enemies of men" are commonplace on sites like "A Voice for Men," a Manosphere blog run by Paul Elam.
...
But experts like Mark Potok, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, believe this rhetoric is problematic. "The Manosphere is an underworld of so-called men's rights groups and individuals on the Internet, which is just fraught with really hard-line anti-woman misogyny," Potok told "20/20."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Earlier this month the Council of Europe agreed on a nonbinding resolution in support of “children’s right to physical integrity.” The purpose was to reinforce the protection of children’s rights, oppose violence against children, and promote children’s participation in significant decisions that affect them. Forced genital cutting of male and female children was mentioned among examples of violations.
...
Days later, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with traditional Jewish groups, denounced the resolution. The ministry statement said the resolution “fosters hate and racist trends,” denied that circumcision causes any harm, and strongly objected to any comparison between cutting of male and female genitals.

Others called the resolution anti-Semitic, a violation of religious freedom, and a “thinly disguised attack” on European Jews. This predictable reaction calls for a response.
...
Here are some relevant facts.

* Jewish circumcision is not mandatory; it is a choice. Some Jews in North America, South America, Europe, and Israel do not circumcise their sons.

* Circumcision is a topic of debate in the Jewish community and has been questioned historically and in various Jewish publications in recent years.

* In actual practice, most Jews circumcise because of cultural conformity, not religious reasons.
...
It is possible to question the actions of a person or group without being categorically opposed to the person or group. Are those who question an American government policy anti-American? Questioning an action that one believes to be harmful is more likely to be motivated by good will than ill will.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Have you heard about the new organization, Leading Women for Shared Parenting or LW4SP? This is a group of prominent women who recognize that absent issues of abuse, neglect or abandonment, government policy and laws must be structured in such a way as to maximize the opportunity of all parents to contribute to the social, emotional, intellectual, physical, moral and spiritual development of their children.

According to Pew Research on the Huffington Post, there is yet another data point to add to the changing portrait of American parents: the number of single fathers has risen ninefold since demographers began measuring it more than 50 years ago.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'There are a growing number of Jews who are becoming increasingly vocal in questioning both the ethics and the legality of circumcision. Jews in the Reform Judaism movement have already been advocating for an end to ritual circumcision during the past 180 years. What follows is a collection of statements from Jews who question the ethics and legality of child circumcision.

Jewish Americans Support Outlawing Child Circumcision
"I am a Jewish mother against circumcision and in support of passing Bill 1777. For years I was a certified childbirth educator and now a journalist and filmmaker. I continue to educate people that childbirth is a natural event rather than one filled with unnecessary drugs and other medical intervention, and circumcision is an unnatural event. These are two clear-cut examples of interfering with nature."

- Katherine Mora, Jewish Mother
Testimony before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary.

Article here. Excerpt:

'My wife, Amari, was seven months pregnant and we were at our midwife appointment. At this point we knew we would be having a boy. Near the end of our visit, the midwife asked us what we were planning to do about circumcision.

Amari and I are both Jewish and we had discussed it a couple of times before. My take was: “We're Jewish. My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Our boy is getting circumcised." However, Amari was against the procedure, although she was willing to do it if it meant that much to me.

I had never attended a bris. The thought of cutting off a baby's foreskin made me queasy. That’s when it hit me: How in the world was I going to witness my own son going through it? I put that thought aside, figuring I'd deal with it when it happened.

Article here. Excerpt:

'No one in government can use ignorance as an excuse for tolerating Canada’s dysfunctional legal system: Several recent reports have laid the problem bare.

Last April, the federal government released a special-committee report, “Meaningful Change for Family Justice: Beyond Wise Words,” which stated: “Canadians do not have adequate access to family justice.” In August, the Canadian Bar Association released its 50-page “Envisioning Equal Justice” report, describing access to justice as “abysmal.”

Now we have a new report, “Access to Justice: a Roadmap for Change,” the outcome of a project initiated in 2008 by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. The roadmap envisages better dispute-resolution options, more legal-aid funding, plus triage toward appropriate services and other tools for efficiency to help deliver speedier, more tailored service.

Essay here. Excerpt:

'The Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has ranged widely in apportioning blame for the abuse or neglect of children in Britain. Those at the receiving end of his tongue-lashing included 20 local authorities, with the city of Birmingham in particular singled out as ‘one of the worst places to grow up in the developed world’.

But Sir Michael was clear about the root cause of children’s problems today: hollowed out and fragmented families, where the relationship between mother and father has broken down or never existed in the first place.

He said (£) the problems exposed in child abuse scandals were being deepened by an apparent national obsession with ‘pussyfooting around’ and ‘making excuses’ for bad parents. At the root of wider social problems lay the alienation of many children from their natural father.

A new petition exists on MoveOn.org, complaining of bias by ABC News. Statement:

'We are offended by 20/20's repeatedly offensive reporting of men as violent, as aggressors, as 'deadbeats' and as the oppressors of women. We are boycotting the television show until they start to present the facts as they are. Men want to be with their children. We suffer most of domestic violence. There are nearly no systems to support us. We are underrepresented in research, in mental health services, in education, and in families.'