Not unrelated to the topic of this MANN post, see this story and watch the video. Speaks for itself. Far too many men routinely put up with this kind of behavior. It's one thing to get angry with your mate and have some kind of argument. It's another thing entirely to act like this. Good for him that he's finally said "Enough". Excerpt:

'"After dealing with her drinking problems (“she is on probation for a DUI”), trying to patch things up through marriage counseling (“she showed up 10 minutes late and left”), and suffering in silence while she repeatedly tried “to convince all of her friends that I was always yelling and cussing,” Jim decided to call it a day,” the website notes.

Article here. Of course, FGM must be stopped. However, so must MGM. This is a great opportunity to let UNICEF know you support the end of genital mutilation of children-- children of BOTH sexes. Contact UNICEF here (Subject: Child rights), and their Facebook page is here, where they accept posts. Excerpt:

'(CNN) - The largest report yet into the extent of female genital mutilation, or cutting, has shed new light onto a practice that affects tens of millions of women and girls worldwide, U.N children's agency UNICEF said.

There is some positive news in the new UNICEF report, with data on trends revealing that the practice is becoming less common in more than half of the 29 countries where it is concentrated.

But some 30 million girls remain at risk of being cut in the next decade unless efforts to eliminate the practice make more headway.

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's commonplace in our culture — and cultures around the world — to simply accept the fact that most crimes are perpetrated by men; we call them "attackers," "assailants," "suspects" and "accused" (and mayors and senators and chiefs of staff ...) and talk about their deeds and their punishments, but the thing that binds them together — their masculinity — remains invisible because it's excluded from public discourse.

Feminism quite rightly identifies the ways in which men hold a disproportionate amount of power in the world, be it financial, professional, corporate, political, religious or familial. However, men also make up about 95 per cent of Canada's prison population. Men account for 97 per cent of Canadian workplace deaths. About 70 per cent of Canadian homicide victims are male. Men are about two-and-a-half times more likely to die in a car accident than women, and 82 per cent of impaired driving charges are laid against men.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the pink corner, we have the rowdy mob of angry feminists. Prepared to fight everything in the interests of 'female first'. They are addicted to protest, being put in the pink corner for starters.
...
Meanwhile the pink corner are up and shadow boxing. The Everyday Sexism Project encourages women to record casual experiences of misogyny with the aim of showing sexism does exist and is a valid problem to discuss.

Yet this bias in favour of the pink corner seems to be widespread. Women have so many things exclusively for their own gender: Women's Hour, a Women's Book Prize; the Top 100 Business Women, the Top 100 Powerful Women, Business Woman of the Year, the list goes on and on.
...
The pink corner need to stop looking for a fight. Perhaps it is time for the pink corner to recognise if they want to be told they are special they need to find someone to love.'

Last week we told you the disappointing news about Asst. District Attorney Mary Kellett in Maine. After violating numerous ethical rules for six years, Kellett is getting off with a gentle love-tap on the wrist with a fluffy feather.

While we can't do anything to change this decision, we can make sure that Kellett's boss DA Carletta Bassano knows we are still watching.

This week, politely email Bassano and urge her to bring an end to the pattern of unethical conduct in her office. Ask her to assure the prosecutors in her office:

1. Bring an end to gender bias in charging decisions
2. Assure they have probable cause before charging anyone with sexual assault - a mere allegation does not constitute probable cause!

Contact Info:

Carletta M. Bassano, District Attorney
Phone: 207-667-4621
E-mail: carletta.bassano-at-da7.org

On behalf of the many victims of ADA Mary Kellett, thank you,

Article here. Excerpt:

'Anne-Marie Slaughter strides backstage after her latest TED talk, fast-talking and hungry – she hasn't had time for breakfast yet, and it's well past midday. A little over a year ago, Slaughter was a highly respected but relatively anonymous academic. Her life changed last June, when her article for The Atlantic, Why Women Still Can't Have It All, became the most read in the magazine's history. Almost 220,000 people shared it on Facebook.

Article here. Excerpt:

'She is an activist with a difference.

Dr Indu Subhash of Lucknow took Bareilly by storm on Sunday as she rooted for the rights of men in the country and advocated formation of a National Men’s Commission.

Her fight against “gender-biased laws” drew massive response from the people here, including women, who volunteered to take up the cause at their level.

“All laws are gender-biased and spoiling the lives of men. There are a number of men who commit suicide as laws, which should ideally be building families, are becoming the reason for their breakdown,” said Subhash, a Ph D in women’s studies, addressing a gathering held at Novelty Crossing.

Ahh, the NY Times does it again, with another hit piece on men, this time from a Wharton School professor. Really, the Times has become so predictable and so self-destructive to its own subscription base. Tell me, if women seem to be so much better at so many things than men, then why is the current executive editor of the Times driving it headlong into the ground at break-neck speed? Alienating fully half your subscriber base repeatedly by trashing them simply makes bad business sense, but you'd think she'd've figured that out by now. Excerpt:

'New evidence reveals a surprising answer. The mere presence of female family members — even infants — can be enough to nudge men in the generous direction.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe is pledging to increase penalties against Virginia employees who discriminate against women in terms of pay.

"The gender wage gap is real, and women still earn about 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for working the same job," McAuliffe says in a video on his his campaign website.

McAuliffe, in his statement, became the latest in a growing list of Democrats to mischaracterize an actual figure on the gender wage gap released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Other notables include President Barack Obama and former President Jimmy Carter.

McAuliffe is wrong to say that the 77-cent figure describes the actual pay difference between men and women "working the same job."

The 77-cent figure compares the median pay of all full time, year-round male and female workers, regardless of occupation.

Many experts say some of the gap is likely caused by discrimination, but most of it is due to career choices.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Just came across this site: http://malecodependence.com/

I think it might be a good resource for men struggling to find ways to deal with disempowering relationships of all kinds, etc. Off-linked was this article: Weak men who try to please and from that, by the same author on her web site: It’s Time Men Stand Up and Say “No!”. She pretty much lays it out good. Excerpt:

'The feminist movement has upset the apple cart for men. Women have blamed men for all the problems and accepted none of the responsibility. Years ago, women were the victims. Now it’s turned around, and men are.
...
Men are damned if the do and damned if they don’t. They’re accused of trying to get the upper hand if they pay for dinner, and of being cheap when they don’t. They’re chauvinists if they open doors and inconsiderate if they don’t. They’re macho if they don’t show feelings and wimps if they do.

Article here. Excerpt:

'CHIEF Commissioner Ken Lay has put violent men who attack their wives and partners on notice: you will be vilified by the community.

Declaring family violence one of the most significant law-and-order problems in Victoria, Mr Lay said men of all socio-economic backgrounds had to face up to the consequences of their crimes.

"I know of some very high-profile people, some very well-respected people that bash their wives," he said.

"Some men are very good at hiding their violence from those outside the home."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, lawmakers are considering bills that could help lift hundreds of thousands Americans out of poverty. The two bills, both designed to expand eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, have the potential to bring relief to over 300,000 Americans, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
...
“Many of the nation’s most serious social problems are caused by poor young males. They are the demographic group most likely to drop out of school, commit crimes, perpetrate violence on others, including their girlfriends, and desert their children,” Haskins said. “[These] problems are especially serious among young black males, and that the causes for blacks form a tangled web that includes lingering effects of generations of slavery and racial oppression, high levels of school dropout, current discrimination in the job market, astounding rates of arrest and imprisonment, and, ironically, being reared in fatherless families.

Article here. Excerpt:0

'Recently scientist Laura Waters wrote a piece explaining “why I’m an equalist and not a feminist.” Molecular biologist and feminist Andrew Holding responds.

The world is against men. This week a man was turned away from Legoland for not having a child, apparently to protect the families and children that visit. Men are not allowed to sit next to unaccompanied children on planes because apparently they’re all paedophiles-in-waiting. I’ve had my own experience of someone alerting the whole of John Lewis that my daughter was abandoned, because she wasn’t near someone who looked like a mother. Then there’s the old issue that only 8% of children in single parent families are with their fathers. Perhaps all this contributes to high suicide rates in young men. So we need equality not feminism? I don’t agree.
...
So what about single fathers, young men committing suicide, or suggestions that every man is some kind of Schroedinger’s paedophile? The answer to these problems is more feminism.

Article here. Excerpt:

'I have been asked to preside over a debate in Galway on whether feminism has now definitively triumphed: the event is some time away, but I am sure it will be spirited and lively.

Yet current studies on the victory of feminism are tending to put the conquest in ambivalent terms: is this, as Hanna Rosin asks in a best-selling and influential American study, 'The End of Men: And the Rise of Women'? The author paints a concerning, even alarming, picture of the trends in western (and some eastern) societies. Women are advancing on all fronts, and men, in general, are retreating. Not only retreating, but failing, underachieving, becoming redundant and "useless".
...
Everywhere (except Africa) women are becoming better-educated, and overtaking men at university level. In 2012, for the first time ever, there were more college-educated women than men, among Americans aged 30 to 44.