Link here. Excerpt:

'On April 15 in Washington, D.C, as she introduced EMPOWERED, her new campaign developed as part of the Greater Than AIDS initiative, recording artist Alicia Keys called on the women of America to use their power to help bring an end to AIDS.

“Women and girls have been affected by HIV since the start, but that impact has not been recognized,” Ms. Keys said. “And as the sisters, mothers, daughters, and caregivers, we are the backbones of families, communities, and entire societies. We will never see an AIDS-free generation without harnessing the power and strength of women.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Hey working moms and dads, just because Yahoo employees are getting more generous parental leave benefits doesn’t mean you should expect those perks, too.

Under Yahoo’s new policy, new moms who give birth are eligible for up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, with benefits. New dads can get up to eight weeks of paid paternity leave with benefits, according to Yahoo.

The new parents also get $500 to spend on housecleaning and other needs, according to the new policy made public Tuesday.
...
Matos’s research shows that only 30 percent of U.S. employers offer paid or unpaid maternity leave that is greater than 12 weeks.

Matos also said that 58 percent of employers who provide maternity leave pay new moms for at least some of that time off. Only 14 percent of employers who provide paternity leave pay for some of the dads’ time off, according to the Families and Work Institute data.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It would be easy to dismiss the campus event and protest as a small, noisy slice of gender activism, but what happened at U of T is illustrative of a growing men’s rights movement driven by some male members of Generation Y (adults born after 1980, also known as Millennials) who are questioning their place in society and whether their rights are being violated. While their views on feminism and the extent of male oppression vary, all agree that we need to talk more openly about issues that affect boys and men.
...
Iain Dwyer, 28, remembers a poster in his high school that proclaimed: “Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them.” He went to high school in the 1990s when messages about girl power were everywhere and gender equality was a given, said Dwyer, a spokesman for CAFE and one of the organizers of the Farrell lecture.

He says that as Millennial men like himself grew up, they realized that the world was not as equitable as they had been led to believe. Men and boys, they would find out, were suffering too.'

It seems that only women are allowed to write about sexism against men, as this writer notes the reaction of the public toward her choice to hire a male babysitter. Excerpt:

'I wasn’t trying to be subversive when I hired a male babysitter this month. But it is apparently something that few parents would do.
...
Even our new sitter, whose mom I’ve known for years and a man whose caring and kindness aren’t in question, came prepared for doubt. He showed up on his first day with a photocopy of his driver’s license, one for me and one for the school where he would be picking up my younger son.
...
It’s no wonder. At the kids’ old preschool, the only male teacher confessed to me that he definitely felt a little more monitored and scrutinized because he was a guy.

News: Barbara Kay will be in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 30 from Montreal to co-host the show "Late-Night Counsell" with John Counsell at 9:04 PM (EST) on 580 CFRA radio.

The phone number in Ottawa is (613) 521-8255. (American callers use this number: 1-613-521-8255.) The TOLL-FREE Studio Line is: 1-800-580-CFRA (1-800-580-2372). Email Barbara in the studio with John Counsell's address: jcounsell-at-cfra.com and add the words "4 Barbara Kay" in the subject line. To help in the line-up of phone calls, please tell the engineer what country and city you are calling from.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Mantus and Sullivan had their relationship provisions drawn up by their attorney as part of their prenuptial agreement.

“We’re seeing the evolution of so called ‘lifestyle clauses,’ which really answer the question, what do we want the marriage to be like? What types of activities are we going to be engaging in? Where are we going on vacation?” explained attorney Ann Margaret Carrozza.

Enforcement of the contracts is not guaranteed.

“If someone wants a sex schedule, two times a week, or three times a week, I can’t take that agreement into a courtroom and ask that it be enforced,” Carrozza explained.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last week, on the eve of becoming homeless as his house passed into its new owner’s hands, Earl Silverman of northeast Calgary hanged himself in his garage.

Silverman briefly hit the news a month ago, when he closed his Men’s Alternate Safe House (MASH), the only privately funded shelter for male victims of domestic violence in Canada, for lack of funds. For three years, MASH had temporarily housed about 20 men and a few children.

Story here. Excerpt:

'SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Southern California jury has convicted a woman who was accused of drugging her estranged husband before severing his penis and tossing it in the garbage disposal.

Jurors found Catherine Kieu guilty Monday of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 28.

During trial, the 60-year-old victim testified that his penis could not be reattached and that he felt as though he had been murdered.

Deputy District Attorney John Christl told jurors that Kieu, 50, drugged the man's tofu with sleeping pills and screamed "You deserve it!" before attacking him with a 10-inch kitchen knife.

Kieu was jealous and angry about her husband's plans to divorce her because he was seeing his ex-girlfriend, the prosecution said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to "transactional sex" for survival.

The resolution, from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and a dozen other Democrats, says the results of climate change include drought and reduced agricultural output. It says these changes can be particularly harmful for women.

"[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health," it says.'

Story here. This is why I don't bother reading fiction. What's the point when reality is so bizarre? Excerpt:

'A mother forced her 14-year-old adopted daughter to inseminate herself with donor sperm to provide a baby for her after she was prevented from adopting any more children, it can be revealed.

The daughter, a virgin, is believed to have miscarried at 14, but went on to have a baby at 16 after regularly inseminating herself with sperm bought over the internet by her "domineering" mother because she was too scared to refuse.

Details of the shocking case have emerged in a previously secret court judgment, which can be reported today for the first time and which raises serious questions over loopholes in international adoptions and the regulation of the global traffic in gametes.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'"No one would believe a big strong man was hit by his little wife," stated Professor Sarah Ben-David. However her research shows it happens more often then one might think.

A conference in Israel is focusing on battered men and Prof. Ben-David is one of the speakers at the two-day event which is entitled "Violence, Conflicts and Unity in Family Context: A Reappraisal of Therapeutic and Judicial Doctrines." The conference is being sponsored by the Department of Criminology at Ariel University on Monday and Tuesday April 29th - 30th.

Prof. Ben-David, a Tel Aviv native, serves at head of the department. In her over 30 years of experience in the field, she founded and headed three organizations that deal with domestic violence victims. These are Sha'al, a victims' assistance service founded in 1979, the El'am Sex Crime Prevention Association, and Keleth - Criminologists for Correctional Services.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'An exhausted Miranda Hebble put her two young sons in the shower and closed the bathroom door.

She fell asleep and woke up about 10 hours later to find water overflowing from the shower - and both boys dead.

The West Australian coroner is examining the deaths of Lochlan James Stevens, aged two, and Malachi Isaac Stevens, 10 months, who died in November 2008.

Ms Hebble, then aged 22, was caring for her sons alone in Perth while the boys' father Christopher Stevens, then aged 23, was working on a fly-in fly-out basis.

The couple have since separated.

Counsel assisting the inquest, Kate Ellson, said Ms Hebble had no history of mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse.

She was a quiet person and had been struggling with sleep because of Malachi's restlessness.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released a report titled “America’s Youth at 25,” which showed that among 23-year-olds, 165 women have earned college degrees for every 100 men.

Consequences of this disparity include higher unemployment, a higher crime rate, a lower birth rate and fewer skilled workers for the knowledge economy. What has caused this gender gap? Here are just a few of the many factors offered by analysts such as Leonard Sax, Richard Whitmire, Peg Tyre and Hanna Rosin.

Letter here.

'I get tired of the constant drumbeat by women about inequality. The so-called equal pay issue, for example, is bogus.

Most studies I've seen concluded it is a matter of time worked -- that men simply put more time into the work place and consequently earn more overall. In any case, many laws cover discrimination.

Regarding equality, men are now on the margin if not on the bench. Women control our interpersonal relationships, family life, child rearing, schools, churches, culture, arts and TV. America has been feminized.

About 60 percent of college admissions are now girls, while dropouts from high school are mostly boys. Most high school scholarships and awards seem to go to girls.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, women control around 60 percent of the nation's wealth -- now that's power. Let’s cast this mythical, disingenuous "inequality" aside.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Michelle Mills stabbed Edward Miller 24 times with such force that the handle of the knife broke away from the blade.

She told police her 20-year-old boyfriend had been violent to her but the trial heard she had attacked previous partners.

Mills, 31, who stabbed Mr Miller at their home in Scalford, Leicestershire, will be sentenced on Tuesday.

Det Insp Lee Hill said: "Michelle Mills is a violent, self-centred and manipulative woman who was happy to portray herself as the victim of domestic violence at the hands of a number of her partners, including Eddie Miller."'