Article here. Excerpt:

'The more I read, the more bizarre it got.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled this week on a case where an allegation of spousal abuse – never substantiated – is the heart of a troubling story that has concluded in law, but has certainly not brought any sense of moral closure to those who track gender bias in the courts. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Debra Lafave, the former Tampa, Fla., middle school teacher and pin-up model who pleaded guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old student, has been ordered back on probation.

A trial judge released Lafave from the remainder of her probation obligation before she served her full sentence of three years house arrest and seven years probation. However, an appellate court called the decision to release her early an “abuse of judicial power,” according to The Associated Press.

Today, responding to the appellate court ruling, Circuit Judge Lisa Campbell in Hillsborough County, Fla., reinstated LaFave’s probation, ordering the mother of twins to serve another four years and two months probation effective Dec. 19, 2012, to observe a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and to stay away from schools, according to AP and ABC News affiliate WFTS in Tampa, Fla.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a girl withdrew her complaint against four accused that they had allegedly gang-raped her on gunpoint. The girl on Friday accepted that she had filed a false case against the accused.

The girl said, “I am taking my case back as I was not gang-raped. I tried to implicate them in false case because one of the accused duped me on the pretext of marrying me.”

The girl said that she developed a strong feeling for the boy and wanted to marry him. But when he refused to marry the girl she decided to take revenge by falsely implicating him in rape case.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(Bartlett, TN) Rachel Courtney is in jail charged with attempted murder. Police say she ran out of her house with a gun and machete.

According to police documents, her lover, Robbi Fitch claimed a man raped her. He later showed up at their home and parked outside.

The documents say Courtney got in the car, pulled a gun and she and the man fought over it.

He won, and pistol-whipped her, before she choked him.

The 57-year old man told police he took Fitch to buy drugs and have sex. Fitch said he raped her, but police said text message showed otherwise. They had been sleeping together regularly for years.
...
The girl caught in the middle finally admitted she wasn’t raped.

Rachel Courtney is charged with attempted first degree murder. Robbi Fitch is charged with making a false report.'

Article here.

'Again and again, the assumption is made that women - far more so than men or teenage boys - are not cut out for negotiating the often dark, offensive internet. And so they need protecting from it; websites that offend them must be closed, and trolls who troll them must be silenced. Perhaps misogyny-filtering software should be invented to make the web a safer place for women, like that software parents use to protect their children from seeing porn.

The truth is that the internet always has been, and will remain, a place with strange, perverted corners that are best avoided. Men, believe it or not, also know that every time we venture on to the web we're just a few clicks away from violent-minded porn, hateful racism, Holocaust denialism or, in some of our cases, long discussion threads calling us every name under the sun - but we don't freak out and go back to bed; we carry on surfing and chatting, knowing that the virtues of the internet outweigh its ills.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'This week the Pentagon altered its policy prohibiting women from serving in combat roles in the US military. This has generally been seen as a win for feminism by feminists themselves. It's also been seen as a feminist victory by conservative folks like Heather Mac Donald at National Review, who declares with hyperbolic outrage that "the only reason to pursue [the policy of women in combat] is to placate feminism's insatiable and narcissistic drive for absolute official equality between the sexes."

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Florida appellate court on Friday set aside two of the four convictions Casey Anthony faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing 2-year-old daughter.

Judges on the 5th District Court of Appeals agreed with Anthony's attorneys that two of the charges constituted double jeopardy, or being convicted more than once for the same crime.

"We cannot conclude that the Legislature intended to authorize separate punishment for each false statement made during a single interview," the judges said in their ruling.
...
The appeals judges ruled that the trial court was correct to allow Anthony's statements to detectives to be used during her murder trial. Anthony's attorneys had argued that she was in police custody at the time and hadn't been read her Miranda rights. They also had argued that Anthony should have been convicted of only a single count of lying because of the double jeopardy concern.'

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following introduction of the Violence Against Women Act in Congress, SAVE, a leading victim-rights organization, is charging the bills fall short in addressing the causes of domestic violence, ignore abuse prone women, and in some cases place victims at greater risk of harm.

The bills were introduced Tuesday in the Senate (S. 47) by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and in the House of Representatives (H.R. 11) by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI). The bills seek to enhance the criminal justice response to domestic violence through wider use of restraining orders, mandatory arrests, and mandatory prosecutions.'

Blog entry here. Ahh, hypergamy, only without the hassle of a divorce. Well, she tried, anyway. Excerpt:

'Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told the New York Times that his wife offered to stay married to him, if he was planning to run for president. The first couple of Colorado is currently separated.

Frank Bruni of the Times reports: 

Article here. It'd be sort of funny if it weren't so incredibly transparent. But really, is it any surprise? I doubt we'd see such a big change of attitude if the Sachs "10,000 Women" initiative had been named "10,000 Promising Entrepreneur Types Regardless of Gender". But anyway.... Excerpt:

'Arianna Huffington and Lloyd Blankfein announced Thursday that Goldman Sachs and the Huffington Post will partner for a new initiative aimed at job creation, according to a piece coauthored by the pair in the Huffington Post.
...
"In 2008, Goldman Sachs made a $100 million investment through its 10,000 Women program. This initiative provides women-owned small-to-medium businesses in more than 20 countries with a business and management education, access to mentors, and links to capital. This year, the program will reach its initial goal by serving its 10,000th woman.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'The latest statistics underline the message that Calm (the campaign against living miserably) has maintained for years; gender runs through UK suicide statistics like letters in a stick of rock. The highest suicide rate is among men aged 30-44, in men aged 45 to 59 suicide has increased significantly between 2007 and 2011, and in 2011 more men under 35 died from suicide in the UK than road accidents, murder and HIV/Aids combined. Even in the 60+ age group, men were three times more likely to take their lives than women.
...
Men, regardless of age group, often don't recognise when they are depressed. Depression in men is likely to be signalled by anger, so won't be recognised either by men themselves or by women as depression. Ironically, they may end up in jail rather than a GP's surgery. For a man to ask for help is seen as failure, because by convention men are supposed to be in control at all times.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A teenage girl who hoped to gain admission to a tiny, all-male, Deep Springs College, has been denied. She has written an essay expounding on her disappointment for The Atlantic.

A legally-binding trust stipulates that the college must remain an all-male institution. The rejected female applicant doesn’t like this. Oddly, however, she has no problem with all-female institutions rejecting men.
...
The fact of the matter is that young women face a lack of diversity in their higher education. Young men do not pine over all-women schools like Bryn Mawr or Scripps because there are reasonably similar co-educational programs. However, there is not a school like Deep Springs that is available to young women.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'Obstetricians and gynecologists should screen women and teens for signs that their partner is sabotaging their birth control, forcing them to have unprotected sex or otherwise trying to control their reproductive choices, says a leading group of U.S. doctors.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) lays out guidelines for detecting sexual and reproductive "coercion" -- which it calls an under-recognized form of violence against women -- in the February issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

"Most ob/gyns are probably unfamiliar with sexual and reproductive coercion as an entity and probably don't ask about it," said Dr. Eve Espey, chairwoman of the ACOG's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women.

The abuse includes hiding or destroying a woman's birth control method of choice; poking holes in a condom or removing it during sex; coercing a woman to carry out or end a pregnancy against her will through violence or threats; and intentionally exposing her to a sexually transmitted disease.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ms. Reding is leading a campaign for legally binding measures to promote gender equality in the top ranks of the European business world. But she has run into vigorous opposition from some E.U. governments, including Britain’s, that prefer that such measures be voluntary.

Ms. Reding had to abandon a proposal in November for legislation that called for punishing companies whose supervisory boards had fewer than 40 percent women. Ms. Reding then proposed that sanctions apply only in cases where companies do not have 40 percent of women on their supervisory boards and fail to enact selection procedures giving priority to a qualified female candidate.

Her appearance at Davos should give her another opportunity to make the case that her amended proposal, which must be approved by the European Parliament and by E.U. governments, should be adopted across Europe.'