Article here. Excerpt:

'One of my great hopes for a Barack Obama administration — and thus one of my personal disappointments — was that he would use his bully pulpit to emphasize the importance of a two-parent family, and especially of fathers, to children's well-being.

Few understand better than the president the value of a present and involved father. Much of his literary work and his examined life pertains to his own absent father. By his example, he has certainly demonstrated his own commitment to parenting — and his family is a source of pride for all Americans. But the true story of fatherlessness in this country can't be repeated often or forcefully enough.

This is not a new story.

Children who grow up without fathers tend to fall into patterns of destructive behavior — from drug use and truancy to early promiscuity, delinquency and, in too many cases, incarceration. Children raised in fatherless homes are also more likely to grow up in poverty, which is no fault of their mothers but is a fact.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many of us whose work touches on the subject of masculinity and violence have long been frustrated by the failure of mainstream media -- and much of progressive media and the blogosphere as well -- to confront the gender issues at the heart of so many violent rampages like the one on December 14 in Connecticut.

My colleagues and I who do this type of work experience an unsettling dichotomy. In one part of our lives, we routinely have intense, in-depth discussions about men's emotional and relational struggles, and how the bravado about "rugged individualism" in American culture masks the deep yearning for connection that so many men feel, and how the absence or loss of that can quickly turn to pain, despair, and anger. In these discussions, we talk about violence as a gendered phenomenon: how, for example, men who batter their wives or girlfriends typically do so not because they have trigger tempers, but rather as a means to gain or maintain power and control over her, in a (misguided) attempt to get their needs met.

Article here. Excerpt:

'He was born in Chadderton, Greater Manchester, in March 2010. His parents, filled with the joy, hope and optimism of new parenthood, named him Goodluck. When he was only 27 days old, a midwife called Grace Adeyele accepted £100 to hack at his tiny penis with a pair of scissors. The baby screamed so loud his mother had to look away. Adeyele dabbed the ragged wound with olive oil, dressed it with a small bandage and left him to bleed. He died the next day from his wounds. As if the short life and tragic death of Goodluck Caubergs is not shocking enough, consider that his case is not unique. Earlier this year an inquest in London recorded a verdict of accidental death, having heard how Angelo Ofori-Mintah died after being circumcised at home. The rabbi faced no charges.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Joyce Maxine Gregory, 35, of Ohio, was arrested for allegedly castrating a man with her bare hands.

The incident took place in Shelby, Ohio early in the morning at around 5 a.m. during an argument between Gregory and her lover, 59, whose name has not been released. Apparently the man attempted to flee the house he was sharing with Gregory, and was calling 911 while outside when Gregory rushed the man, squeezing his genitals.

Reports indicate that she squeezed the man's genitals so hard that she popped one of the man's testicles out of the scrotum.'

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is being discussed by House Leader Cantor and VP Biden, could include this proposed definition: “sexual assault means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal or State law, including when the victim lacks the capacity to consent.”

Due to changes in state laws, innocent men have been convicted of sexual assault and imprisoned, even though there was no DNA, no witnesses, and no forensic evidence. Learn more here: http://saveservices.org/innocence

Do we really want VAWA to shift the burden of proof to the defendant? No law should remove the presumption of innocence.

Call House Leader Eric Cantor right now! (202) 225-2815 Tell him to restore the Presumption of Innocence in VAWA!

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

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

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fathers 4 Justice: The First Protest Celebrating Ten Years 1) ”On 17 December 2002, O’Connor* and a small group of supporters staged their first protest by storming the Lord Chancellor’s Office dressed as Father Christmas.”

Source:
1) WikiPedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathers_4_Justice

2) A Short History of Fathers 4 Justice by Nick Langford, page 14
http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/A-Short-History-of-Fathers4Justice1.pdf '

Article here. (The FT has a login challenge unless you click over to it from Google. So the thing to do here is copy some text from the quote below, search for it on Google and click the link that leads to the story.) Excerpt:

'While women hold relatively few senior positions in South Korean business and politics, Ms Park has sought to use her gender – as well as her political experience – as a key selling point.

Her campaign banners and television advertisements feature the slogan: “A prepared female president”, and she has referred to her sex increasingly frequently as the election has drawn closer.

Ms Park, daughter of the military dictator Park Chung-hee, would follow previous Asian female heads of government such as Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and Indira Gandhi of India, who were also children of former leaders.'

“Faced with the possibility of another global economic crisis next year, we should now establish a feminine, motherly leader who may sacrifice all for the sake of the people,” Ms Park, 60, said last month.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Yet until very recently the fact that mass murder is an essentially all-male phenomenon got almost no attention. Ironically, we are so accustomed to the idea that violence is gendered male that we don’t even notice that it is — unless we force ourselves to focus on something that seems so natural that it’s normally invisible to us.

As feminists have pointed out, if we define “human nature” as “what men do” we will treat male violence as merely violence, as opposed to a very gender-specific behavior. If, when considering violence in our society, we were to turn being a man into a marked category, we would not ask questions like “why is America so violent?” but rather questions like “why are men so violent?”'

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'This week, Esther Walker - wife of celebrity food critic Giles Coren - wrote a lacerating opinion piece about her casual sexism towards men and boys.

The article, which no doubt delighted the likes of Harriet Harman and Suzanne Moore, garnered more than 1,400 reader comments and sparked global offence (from both genders) after it poured vitriol on her unborn child for possibly being male.

'I can only deal with one man in my life... and sometimes that’s one too many,' she spewed, probably over some middle class macaroons or an elderflower torte.

'I know very little about boys, but what I have seen I really haven’t liked. Boys are gross; they attack their siblings with sticks, are obsessed with toilets, casually murder local wildlife and turn into disgusting teenage boys and then boring, selfish men.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The mother of the loner who massacred 26 pupils and staff at a US primary school may have played a major part in his catastrophic mental breakdown, it emerged last night.

Friends and family portrayed Adam Lanza’s mother Nancy as a paranoid ‘survivalist’ who believed the world was on the verge of violent, economic collapse.

She is reported to have been struggling to hold herself together and had been stockpiling food, water and guns in the large home she shared with her 20-year-old son in Connecticut.

Mrs Lanza, 52, was a ‘prepper’ – so called because they are preparing for a breakdown in civilised society – who apparently became obsessed with guns and taught Adam and his older brother, Ryan, how to shoot, even taking them to local ranges.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The parents of a 10-year old Union elementary school student have filed a complaint against the school for strip-searching their son to find an allegedly stolen $20 bill.

In a complaint filed against assistant principal Teresa Holmes on Dec. 6, the family of Clinton, N.C., fifth-grader Justin Cox allege their son was ordered to remove his socks, shoes, pants and shirt so the principal could conduct a manual search for a $20 bill that was inevitably found in the cafeteria.

Holmes defended her actions saying that several other students and a few other faculty members told her the money was missing and they had seen the fifth-grader dive below the table for it. The court filing states that Holmes told the boy “he left her no choice and that she had to search him,” when the boy pulled out his pockets and didn’t produce the allegedly stolen money.
...

She told the 10-year old that she had the authority to search him “because teachers and other students thought Justin had the money.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'Divorce is a tough experience, but such hardship doesn't cut you any slack if you don't stay on top of your retirement paperwork, as one poor fellow discovered.

Imagine this scenario: After 11 years of marriage, you and your spouse call it quits and you move out of the house. After you leave, a letter from your former employer is delivered to the house that your ex now resides in. The envelope is clearly marked: "To be opened by addressee only." Your ex opens it and discovers there's a new procedure in place to access your retirement funds online. After following the procedures, your ex drains the account in four months.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Male readers are probably now thinking two things: “Man up” and “Three female skiers in Engelberg? Unusual…” To address the first point, the growing popularity of women-only ski classes and clinics suggests that I’m far from alone in finding an all-female environment a more supportive and forgiving one in which to learn.
...
The premise is simple: female skiers and boarders who book at least four nights’ accommodation in Engelberg during Ladies’ Week (which runs from January 19 to 27 in 2013) receive a free lift pass for the duration of their stay, saving £136 on a four-day pass (£187 on a six-day pass). Participating women also benefit from a complimentary run with an instructor, spa access and a schedule of social events throughout the week, with free entrance to night clubs and drinks in selected bars.'