Article here. Excerpt:

'The opening night of the London Feminist Film Festival last Friday seemed like a huge success: Myriam Fougère's Lesbiana – A Parallel Revolution, about lesbian separatist communities in North America in the 1980s, was originally going to be screened at one of the smaller screens at the Hackney Picturehouse, but was moved to the biggest one after it sold out, and then sold out again. Unfortunately, the film didn't end up in the centre of the event. Chair Femi Otitoju managed to introduce the panellists – director Fougère, politician and activist Linda Bellos and anti-porn activist and academic Julia Long. But even before the floor was opened for questions, Long raised her hand and asked all the men in the audience to leave.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women who commit crime will avoid prosecution by going on courses aimed at preventing reoffending under a controversial new scheme.

About 60 women a year will be assessed and referred to the Together Women project, a charity working across Yorkshire and the Humber region, which will provide support to tackle the cause of their offending and avoid prosecution.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Cunningham, of Humberside Police, denied the initiative was a “soft option”, saying: “If somebody deserves to go into the criminal justice system they will do.”'

Link here. Excerpt:

'As part of its global Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative, the U.S. Department of State announced today that 10 female volleyball coaches from Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Yemen will travel to the United States to participate in a Sports Visitors program, where they will share their experiences as female athletes and coaches as well as learn about sports opportunities for women in the U.S.

From December 5-16, the delegation from the Gulf States will engage with their American counterparts in Washington, D.C., Louisville, KY, and Knoxville, TN. In addition, they will participate in discussions on Title IX, sports psychology, nutrition, and participate in teambuilding and leadership activities. They will also participate in events with the Special Olympics and the 2012 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Marriage has become a source of conflict for both male and females in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of newly-wed adults has steadily declined from 2008 to 2011. Fox News has interpreted this data as a result of women’s changing role in society in a piece titled “The War on Men”. However, the reality is much more complicated thanks to a significant shift in societal norms. Priorities have changed for both the American male and female. The changing environment has thus resulted in the failure of both sexes to meet on common ground regarding marriage.

Story here. Excerpt:

'CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A Castle Rock mother was found guilty Tuesday of smothering her two children to death with a pillow.

Kelli Murphy’s defense team asked the jury to consider a lighter charge for their client, who confessed to smothering her two children to death in May of 2011. The Douglas County jury chose to ignore that plea, finding Murphy guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree murder by a person in a position of trust.

Judge Vincent White immediately sentenced Murphy to two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors said Murphy killed her children, Liam, 9, and Madigan, 6, by smothering them at her Castle Rock home. Liam would have been 11 today.'

Opinion piece here. Excerpt:

'However, if the family courts have assigned them permanent alimony, the golden years are enjoyed only by the ex-wife, as the former husband either is required to keep working or to continue to pay generally exorbitant sums to his ex from whatever he has left in old age.

Permanent alimony today is not fair to men, and soon will be unfair to women when the current gender gaps favoring females in education, occupation, and income kick in and will make them the payers.

Incomprehensibly, while most divorced children and parents can see what is happening, the minds of Florida's state legislators and family court judges are locked into the model of the 1950's family, with dad working and mom staying at home. This is about as realistic and relevant as The Flat Earth Society.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Tennessee woman was charged with filing a false police report when she admitted that she lied about being raped.

She confessed that she concocted the lie because she simply did not enjoy one of her recent sexual experiences, and that the experience was “bad.”

Lynette Lee of Clarksville, Tennessee first told police on November 23 that she had been raped in a hotel room by a man she had met through the dating website MeetMe.com. “Lee said once at the hotel the man removed her clothes and, despite her protests, had sex with her,” according to newschannel5.com.

The rape suspect told police that his sexual experience with Lee was consensual. But apparently it was nothing to write home about.

Lee asked police to drop the rape case four days later, on Nov. 27, claiming that she lied about the rape because “she did not enjoy (the sexual encounter) and it was bad,” according to police.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'A US woman allegedly failed to tell her husband that she was putting their daughter up for adoption days after he moved to the other side of the country for a new job.

Tira Bland gave birth prematurely and allegedly signed the child over to a family of seven in Utah soon after her husband went to South Carolina for a new job with the US Army.

She then cut all contact with her husband.

A Utah judge has now given the baby's new family 60 days to return the girl, but they say they'll fight his decision.

Lawyers for father Terry Achane, who is now divorced from Ms Bland, said it was a case of human trafficking.

"Children are being bought and sold," attorney Mark Wiser told The Salt Lake Tribune.

"It is one thing that (adoption agencies) have been doing with unmarried biological fathers.

"It is in a new area when they are trying to take a child away from a married father who wants to have his child."'

Link here. Excerpt:

'The 39-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was on Tuesday jailed for three years and one month, but will be eligible for parole in 12 months.

The Melbourne woman began climbing into bed to kiss and touch the troubled 15-year-old after taking her into her family home in mid 2009, the Victorian County Court was told on Tuesday.

The abuse continued for six months and escalated to sexual penetration when the woman took the girl for a short trip away to Daylesford.
...
Judge Sexton said she accepted the woman was facing an ill husband, late mortgage repayments and a son with an undiagnosed mental health problem at the time of the offending.

But she told the offender this did not excuse her crimes.'

Congress is still being told by the domestic violence industry that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) must be reauthorized this month.

Today, we're asking you to make one phone call, to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.

Call Speaker Boehner at 1-202-225-6205 and say, "VAWA must restore the presumption of innocence!"

Details: http://www.saveservices.org/camp/presumed-innocent/

Please take action!

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

Article here. Excerpt:

'Circumcision is one of Judaism's most important laws and for generations of faithful it has symbolized a biblical covenant with God.

But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade.

"It's such a taboo in Israel and in Judaism," said Gali, nursing her six-week-old son, about the decision not to have him circumcised.

"It's like coming out of the closet," she said, asking to be identified by her first name only because she had not told her relatives yet.

Nearly all baby boys in Israel are circumcised. Be their parents ultra-Orthodox or totally secular Jews, it is by far the most common choice. Most Israeli-Arabs also keep with a practice that is widespread in the Muslim world.

Jewish circumcisions are done when the baby is eight days old. The majority are performed by a mohel, a religious man trained in the procedure carried out in a festive religious ceremony called a "brit", Hebrew for covenant.

But an increasing minority fear it is a form of physical abuse.

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the eve of the House Republican leadership elections, supporters of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers are attempting to shore up support for her bid for Republican conference chair by touting, among other qualities, her gender.

A Republican leadership aide said McMorris Rodgers has been reminding colleagues about "her achievements with women's outreach and new media, her conservative credentials, [and] her profile as a young woman" in a last-minute pitch before the leadership elections tomorrow.

McMorris Rodgers has received an unexpectedly vigorous and public challenge from Rep. Tom Price, even as some within the House Republican leadership have attempted to persuade Price to drop his bid.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'An attempted rape reported to have occurred on campus this September did not in fact happen, Cornell police announced Thursday. Police say there is “irrefutable evidence” that the allegations were false and they may pursue charges against the person who made the attempted rape report, Chief Kathy Zoner said.

On Sept. 27, a female reported to the Cornell University Police Department that a male assailant had grabbed her on the Trolley Bridge –– which connects Oak Avenue and the Engineering Quad –– and dragged her into the adjacent woods before attempting to rape her. The female told CUPD that there she struggled against her attacker before she was able to strike him in the face and flee from the scene.

But after an “exhaustive investigation,” CUPD says the attempted rape did not occur and that the case has been closed.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Recently, health officials in Tororo said women were discouraging their husbands from undergoing circumcision, fearing that they may take long to heal, thereby denying them sex. So, should a man seek his wife’s or fiancé’s consent before going for the ‘knife’?

According to Rita Zemeyi, a student at Kyambogo University, a man should not do anything without involving his wife.

“Circumcision is a sensitive issue. It is better if both partners talk about it. How can you be so selfish not to tell her?’’

Zemeyi argues that if a man does not consult his wife, it may ‘kill’ the trust in the relationship and even go a long way in determining whether the relationship lasts or not.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'After taking offense at Aamir Khan's* TV show Satyameva Jayate* (SMJ) for "projecting men in a bad light", several men's rights activists are now taking up cudgels against his film Talaash.