Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK -- Rebuffing an intensive lobbying campaign, a task force of the American Psychiatric Association has decided not to list the disputed concept of parental alienation in the updated edition of its catalog of mental disorders.

The term conveys how a child's relationship with one estranged parent can be poisoned by the other parent, and there's broad agreement that it sometimes occurs in the context of divorces and child-custody disputes.
...
"The bottom line – it is not a disorder within one individual," said Dr. Darrel Regier, vice chair of the task force drafting the manual. "It's a relationship problem – parent-child or parent-parent. Relationship problems per se are not mental disorders."
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Among those on the other side of the debate, which has flared since the 1980s, are feminists and advocates for battered women who consider "parental alienation syndrome" to be an unproven and potentially dangerous concept useful to men trying to deflect attention from their abusive behavior.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'One week after Xavier expelled sophomore Dez Wells for “a serious violation of the Code of Student Conduct,” Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said no criminal charges would be filed against the basketball player.

A Hamilton County grand jury declined Tuesday to indict Wells on a charge of sexual assault.

Deters assigned senior assistant prosecutors to the case to review evidence and make a presentation to the grand jury, which they did Monday.
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A Xavier University Conduct board made up of faculty, students and administrators determined that Wells was responsible for a serious violation of the code of conduct. The punishment for the violation, the school said in an Aug. 21 statement, is expulsion from the university.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Veteran Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor Joe Deters called the process “fundamentally unfair” and “seriously flawed,” and he was right. What he didn’t say was that the process is also the law of the land.

Article here.

'BERLIN — The German Parliament's upper house is calling for a mandatory quota for women on companies' supervisory boards.

The house, which represents Germany's 16 states, voted Friday for a motion that would require large companies to have at least 20 percent of women on their supervisory boards - the equivalent of a U.S. board of directors - starting in 2018, and 40 percent five years later, German news agency dapd reported.

The motion now goes to Parliament's lower house, which Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition controls. The coalition is divided on the issue and it's unclear whether a quota could secure a majority there.

The quota was proposed in the upper house by center-left state governments. Two states led by Merkel's conservative party joined ranks with them on Friday.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Family breakdown, improved rights for women and the collapse of traditional male-dominated industries have combined to create a crisis of “masculine identity”, a panel of psychologists, economists and social scientists concluded.

Together with male traits such as an unwillingness to talk about personal problems and heavier use of drink and drugs, it means they are now at far greater risk of suicidal tendencies than anyone else, the study commissioned by the Samaritans found.

Men aged between 35 and 55 are more than four times as likely to take their own lives as women of the same age, and more than twice as likely as younger men, according to official figures.

And middle aged men from poor areas are up to 10 times more likely to commit suicide than other groups of people.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Two female teachers from the same school district have been arrested on the same day for having sex with teenage students.

Kristy Risell, 31, and Jean Kleckner, 47, were Berks County teachers when the alleged sexual relations took place.

English teacher Kristy Risel, 31, who worked at Daniel Boone Area High School, is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy between January and April this year.
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Kleckner first abused the girl in 2008, after giving her alcohol on a camping trip and continued to abuse her on a regular basis into 2009, mostly in Kleckner's home, detectives said.

Police say the 47-year-old also became a field hockey coach this year.

Kleckner and Risell are the fourth and fifth Berks educators to be charged with sexually abusing students in the past year, Chief County Detective Michael J. Gombar said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It seems that chivalry is dead thanks to growing financial pressures and greater equality at work as men are becoming increasingly unwilling to cover the cost of a first date.

The latest survey revealed that most men would now ask for a contribution from a female partner on a first date with the vast majority (51 per cent) happier to go Dutch and split the bill.

The true gentlemen out there are numbered - with just under one third of those polled saying they would still pay for a first meeting.

The remaining one in five said they would be happy to pay for parts of the night, such as a round of drinks, but would not be willing to cover the whole evening.

Shockingly a penny-grabbing five per cent of those quizzed said they would be happy to reverse roles and allow their female companion to fund their evening.

Article here. Excerpt:

'MALE domestic abuse victims who have suffered harrowing violence at the hands of their girlfriends tell their stories in a new S4C documentary this week.

O’r Galon: Cariad sy’n Curo features two men who break their silence to describe how their partners became angry and abusive, even cutting them with knives.

According to police figures, the number of female perpetrators in Wales and England has increased from 800 in 2004-05 to more than 4,000 in 2010-11.

The problem is more widespread than people realise – and the programme, screened next Wednesday, asks if there is enough support available for the victims.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'What’s in a name? When it comes to a man seeking help from a sexual assault or domestic abuse, it can mean everything.

The Women’s Center of Southeastern Connecticut presented its new name, Safe Futures, to more than 60 people at an event at the Mystic Hilton Thursday night.

Last year, 26 percent of the people served by the newly renamed Safe Futures were men and boys, said Catherine Zeiner, executive director of the organization. It was less than 9 percent in 1998.

“Just imagine being a male victim of sexual assault or domestic violence and trying to get over this stigma to ask for help and finding out the only place to get help is a place called the Women’s Center.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

"We regret that the people who picked the names 'Myra' and 'Sarah' imagined in their minds women when they thought of land for drilling. I am sorry to have to surprise you, but our names and our bodies are not for drilling, and the giving of such nicknames strengthens the perception of women as objects for penetration and drilling," said a group of women's organizations.
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The organizations added, "The groups picking the names should immediately stop thinking about using women's names for drilling, and realize that, consciously or not, they are lending a hand to the kind of dialogue that objectifies and demeans women. We regret that the people engaged in critical issues like drilling for natural gas, we are forced to deal with hidden chauvinistic messages in these issues."

Link here. Excerpt:

'Between September 2 and October 29 of 2010, Martin stole tens of thousands of dollars from the bank by purposely entering incorrect cheque details into the system.

The 24-year-old then spent the money on a breast enlargement, $2600 worth of dental work, liposuction, jewellery from Tiffany's and nights out where she would spend money on drinks and drugs.
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When she was arrested, Martin claimed she had earned the thousands of dollars by working as an escort and being "a common prostitute".
...

Recorder Jeremy Wright jailed Martin for 52 weeks, taking into consideration she has been suffering "issues" since she was 11.

"Your activity has been aggravated, to some extent, by the fact that suspicion would automatically be thrown on others, even if no other investigation took place," he said.

"You are not [your son's] sole carer, you leave him in the care of your parents whenever you like. Considering the seriousness of the crime... it seems to me a mockery if I didn't send you to prison right away."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'We all know that water and leather don't mix, but we also know (or at least we should) that kids in trunks don't mix, either. A woman in Minnesota is in hot water after allegedly making her 11-year-old nephew ride home in the trunk of her Lexus after riding a water ride at a local amusement park.
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The boy's grandmother, 14-year-old sister and another child passenger were also in the vehicle, and while the grandmother was "uneasy" about him riding in the trunk, she didn't want to question the aunt's decision.

According to reports, McCarty was charged with gross-misdemeanor child endangerment, and, if convicted, could face up to a year in prison and as much as $3,000 in fines.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The formula for the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines is excessive and flawed. I am a divorced mother of two daughters who mediated my child support with my ex-husband. We did it so that we had EQUAL income in order that we could provide EQUAL homes for our children. Why? Because it was the right and moral thing to do.

Massachusetts hides behind the premise that these guidelines are in the best interest of the children. The application of these guidelines does NOT follow its own principles, the main one being # 2 “to encourage joint parental responsibility for child support”. There’s nothing “joint” about these guidelines. If we had gone through the Child Support Guidelines, my children’s father would not have been able to provide a comfortable home for his children when they were with him and little money to entertain them. There is no way that my ex-husband and myself spend 30% of our income to support our children each year and my kids live pretty well.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'SALT LAKE CITY — Education officials want to close the gap between male and female college degree earners in Utah and are hoping the Utah Women and Education Initiative and its newly launched website will provide a path to achievement.

The initiative's director, Mary Ann Holladay, said this step is a continuation of a task force convened by Gov. Gary Herbert in 2011, which looked at the barriers women encounter in pursuing college degrees.

Utah has the worst gender gap in the country for post-secondary degree earners, and officials say closing that gap is key to achieving Herbert's Prosperity 2020 goal of 66 percent of Utah's workforce holding a post-secondary degree or certification by the year 2020.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'A woman who tortured a six-year-old boy with lit matches and heated knives as punishment for wetting the bed has been sentenced to four years behind bars.

Mango Ahmed Adan, 22, also tied the child up and locked him inside a small garden shed, the Brisbane District Court heard on Thursday.
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The court heard Adan put tape over the boy's mouth, held him down over some steps in her yard and asked his sister to hold a heated knife against his face; which she did.

Adan then took a heated knife and put it against his back.

On a separate occasion, Adan held lit matches to the boy's legs, the court heard.
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Defence lawyer Debra Wardle told the court Adan, who grew up in Somalia, had been subject to similar forms of punishment from her grandmother.

"I'm told that she has scarring to her chest and belly area and back from knives," Ms Wardle said.'