Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2012-08-09 00:35
Article here. Reminds me of a story I read some time ago about a group of pregnant women in Mexico who robbed a bank. Seems they did some homework and learned that under Mexican law, a pregnant woman could not be jailed (well, that was the law at the time-- by now they may have changed it). I kid you not. So they knocked over a bank knowing full well they'd be turned loose if caught. Anyway, article excerpt:
'The laws governing street stops are blind to gender. Male officers are permitted to frisk a woman if they reasonably suspect that she may be armed with a dangerous weapon that could be used to harm them. A frisk can escalate into a field search if officers feel a suspicious bulge while patting down the woman’s outer layer of clothing or the outline of her purse.
Last year, New York City police officers stopped 46,784 women, frisking nearly 16,000. Guns were found in 59 cases, according to an analysis of police statistics by The New York Times.
Submitted by Mastodon on Wed, 2012-08-08 22:16
Article here. Excerpt:
'The New York Times reports that "Obama Travels to Colorado With Appeal to Women."
Mr. Obama will be introduced on Wednesday afternoon at the University of Colorado in Denver by Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School graduate who earlier this year became the face of women’s reproductive rights after Congressional Republicans blocked her from testifying about insurance coverage of contraception. The conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh later referred to her as a prostitute; he apologized after a furor caused some corporate sponsors to defect from his program.
Mr. Obama’s emphasis on reproductive rights suggests an effort to solidify his backing among women, who are the mainstay of his support and offset his weakness among white males.
Yet, Obama's decision to bring the war on women to Colorado might seem a little odd. After all, earlier this year, Colorado's state senate rebuked Obama's White House for paying male employees more than its female employees.'
Submitted by Mastodon on Wed, 2012-08-08 19:27
Article here. Excerpt:
'Of the 5,696 students enrolled at Quinnipiac in 2009-2010, roughly 62 percent were women. A strict reading of Title IX would require that women occupy 62 percent of all varsity sports positions offered by the school.
Under the school’s calculation, women held 62.27 percent of all varsity spots, including competitive cheerleading and track.
In contrast, Judge Underhill’s calculations found that women athletes held only 58.25 percent of varsity sports positions.
In affirming Judge Underhill’s ruling, the appeals panel agreed that a 3.62 percent disparity between female enrollment and female varsity athletes is substantial enough to violate Title IX.'
Submitted by Minuteman on Wed, 2012-08-08 02:38
Link here. Excerpt:
'* Veterans were more likely than nonveterans to report having two or more chronic conditions.
* Veterans reported serious psychological distress more often than nonveterans; but less than 5% of both veterans and nonveterans reported serious psychological distress.
* Veterans had work limitations more often than nonveterans.
* Veterans were more likely than nonveterans to have health insurance.
The well-being of military personnel and their families is a topic of growing concern in public health. The effects of military service on physical and psychological health, especially after extended overseas deployments, are complex. There may also be long-term consequences of military service for the health and health care utilization of veterans as they age. Today, over 12 million men aged 25–64 in the United States are veterans, representing 15% of the total U.S. male population at those ages.
Submitted by Broadsword on Tue, 2012-08-07 22:28
Article here. Excerpt:
'Kids Go Wild recently opened in Sparkhill, Birmingham, and boasts it is the first soft play venue in the country for just mothers and children. Staff at the business openly tell men they are not allowed in and a flyer posted to homes in the city reads: 'Ladies and children only. No boys over nine allowed.'
...
The Birmingham Mail reported that a woman who claimed to be the manageress, but who refused to give her name, defended the policy.
She said: 'It's a predominantly Asian community around here and we're catering for that. It's a cultural thing.
'It's not that men are an issue - ladies are more comfortable around women.
'We've had ladies coming in and they've not questioned it [ban on men]. They've been asking for it for a long time.'
Submitted by Mastodon on Tue, 2012-08-07 21:57
Article here. Excerpt:
'Increased “gender equity” in higher education is a long-time goal of feminists. Their new target is science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines.
...
But as President Obama recently said, “Title IX isn’t just about sports.” It also applies, he said, to “inequality in math and science education, and a broader range of fields including engineering and technology.” In short, the president wants to see more women earning STEM degrees.
Soon afterwards, the White House issued new guidelines for the enforcement of Title IX with particular emphasis on ensuring “equal access to educational programs and resources in STEM fields” for women.
Specifically, there will be a new initiative involving several agencies, intended to clarify schools’ “compliance obligations and ways to improve access and outreach” in STEM.
The question is: Where will that lead?
Submitted by Mastodon on Tue, 2012-08-07 21:52
Article here. Excerpt:
'Norway's ombudsman for children's rights has proposed that Jews and Muslims replace male circumcision with a symbolic, nonsurgical ritual.
Dr. Anne Lindboe told the newspaper Vart Land last month that circumcising boys was a violation of their right to decide over their own body.
"Muslim and Jewish children are entitled to the same protection as all other children," Lindboe said, adding that the practice caused unnecessary pain and was medically unbeneficial.
Lindboe, a pediatrician, was appointed ombudsman in June. Her predecessor, Reidar Hjermann, proposed setting 15 as the minimum age for circumcision. According to Jewish religious law, Jewish babies must be circumcised when they are eight days old.'
Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2012-08-07 00:35
Holy non sequiturs, Batman! Read it here. Excerpt:
'The findings confirm a long-held belief among sexual researchers that has apparently not been studied in any depth before. The results provide new insight into the evolutionary development of human sexual responses, suggesting that women may have evolved a more responsive sexuality to help them cope with forced copulation.
Submitted by Broadsword on Mon, 2012-08-06 00:33
Article here. Excerpt:
'New Yorkers in midlife crisis, meet the brotherhood of Fortress Astoria: Danaher Dempsey, Luke Crane, Rick Brown and Shyaporn Theerakulstit, best friends and artists.
Submitted by Broadsword on Sat, 2012-08-04 21:51
Article here. Excerpt:
'An elementary school teacher who admitted having sexual relations with students has escaped prison after prosecutors declined to bring charges against her.
Kristle Vandever, 44, resigned two years ago after the allegations first emerged - but she has only just had her teaching licence revoked.
Shortly after quitting, the 21-year veteran wrote an email admitting: 'I just can't help wanting these hot young boys... and they want me.'
She also appeared to imply that she could have faced legal action if her victims had spoken up as she wrote, 'no witnesses coming forward'.
Vandever taught English as a second language at McNary Heights Elementary School in Umatilla, Oregon, having qualified as a teacher in 1989, according to the Hermiston Herald.'
Submitted by Broadsword on Fri, 2012-08-03 21:48
Article here. A rebuttal to this post can be found here. Excerpt:
'The first statement, called sexist by many viewers, was Heina Dadabhoy’s comment that the Y chromosome is a broken X chromosome. The other, called outrageously sexist, was Greg Laden’s statement that the male brain is a female brain that has been damaged at various times throughout development by testosterone. The question is, however, are these statements true?
Heina’s statement is the easier to address. A number of people did so in the YouTube comments, but I’ll do it here as well. Yes, the Y chromosome is definitely a broken X chromosome.
...
Submitted by Broadsword on Fri, 2012-08-03 21:24
Article here. Excerpt:
The problem with men, as a group, as a type of organism, as a subset of humans, is that at various points along the way on their journey from the female template on which all humans are built biologically, they have been altered in ways that make them dangerous assholes. Even when we try to reduce the male-female difference as a society, men who do not willingly participate in that often end up being fairly nasty, dangerous beasts; they may be rapists, they may be batterers, they may be some other thing. They break our efforts to have an egalitarian peaceful world. In a way, they are broken. They are damaged, if you will. Some of that damage is facilitated by what you may know of as testosterone (a word that stands in for androgens).
Submitted by Minuteman on Fri, 2012-08-03 16:23
Link here. Excerpt:
'A 15-year-old girl charged in relation to the murder of a young chef in western Sydney appeared "strangely happy" when she fronted court today.
Patrick Crowe, 22, died on July 7 after being stabbed in Parramatta while heading home from a night out last month.
This morning the girl, who can't be named for legal reasons, appeared in Parramatta Children's Court via video link and smiled to the courtroom as she heard she would not be released on bail, the Daily Telegraph reports.
"You need to remain in custody for now until next Thursday, at least," Magistrate Anthony Spence told the girl.
"Ok, thank you," the 15-year-old replied.'
Submitted by Minuteman on Fri, 2012-08-03 08:12
Link here. Excerpt:
'Minister for Mental Health Mark Butler has announced $5.24 million for a new suicide prevention initiative to be rolled out on construction sites across Australia.
Minister Butler announced the funding for suicide prevention program Mates in Construction at a construction industry conference in South Australia.
Mr Butler said the program would build better connections between construction workers, mental health professionals and other organisations to offer support for people in these industries who are at risk of suicide.
...
“Getting men to seek help on mental health issues is notoriously difficult, but the Mates in Construction program seems to have cracked this chestnut for the building and construction industry.”
...
“We have more than 23,000 workers in the program nationally and we connect two to three workers to help each other every day - I believe this additional funding will help us save lives,” Mr Gullestrup said.'
Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2012-08-03 01:48
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