Article here Excerpt:

'Amid sweeping accusations that Silicon Valley venture capital firms have failed to attract female talent, one women-only firm has been quietly raising millions for its first institutionally-backed fund.

If you haven’t heard of Forerunner Ventures, you probably will soon. This firm has been making its mark in the fashion world. In its first year, Forerunner made strategic investments in companies like Bonobos, Birchbox, Warby Parker, Hotel Tonight, Snapette, and Threadflip. And today, Forerunner announced it had closed a cool $40 million to continue funding up-and-coming digital commerce startups.

The firm has only been around since 2010, and already Forerunner Ventures has made some promising-looking investments. The secret ingredient is Kirsten Green, the firm’s managing partner, who has a clear vision for success, one that has been almost a decade in the making.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Three senior judges found that it was not acceptable for the mother to block the father’s reasonable efforts to see his two daughters.

They urged all separated parents to see the “bigger picture” and consider the harm that legal disputes cause children. Lord Justice McFarlane said mothers and fathers had “a responsibility and a duty” to help children maintain contact with the other parent.

The Government has announced plans to reform the law to enable fathers to see their children. The changes would to spell out the right of children to have a “meaningful relationship” with both parents after a separation.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A 20-year-old West Haven woman was arrested after falsely reporting that her ex-boyfriend has abducted and sexually assaulted her.

On June 4th, Hamden police responded to 16 Hubbard Place, for a report of an abduction and sexual assault.

Jessica Barrett, 20, told police that on June 3rd, when she was walking near the Truman Street School in New Haven, her ex-boyfriend exited his vehicle, punched her in the head and then forced her into the vehicle.

Barrett told police her ex then drove her to the Hubbard Place address, where he raped her several times. She also said that he kept her in a closet for a period of time and that she was not fed for nearly 24 hours.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'There are very few things everyone reading this piece will agree on. One of those things will be that rape is one of the most disgusting (if not the most disgusting) crimes that any human being can perpetrate. However is someone claiming rape when in fact no crime has taken place just as bad?

When thinking about what I should write for my first piece on The Periscope Post I threw out the idea of writing about this subject to a couple of friends and to say the response was cold would understate exactly what they said. However it is something that has been growing (or at least the reporting of it has been growing) in recent years.

Last week a 27 year-old woman from Aberbargoed, Caerphilly in South Wales was jailed for two years and eight months for making up a rape claim. She claimed rape because she was late home from a night of partying and thought that her parents would shout at her unless she had a good reason. So instead of apologising for staying out longer than she planned to she decided to cry rape.'

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) recently asked their Domestic Violence Legislative Project (DVLP) members to take on a one year challenge: Get state-level DV reform legislation enacted into law by June 30, 2013.

As of this writing, twelve states have signed up: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin. Good thing, since Americans are fed up with fraud, waste, discrimination and false allegations.

Some of us are able to lobby legislators and do all of the other activities involved in this project. Many other people want reform, but are prohibited from participating due to job or family obligations. If that describes you, please consider making a financial donation so that others can advocate on your behalf.

Please help if you can.

Visit http://www.saveservices.org/dvlp to join the DVLP.

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

Story here. Excerpt:

'Trouble started on tuesday morning, precisely 3 am when Uroko returned from Ochanja, a popular joint in the small community of Ugbugbu and headed to the room of his youngest wife. The other wives who according to the youngest wife, Odachi had a meeting before Uroko returned home invaded her room with knives and sticks, demanding that their husband have sex with all of them at once. Uroko who resisted their attack was overpowered by the women who ordered that the sex march begin with the youngest wife and to continue in that order to the top.

Our correspondent reported that Uroko stopped breathing when the fifth woman was making her way to the bed. “Suddenly, my husband stopped breathing, and they all ran out, still laughing, but when they saw that I could not resuscitate him, they all ran into the forest.'

Press release here. Excerpt:

'The human rights group Intact America (IA) is urging policy makers attending the 2012 International AIDS Society Conference in Washington, DC, 22-27 July, to halt the rollout of mass circumcision campaigns, calling the plan exorbitant, dangerous and unethical.

“The promotion of male circumcision sends the wrong message, creates a false sense of protection, and places women at greater risk for HIV. Men are lining up to be circumcised in the belief that they will no longer need to use condoms,” said Georganne Chapin, Executive Director of IA. “It’s extremely disturbing that scarce resources would be squandered on this prevention method when new research shows that the other proven prevention and treatment methods reduce transmission far more effectively. Medical resources need to be devoted to antiretroviral drugs, condom programs, education, and vaccines.”

Editorial here. Robert Dewey was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 16 years in jail. Apparently, the state of Colorado has no laws that require compensation. In fact, he was released without even minimal cash or shelter. Just released. Men, of course, are more likely than women to be accused and convicted of a crime. Excerpt:

'The result — and it's a rare one — could be that someone is falsely imprisoned. When that happens, we think the state has a duty to compensate the individual.

Such is the case with Robert Dewey, incarcerated in Colorado for 16 years for a murder he didn't commit. There was no prosecutorial misconduct or other malfeasance. The system just ended up with the wrong man, as recently proven with DNA evidence.

Until that time, Dewey was a lifer. There was no point in teaching him job skills — he was never getting out. He also sustained a painful back injury in prison that still impedes his ability to do manual labor.

Here is the latest of a few stories I've come across about men in their 20s saving the lives of their girlfriends and dying in the process in the Aurora movie massacre:

'(CNN) -- Great evil often brings out the best in good men, men like Todd Beamer on Flight 93, Medal of Honor recipient Michael Murphy in Afghanistan, and now the Aurora three -- the three young men, each in different parts of theater nine, who gave their lives to protect their girlfriends.
...
These men were three of the 12 innocent people killed early that morning. Their incredible sacrifice leaves us asking: Why? Why would a young man with his entire life ahead of him risk everything for a woman he has no legal, financial or marital obligations to?
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Confession: I'm a little bit/very charmed by chivalrous, gentlemanly men. As long as it's not some sort of agenda-laden, playboy act, I find certain gestures touching. Like bag carrying, or a door held open. (Unless I'm not even close to the door yet, so I have to hurry awkwardly along while the guy's just standing there, waiting.)
...
More recently, US television presenter Laura Schlessinger announced that: "Chivalry is largely dead, and feminism is the murderer". Campaigning for a resurgence, she urged women to "enjoy being a woman and let men treat them as such", and men "to be old-fashioned gentlemen".'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(BOSTON) - Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center and author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma, is concerned about the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC starting July 22. He says it offers a one-sided view by promoting male circumcision to reduce HIV transmission in Africa.

"There is nothing scientific about a process that excludes opposing views. Circumcision advocates are afraid to debate circumcision critics," states Goldman. "This shows up at professional conferences where critics are not provided equal opportunity to participate. The fear of open discussion was also apparent when two circumcision advocates refused to debate me on two different radio talk shows." He also notes that circumcision advocates tend to be circumcised and have personal, political, and financial conflicts of interest connected with circumcision.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The extent of this cutting, which "has no health benefits", involves removal of "healthy and normal female genital tissue" and is associated with ideas about "unclean" sexual parts, is immaterial. "It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Prudie seems offended by Confused's desire to set ground rules in her own marriage. Lots of couples find a mutually comfortable level of implied consent for drunk sex, but that isn't working for Confused and her husband.

Confused is not the bad guy. She's a survivor who needs her partner to be extra careful about a kind of sex that most people in committed relationships would take in stride.

We don't have to blame her husband or label him as an abuser. Although, as the person who (inadvertently?) traumatized her in the first place, he should be gracious about accomodating her idiosyncratic needs.

This is a problem to be solved by negotiation, not recrimination.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. signed into law AB 1807, protecting child custody rights for military parents. Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, introduced the legislation to protect our military parents.

Fathers and Families has lobbied and advocated for the rights of our military in child custody. This legislation is another success.

When a divorced couple shares custody of a child and one of the parents is deployed due to military orders, full custody of the child is given temporarily to the non-deployed parent. Often, when the deployed parent returns, a custody battle ensues.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'HOUSTON—The mother charged in the beating death of her 4-year-old son was allegedly upset that the boy wet himself, according to CPS and court documents the I-Team reviewed.

Vastie Coleman, 27, was being held without bond Tuesday in the Harris County Jail for allegedly killing Kyron Barnes.

The boy’s two surviving sisters described routine whippings by their mother in court documents. One of them told investigators Coleman used a cord to whip Kyron, because "the belt was broken because mom kept whipping the kids so hard it broke into pieces."'