Article here. Excerpt:

'This is child abuse by today’s standard, but it was embraced as the norm in the late 19th century. This is the root of circumcision in this country today.

Each year, as people learned that the latest claim didn’t work, a new disease was introduced that circumcision would cure. Dr. Paul M. Fleiss states, “In fact, no procedure in the history of medicine has been claimed to cure and prevent more diseases than circumcision.”

There is still confusion and much ignorance on this subject. Just last week, Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, was e-mailing constituents saying, “Reliable studies prove that male circumcision reduces instances of infectious disease, some congenital obstructive urinary tract anomalies, neurogenic bladder, spina bifida and urinary tract infections."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The congressional battle over the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which briefly pitted Republicans against Democrats in yet another skirmish in this political season’s gender wars, seems largely over. The Senate voted last week to approve the VAWA reauthorization; the House is expected to vote on it next week. Republican objections to the current legislation have crumbled under the threat of the party being seen as anti-woman.

But does VAWA truly advance the interests of women — or advance a divisive and paternalistic form of feminist ideology?

Article here. Excerpt:

'If you're not trained in the spotting of smug, self-satisfied misogynists, you might not know the general thrust of their shtick. Luckily for you, I've become somewhat of an expert in the field since they all started following me on Twitter. So to help novices and outsiders, I've taken the following five popular misogynist arguments and parsed them into some kind of legible (if not logical) format for your benefit.
...
5. Men are oppressed too, therefore women aren't! Or something.

'If feminists really cared about equality, they'd be addressing all the inequality that faces men. Like, why do feminists only care about breast cancer and not prostate cancer? Why aren't feminists advocating for single dads? Why won't women sleep with me when I'm a really nice guy and I've made a particular effort to be nice to them, particularly? Until feminism can answer that, I'm afraid I don't really see it as being legitimate."

Story here. The story reports on the visit of Michael Bennett to push for re-authorization of VAWA. A summary of the bill combined with the usual disinformation about DV. One excerpt that bugs me:

'Leslee Morris, an investigator with the Office of Student Conduct, said the criminal justice system requires an incredibly high standard of proof.

"At the university, we have a much lower standard of proof," Morris said. "There will certainly be times where (victims) don't get a satisfactory result through the criminal justice system, but there may be different results through our process because we have higher expectations of our campus population and a lower standard of proof."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Bluffton Middle School teacher is accused of grabbing a seventh-grader by his shirt collar, forcing him under a desk and telling him, "This is what the Nazis do to Jews," according to the Bluffton Police Department.

The student's parents decided to press charges.

A lawyer for social studies teacher Patricia Mulholland said she was merely conducting an "interactive lesson" on the Holocaust during a class Wednesday.

Mulholland turned herself in at about 5:45 a.m. Monday on charges of third-degree assault and battery, and public disorderly conduct. She was released on her own recognizance later that morning, according to the Beaufort County Detention Center jail log.
...
Several students took cellphone videos of Mulholland before the incident occurred that police reviewed during the investigation. The incident is not captured on video, but Babkiewicz said they show Mulholland talking about an upcoming talent show, singing and falling over while attempting to sit on a desk.

Article here. Excerpt:

'O'NEILL: The fact is that men do experience domestic violence at far lower rates than women. And, in fact, quite a bit of the domestic violence or street violence, if you will, assaults, sexual assaults, I mean, and intimate assaults are perpetrated by men on them.
...
O'NEILL: On college campuses, it's a real concern. One of the things -- we don't have enough studies. We don't have enough information, but clearly -- yeah, the date rape drug is well known on college campuses.
...
HAYS: But, yeah, I think that men are not protected, and women -- there was piece in the New York Post that had the headline -- it was a violence against women editorial, and the headline was, "Let's call it the I lied and got him thrown in jail act."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Modern motherhood is complicated. Naturally we want to be caregivers and nurturers, but, socially, we also want to be professional powerhouses. And, the truth is we can have both — just not at the same time, as dedication to one often results in forgoing pieces of the other. Understandably, this is why working mothers generally experience feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Story here. This is an example of how parental alienation harms children. Excerpt:

'A 29-year-old Washington state woman was charged Monday with first-degree child abuse after doctors said she nearly blinded her toddler daughter by replacing the child’s antibiotic eyedrops with household bleach.

Jennifer Lynn Mothershead of Buckley, Wash., was arrested Friday after a nearly yearlong investigation that revealed that she inflicted severe eye and head injuries on the child, court documents show. She was held by Pierce County officials in lieu of $150,000 bail.
...
Mothershead was separated from the child’s father, Cody B. Mothershead, who is a math teacher at a local high school, White River High School, in Buckley, a town of 4,500 in western Washington state. School district officials said Monday they were not aware of the extent of the child’s injuries or whether Cody Mothershead was aware of the abuse. As a teacher, he would be required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A New York City barber was accused of violating the city’s discrimination policy because he charged women three dollars more for a hair cut than men.

“I’m here for 21 years and I’ve never heard of such a thing,” said Leon Kogut, the owner of Leon’s Fantasy Cut in Brooklyn. “The guy tells me this is discrimination of a woman.”
...
“A woman’s haircut requires a lot of skill,” Kogut said. “You have to style the hair, blow dry, use the mousse, the hairspray. It could take hours to get her hair cut.”

On the other hand, he said, it only takes a few minutes to cut a guy’s hair.
...
“I ran away from Communism,” he said. “The system in New York City reminds me of Communism. The government can do anything to you.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ten months ago, my wife and I had our first child, a boy. He was born in London, where we’ve been living for nearly four years.

We’ve both been happy with the prenatal and postnatal health care services provided, and have been equally pleased with the day care center he’s been going to four days a week for the past four months.
...
Doctors, nurses and baby sitters don’t always pay attention to me, and sometimes dodge my questions entirely. Some of them have cut me off midsentence, and they often speak directly to my wife, even though I’m standing right there.
...
In the end I know it doesn’t really matter whom they call or text first. We’re both going to deal with the issues as they come. But to be so heavily involved in his life and yet feel so invisible at the same time is hard to get used to.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and domestic violence survivors pushed Sunday for Congress to renew the Violence Against Women Act.

The law, which will expire in September, passed the Senate Thursday, but faces opposition in its current form in the House, where Republicans are working on their own version of the bill.

“I want to say, to the small group in the House of Representatives moving to stop this bill. Stop it. Pass this bill,” Schumer said, calling the renewal a “no brainer.”

“Now you have extreme people who don’t care about the rights of women,” Schumer said. “They want a new bill, but their bill doesn’t even mention the word women.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON, April 30, 2012—The U.S. Senate made bipartisan progress on college student rights on Friday as it passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 (VAWA). Heeding the concerns of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Senators altered language in the final bill that might have required colleges and universities to employ our nation's weakest standard of proof in adjudicating allegations of sexual misconduct.

Petition here. Excerpt:

'Circumcision of healthy male infants is not recommended by any medical association in the world, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. In order to protect children from medically unncessary surgery, medical professionals and medical centers must stop offering to perform such surgery.

High Country Healthcare's Silverthorne Clinic (located at 265 Tanglewood Lane, Suite E-1, Silverthorne, CO 80498) currently performs neonatal circumcision at parental request. This petition is to ask Silverthorne Clinic to stop performing circumcision.

Article here. Excerpt:

'As a man, I am baffled and, yes, troubled by the idea that reproductive rights - “choice” – only applies to women. The men have none.

Even though women can’t get pregnant without a man.

Even though the embryo is genetically half the man’s, half the woman’s.

If the woman wants an abortion and the man wants the child, he has no say.

If she wants to have the baby, and he doesn’t, he has no say.

And he’s on the hook for 18 years of child support, 21 if the child goes to college. Most of the time, the woman gets custody, even if the man is a better caretaker.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'LOS ANGELES – Adam Sandler’s comedy “That’s My Boy,” slated for release on Father's Day 2012, centers on a 13-year-old boy named Donny having a sexual relationship with his middle school teacher, resulting in a child.

Thirty years later, Donny is reunited with his now grown-up son (Andy Samberg), who fled his single father as soon as he turned 18, and it’s all fun and games as they get to know each other again.

But father/son bonding aside, is statutory rape an acceptable comic premise?

The trailer for "That's My Boy" shows young teen Donny mesmerized by his teacher “crush,” who saunters down the school corridor in slow motion. She then fondles her cleavage while staring at the child seductively in the classroom. But “things went too far.” Cut to the courtroom where Donny’s mates high-five him for impregnating his teacher. As she is dragged off to jail, she screams: “Take care of our baby, Donny!”'