Here goes! Excerpt:

'Why is it that everything of the past seems so good, so classic, soo…the way things should be. Decades ago, women were fighting for equal rights but, today, we’re fighting for a return to chivalry. No matter how you cut it, many women want to be treated like ladies and many of us imagine that the world of the 1960s was not only a world mired in charged politics but represented a time when American society was filled with an abundance of manly men. Ok, so maybe our memory is in part clouded by the period drama “Mad Men.”

In any case, sometime between my high school years and full-fledged adulthood, it seems that it’s become okay for men to not take the lead. I think I can speak for many women when I say we’re not too happy about this trend. Here’s a few things that we wish most men still did:

Article here. Excerpt:

'It all began on Friday when neighbors in the Pakistani town of Karachi smelled a foul odor coming from the residence where Bibi and Abbas lived...

Article here. Excerpt:

'SAN DIEGO – December 30, 2011 – Most of us enjoy some harmless excitement and revelry on New Year’s Eve, even if some of us overindulge in a little too much food and drink.

But for many women and men at risk of domestic violence, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are the two most dangerous dates on the calendar.

According to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, domestic violence reports increase as much as 30 percent on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. This comes after lower than average reports of domestic violence between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Article here. Excerpt:

'THRISSUR: The Purusha Avakasha Samrakshana Samithi (PASS) held its meeting in order to address and redress the grievances of men who claim to be harassed by women misusing the Domestic Violence Act.

The meet held at Alankar Auditorium witnessed four grievances. “We normally hold meetings on the third Sunday of every month, but often have to gather at short notice in the instance of complaints. It is a fact that more and more women are abusing the Act for many reasons, mainly money. It often involves either a divorce or estrangement, sometimes the harassment from the mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, but ultimately it is the man who bears the brunt of the law, in an unfair manner,” PASS treasurer and spokesperson advocate Vincent said.

The law is now highly misused by women. A fair share of such cases is found in the upper strata of society. Manifold false cases of cruelty and violence are hoisted by women urged or instigated by their counsels/advocates hungry for fees and more prey to feed on the gullible.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'MIAMI, FL, January 01, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- According to a report by the US Department of Human Services and the US Department of Justice, an estimated 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner every year. These assaults can be sexual or physical, and this statistic does not include emotional or verbal abuse.

Men are often the victims of domestic violence, but the incidents rarely get much attention. There is a general assumption that men are the violent partners, but statistics indicate that violence against male partners occurs in both same-sex, and male/female relationships. Men are entitled to the same protections as women when they are assaulted, and deserve strong legal counsel who will fight for their rights, and work to protect them against abusive partners.

Social Stigmas and Domestic Violence Against Men

Petition here. Excerpt:

'Are you a father or do you know a father who has been discriminated against in the New York State Family Court system? New York State is a "Mother State" as many are. If the courts make the decision about custody concerning the children they favor the mother. Is this not discrimination? How are we as fathers supposed to have an influence and build relationships with our children based on this minimal time interaction granted by the courts? We as fathers can do anything a mother can do except breast feed. Women fought for equality in the workforce and we are fighting for equality in the home. Many women agree that fathers are discriminated against, if you are a woman and believe this is true and would like to support this petition please sign and show your support.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A 45-year-old Temple City woman is accused of providing false information to an airline in order to take revenge on a male passenger with whom she had a four-day fling.

Lizet Sariol is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a federal court.

She is charged with a single felony count of conveying false and misleading information, specifically, implying that a United Airlines flight was endangered, according to a signed plea agreement filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court.'

---
Also see Marital Woes Lead Lynwood Woman To Call In False Bomb Threat At LAX

Article here. Excerpt:

'DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Desperate for a late lift in Iowa, Republican Michele Bachmann is increasingly stressing a distinction in the presidential field: She's the only woman competing for the nomination.

The Minnesota congresswoman has made the gender card central to her closing argument. She's urging voters to embrace the idea of a "strong woman in the White House" and is molding herself as "America's Iron Lady" in the vein of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
...
"I'm an Iowa girl. And one thing I remember about Iowa is we are a state of strong women," Bachmann told the lunch crowd at a 50s-themed burger joint in Mount Ayr. "We need a strong woman to turn this country around, right?"

Longtime residents Margaret Bickers and Mary Davenport, sitting in a booth near Bachmann, nodded in agreement.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Over at the blog Marquette Warrior, John McAdams provides a good example of how unwarranted investigations of campus speech can cause a deeply problematic “chilling effect” at a university. Universities must not pursue investigations of protected expression just because someone submits a complaint; as soon as it is clear that the expression in question is protected speech, the inquiry must end, even if there are other factual disputes. Prolonging the investigation tells everyone on campus that the university will pursue charges against you no matter how frivolous or malicious the complaint. The likely result is that people self-censor and keep their mouths shut rather than risk such investigation and a possible punishment.

It seems that Marquette University, where McAdams is a professor, made just such a mistake this month. According to McAdams, his introductory course in American politics discusses alleged media bias and takes an anti-feminist perspective:

Article here. Excerpt:

'The federal government estimates that one in five women will be raped in their lifetime [Ed: please click 'Read more' about this stat] — and a group of young men in city schools are hoping to change that.

They’re part of the an afterschool program called Men of Strength (MOST) that teaches boys they should be allies for girls and that violence is inexcusable.

Cherno Barry, an eighth grader at Junior High School 217 in Briarwood, Queens, said the club has taught him to treat all girls like he treats his mother.

“No one is beneath another person,” he said.

Amy Dickinson has the habit of ignoring men's rights. In her column Ask Amy: There’s a hitch in the plan to get hitched (12/29/11, see second letter down the page) she accepts the idea of ignoring a gold-digger's plan to marry-then-divorce for money. Amy tells the letter writer not to interfere:

"I can't imagine that if you were in this man's well-heeled shoes you would actually welcome being informed of this impending disaster."

Amy has had a total failure of imagination.

As an exercise here, let's do a role swap. Say the letter writer is male, the columnist is male and the (imaginary) column is called "Ask Bolt."

Bolt says:

Have a man-to-man talk, though perhaps a little indirect. Ask your friend what kind of pre-nuptial agreement they're going to sign before the wedding. If he has no idea what you're talking about explain it to him. More important than that-- be ready to give him the name of a good attorney who can arrange it.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Meryl Streep arrives in movie theaters Friday with “The Iron Lady,” playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — the first female head of state in the Western world.

Women's place in history is a subject on Streep's mind of late. Her next off-screen project is the National Women's History Museum, an entity that exists so far only in cyberspace and that the actress is trying to get erected in brick and mortar on a site adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

“History until the 20th century was written by one member of the human family and it wasn’t the mother,” Streep said in a mid-December interview in New York City with her “Iron Lady” director, Phyllida Lloyd. “It was dad. That’s who wrote history and ... what was important? Movements of armies, sovereignty of nations, all sorts of things. But women were there all along and they have incredible stories that we don’t know anything about.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'If a young girl wanted to play basketball in the Pittsburgh Public Schools last season, she didn't have many options.

Only two schools had a K-5 girls' team. Other schools invited girls to play on co-ed teams in a male-dominated 16-team league against boys' teams. And at some schools, no girls played basketball.

Now, K-5 boys and girls will be split as the district revamps its program to remedy years of "Title IX equity issues," or unequal opportunities for girls.

But there's a twist.

If a school can't field enough players for both a boys' and a girls' team, neither team will be allowed to compete in the eight-game season that begins in January.

The district says the new rule is intended to force schools to make more vigorous efforts to recruit girls and offer equal opportunities.

One person familiar with Title IX issues says the all-or-nothing approach could potentially limit opportunities and do the opposite of the federal law's intention to provide gender equality.'

Link here.

(There are links to a copy of the Draft Technology Assessment, and the page for submitting comments near the bottom of the page.)

Many of the products being included in this review are derived from foreskin fibroblasts (eg Apligraf). A thread has been started previously collating information about the use of foreskin fibroblasts in cosmetics and medical products, which readers are welcome to utilise in preparing responses to this Call for Review:

http://www.foreskin-restoration.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8415

Article here. Possibly I will field accusations of anti-Semitism or at least anti-Jewishness or whatever. Well anyone who may know me personally would know such an accusation is utterly ridiculous. (But just read some of my previous comments about circumcision and how I think the religious lobby around it is the least of the anti-circ world's concerns and that the danger lies much more in the secular and corporate lobby's efforts to keep it going.) I will write more as the first comment since I think that is the appropriate place for it. Excerpt:

'Thousands of people in Israel rallied against religious extremism on Tuesday, protesting against the way some ultra-Orthodox Jews treat girls and women.

Protesters held signs reading, "Free Israel from religious coercion," and "Stop Israel from becoming Iran."