Article here. Excerpt:

'FRANKLIN, Mass. - When Will Higgins won the South sectional 50-meter freestyle in Massachusetts in November, there was mixed joy among his Norwood Senior High teammates.

He broke the meet record in a blistering 23.96 seconds, moving on to the state swimming and diving championships. The win also helped spur his team to an eighth-place finish in the section tournament.

But because Higgins is a boy, his record win sparked increasing attention and criticism from a national audience in what has become a local epidemic: Boys playing on girls teams.

Article here. Excerpt:

'April marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, legislation passed to ensure educational institutions do not discriminate on the basis of gender. That's why the American Association of University Women recently held a "Tweet-Up" with Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Four decades after the law passed, Secretary Duncan seems to remain largely ignorant of the serious ramifications of this legislation, which, in effect, has helped institutionalize gender inequality, quotas and preferences. During the Tweet-up Duncan wrote, "Contrary to conventional wisdom, since 1972 access to men's sports has not been diminished." He added, "T9 requires schools to offer equal athletic opps for men & women. It doesn't require schools to eliminate any teams."

Well, not exactly, Mr. Secretary.

Thread title is from the OIG mailing-list email:

Link here. Excerpt:

Letter here.

'Apparently during the chaos of the evacuation of the Costa Concordia in Costa de Giglio, Italy, a crew member shouted, "Women and children first!"

Now I can agree that women with children should be given priority in this situation, but how about men with children? Also, why should all women be given priority over all men? If this is, in fact, a maritime rule or law, it seems outdated.

Are all women more important to save than all men?'

Story here. Excerpt:

'GRAND RAPIDS — Nearly 50 Grand Rapids Community College football players, along with coaches and athletic director Charlie Wells, gathered Monday afternoon to listen to the devastating news of the program’s fate.

After 80 years, the football program will not exist.
...
Ender cited impending changes to the conference schedule requiring out-of-state travel, the departure of former head coach Tony Annese to Ferris State University and concerns on Title IX compliance as reasons behind the move.
...

GRCC is the fourth school in the Midwest Football Conference to drop its football program in the past five years.

In November, Joliet (Ill.) Junior College eliminated its program.

They cited two primary factors similar to GRCC — the high costs associated with operating the program and the need to balance gender equality among sports offered at the college because of Title IX requirements.'

This time Ask Amy got it right in Husband faces wife's fraud over in vitro embryos (1/17/12). She wanted another child so she forged his name on the papers and had the embryo implanted. There is no way that wife can use the "it was an accident" excuse. It will be interesting to see what happens to the birth rate -- and that excuse--when Vasalgel is approved (it's essentially a completely reversible vasectomy). Excerpt:

'Dear Amy:
...
I wasn't ready to have another child at that time and told her so.

Unfortunately, my wife forged my signature on the clinic paperwork for the embryo transfers and never told me.

I only found out by contacting the fertility center after the fact.

I've tried numerous times to get her to go to marriage counseling to talk about this and other problems, but she won't go because she feels that whatever problems we have are my fault.
...
Dear Sad: Your wife's selfishness is truly shocking.

Article here. Except:

'When men think they outnumber women, they borrow more, save less and make more impulse purchases, according to a study published last week by the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

University researchers asked groups of men to read news articles suggesting that their local population had either more men or women. They were then asked to indicate how much money they would save each month from a paycheck, as well as how much they would borrow on credit cards for purchases.

When the articles suggested there was a surplus of men, the savings rate fell 42%, and the men were willing to borrow 84% more each month.

The study also found real-life evidence of this behavior. In Columbus, Ga., where there are 1.18 single men for every single woman, the average consumer debt was $3,479 higher than it was 100 miles away in Macon, Ga., where there were 0.78 single men for every woman.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"Investors are gambling on bitter divorce battles between women and their rich husbands in return for a share of the spoils, it has emerged.

Venture capitalists, hedge funds and high-end lenders are putting up money to women who want to fight their husbands in court.

In return, the investors take a chunk of the court payouts.

According to The Sunday Times, one company now has loans out to more than 100 'high net worth' spouses - it charges about 20 per cent interest for up-front divorce financing.

Article here.

'Marina, Calif. Supporters of the movement to ban circumcision in San Francisco came out Saturday to protest the American Civil Liberties Union on the California State University Monterey Bay Campus.

San Francisco approved a November 2011 ballot measure to outlaw circumcision of minors in the city. But a judge took if off the ballot last summer, saying the city has no authority to ban circumcision.

Supporters say ACLU members, who were holding a seminar today near the Monterey College of Law, played a big part in stopping the ballot measure.

"We want little boys in this country to enjoy the same legal projection that little girls currently enjoy under federal law which prohibits any form of female circumcision or genital mutilation," said David Lane, an anti-circumcision activist.

The activists say they will not be able to get the measure on another ballot, but will continue to protest circumcision until a law banning them is on the books.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some people love to laugh at Victorian values. The favourite target is 19th century attitudes to sexual morality, which are routinely labelled as hypocritical.

We are frequently reminded that the Victorians were so prudish that they used to cover up their piano legs. This is rubbish, perpetuated by people who don’t know that covering up the piano legs was actually a Victorian joke about sex. Believed originated by the author Captain Marryat in 1839, taking the rise out of Americans.

Link here. Excerpt:

'A great opportunity to make a difference in the ever changing environment of Education, Training and Employment in the Western and Northern Metropolitan region. Reporting to the Workforce Development Manager, Northern Futures Incorporated, this position is responsible for the implementation and coordination of the Powerful Pathways for Women Project. The project has been funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in conjunction with the Local Employment Co-ordinator Flexible Funding Pool, TAFE, and ETSA.
...
To be successful you will have previous project officer experience with an understanding of the challenges facing women in traditional trades; in addition to this you will work well with people from various cultural backgrounds.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The death toll from the Costa Concordia tragedy has reached five, and more stories are emerging about the chaos inside the luxury cruise liner as it started to go down.

Melbourne mother Michelle Barraclough told the Herald Sun that she had to fight hysterical adults to hold on to her 12-year-old daughter, and that the men were the worst.

“Everybody just shoved and screamed in 15 different languages,” she said.

“The people that pushed their way on to the boat were then trying to tell them to shut the door, not to let any more people on the boat after they had pushed their way on.

“We just couldn’t believe it - especially the men, they were worse than the women.”
...
Personally, I would hope that the stronger people would look after the weaker. That a man or a strong woman would help a child to safety before saving themselves. That a swimmer would help a non-swimmer. That somehow, in the anarchy, there would be heroes.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Oftentimes teenagers are stereotyped as being impolite and self-centered. Dana Lyman of Highland disagrees. She is impressed by the young men who share her daughter's bus stop. Without any of suggestion from parents or the bus driver, these young men step aside every morning and afternoon before boarding the bus so the girls can get on first.

The polite gesture of these Timberline Middle School students began about two weeks after the school year began.

"As the students were getting on the bus Isaac Emerson put up his hand and said, 'come on guys, let the girls go first' and the boys agreed," she said. "That morning set the standard which holds to this day."

She added, "It's really windy up here sometimes. But, it doesn't matter if it's windy or snowy, they consistently show kindness and respect by letting the girls go first."

To Isaac this is something that doesn't require much forethought or planning. It comes naturally.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Decades on such notions evidently continue to result in women being treated less harshly by the criminal justice system. Jeffries wrote, "In New Zealand ... women are less likely than men to be ... sentenced to imprisonment" and "[o]nce imprisoned, NZ women receive shorter terms than men."

This was fascinating. I'd never considered the possibility that gender biases would be so deeply entrenched within our justice system.

Those who reject the "chivalry thesis" make claims that women's law-breaking tends to be less serious than that of men, hence the comparably lighter sentences. But a 1999 study using a Ministry of Justice database "[w]ith all independent variables controlled" confirmed "that men were more likely than women to be imprisoned."

Article here.

'The state is broke. As the governor has said, California needs to focus on core functions like education. As we seriously contemplates trimming three weeks off the school year, even the Commission on the Status of Women's annual budget, a paltry $465 thousand dollars, becomes a luxury the state can no longer afford.

There are plenty of private groups that do what the commission does. The National Organization of Women, The California Budget Project, the American Association of University Women, and more. They aren't going away.

Unlike 1965, when the commission was established, women are a significant presence in commerce today. They now make up more than a quarter of the Legislature. California has a woman Attorney General.