Article here. Excerpt:

'In India, as many as 61,453 married men ended their lives in 2010, compared to 31,754 women. After Chennai, Bangalore tops the list with 515 husbands taking the extreme step. Also, the rate of suicides among married men has almost doubled in the last 15 years. This makes us wonder whether more men are at the receiving end in marriages, or are there other issues that men face that need to be addressed.

According to Sneha Fernandes, counsellor at Transforming Lives, an organisation which provides family counselling, unlike women, men do not have options to vent their feelings of depression or frustration. “Women are expressive. They talk to their friends or family and depend on them for support. Whereas men are used to bottling up their feelings. I meet so many married men who just want someone to talk to and cry, but don’t find the comfort in their partners.
...

From Marc A.:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently told California Lawyer Magazine: "In fact, I've said quite often that if I were to invent an affirmative action plan, it would be to give men every incentive to be close to children. We would have a healthier world, I think, if men shared women's responsibility for bringing up the next generation."

Does this mean she would have affirmative action for fathers in child custody cases?

Although it's from 29 Nov 2008, this quote was still relevant today. From the opening of the article:

"LAGOS - THE Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, on Friday said sex spelt fleeting satisfaction and trouble later, while chastity offered a better life and 'more freedom'.

'Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication,' the Dalai Lama told reporters in a Lagos hotel, speaking in English without a translator.

He said conjugal life caused 'too much ups and downs.'"

Editorial remark:

Article here. Posting because of an interesting statement by the alleged mom's attorney:

'It's illegal in California to have sex with someone under age 18. If the other person is not more than three years older, it is a misdemeanor, which carries up to a one-year jail sentence.

"The issue of statutory rape, even if she's guilty, hypothetically, that has no bearing on the duties to provide child support," said one of Yeater's lawyers, Matthew Pare. "It's a totally separate issue."

Pare said he and his client have not been contacted by authorities or anyone representing Bieber. He said Yeater is a stay-at-home mother who is looking for adequate child support if a paternity test determines Bieber is the father.'

That's the way the system works, guys. Can you imagine any woman paying child support to her rapist?

A 43 year old Orange County woman is charged with having sex with a 12 year old boy. Here is the article. Excerpt:

'A 43-year-old Fountain Valley woman was charged with having sex with a 12-year-old boy who was her son's friend, authorities said Thursday afternoon.

Patricia Ann Serrano is charged with three felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 with a sentencing enhancement for substantial sexual conduct with a child, the Orange County district attorney's office said. She is scheduled for a continued arraignment Friday.

In October, Serrano allegedly had sex with the boy twice -- in a car and in her home, according to the district attorney' office.

The boy's mother discovered Serrano in a room with the victim. Serrano had allegedly been kissing the boy, but the mother did not observe any wrongdoing, the district attorney's office said. The mother became suspicious and alerted police.'

Via email from Tom:

Press release, Friday, November 4th, 2011:

Tom Martin, the man suing the London School of Economics (LSE) for sex discrimination in one of its gender studies Masters degrees, appears in a new video asking LSE students if they think discrimination against men in a curriculum is justifiable, as the university's defence team have argued.

Via email from a reader:

Yesterday the Norgrove report was published in the UK. It will define family policy for years to come and will describe the guiding principles of how fathers will be valued in the family:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/policy/moj/family-justice-review-final-report.pdf

Story here. Excerpt:

'LAS VEGAS (AP) — A San Diego woman who claims pop star Justin Bieber fathered her 3-month-old son has a court date in Las Vegas on allegations she slapped an ex-boyfriend.

Court records show 20-year-old Mariah Yeater (YAY'-ter) faces a bench trial Dec. 12 on a misdemeanor battery charge that could get her six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A police report says Yeater slapped her 18-year-old ex-boyfriend Dec. 21, 2010. The two were arguing about a window broken on the car of the his new girlfriend.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

'BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A Texas mother pleaded guilty Friday to killing her 6-year-old son in New Hampshire and disposing of his body in rural Maine, and a prosecutor said the woman smothered her son with motel room pillows and the child struggled against her for "about three minutes" before he died.

In a deal with prosecutors, Julianne McCrery, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her son, Camden Hughes.

She is expected to be to be sentenced to 45 years to life in prison on Jan. 13, 2012.

After her arrest, McCrery told police she drove cross-country from Irving, Texas to Maine to buy castor beans to use in committing suicide, and spent the drive thinking of ways to kill her young son, Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said in court.

"There was no one else in her family she believed was fit to raise him if she were dead and she did not think he should be raised by social services," Morrell said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Fathers and grandparents will not be given any legal right to see children after a break-up, under the biggest changes to family law in a generation.

In what was immediately denounced as a ‘betrayal’ of the family, a major report today rules against giving men shared or equal time with their children when a relationship ends.

It suggests fathers will even be denied the legal right to maintain a ‘meaningful relationship’ with their families, as this ‘would do more harm than good’.
...

The report says: ‘No legislation should be introduced that creates or risks creating the perception that there is a parental right to substantially shared or equal time for both parents.’
...
Mr Norgrove believes that enshrining such rights in law could slow down already lengthy and expensive custody cases.

Article here. Excerpt:

'On Oct. 31, 2011, the world was blindsided by the news that reality TV star Kim Kardashian was divorcing her husband, National Basketball Association star Kris Humphries. The couple had married on Aug. 20, 2011, in a storybook wedding worth $10 million. A mere 72 days later, however, Kardashian had filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Fortunately, the couple had a prenuptial agreement in place, so each party is likely to walk away with their finances intact.

This puts Humphries in a better situation than many of his fellow divorced sports personalities, many of whom never had such a contract in place prior to exchanging vows. Maybe they believed they truly would live happily ever after with their spouses, or perhaps they never knew they needed one in the first place.

Either way, they failed to protect themselves, and it cost them dearly.
...

• Jeff Gordon and Brooke Sealey

Article here. Good piece but he completely neglects the fact that if Cain were a she, even if she had done anything like he is alleged to have done if not much worse, even the most provable and verifiable such allegation would get no exposure at all. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- If Herman Cain committed sexual harassment and is now lying about it, his goose is cooked and it should be. But if he is telling the truth, there is something terribly disconcerting about the way the Washington "scandal industrial complex" -- full of reporters, former campaign workers and pundits -- has reacted to this sad story.

After the story broke in Politico, Cain the next day denied that he sexually harassed anyone, which after all, is the core issue. Since then, other anonymous sources claim they too were harassed, without anyone really knowing what the alleged harassment entailed. He has been consistent, unwavering and on the record in his denial.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Zimmetro — Myths are everywhere and men face stereotypes every day as well as women. I often hear heart-broken women saying that all men are well, bad, to put it gently, and her friends are nodding in agreement. Generalizations are pertinent to humans but most times stereotypes only do harm. Let’s debunk some myths about men.

#1 Men Are Not Emotional
Have you ever seen a male teen making a scene because of some trifle? Well, child or teen males are always taught to be more restrained when it comes to emotions. In childhood men always hear: “Don’t cry, you’re not a girl.” So with such upbringing, which is supposed to prepare males to their future social roles no wonder why men don’t gladly share their feelings with wives or God forbid their friends. It just seems not too manly.

Some men want to be seen in one and only role – aggressive male, but people are too different for that. Often men are not too happy to be that, feeling that there is more to them than just testosterone.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The New York Post has noted that under normal circumstances, this would not normally draw the attention of prosecutors, both because of the limited age difference between the two and because underage males are oftentimes perceived as being left unscathed by sexual experiences with slightly older women. But the high profile of this case might change that. Steve Cron, a California defense lawyer, told the Post: “Under these circumstances, the DA’s office has to show they’re not treating women differently, not treating a celebrity differently, [and] they might have to do something.”

While there are many questions that remain to be answered, if it is determined that the allegations against Bieber are true, Yeater has opened herself up to prosecution. If Yeater were found guilty of misdemeanor statutory rape, she would likely be punished with probation. But it adds yet another complicating legal issue to what promises to be one of the more high profile paternity suits in years.'