Article here. Excerpt:

'Last spring, I told you that Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s president and creative director, wasn’t just having a little, harmless fun with her son Beckett when she published a photograph of herself painting his toenails hot pink in a J. Crew catalogue—a catalogue distributed to millions of people.

The quote accompanying the image of Beckett read, “Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.”

I said Lyons was making a cultural statement about masculinity no longer being important to boys—that she was, essentially, uncomfortable with his gender.

Article here. More whining about how unfair life is to female leaders. Don't know how to break it to these women but it's just the way life is once you leave the kitchen. Even God isn't liked by everyone. Excerpt:

'"A woman who shows emotion in the workplace is often cast as too fragile or unstable to lead,” Bock said. “A woman who shows no emotion and keeps it hyper-professional is icy and unfeminine. For many women, it can be a no-win situation.”'

Kinda reminds me of what is often said about men. If they're too emotional, they're weak. If they clam up, they're told they need to show their emotions. It's often a no-win situation for men. What a coincidence.

Sen. Patrick Leahy is currently circulating a draft of the Violence Against Women Act: http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/VAWA-2011-Draft.pdf. Even though SAVE representatives met with Sen. Leahy's staff over the last 2 years, the draft VAWA totally, completely, 100% misses the mark. These are the reasons why the draft bill is Dead on Arrival:

• Nothing to make sure real victims get priority - see summary: http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Fatally-Flawed.pdf
• Zero attention to false allegations.
• Nothing to rein in DV lies.
• Nada to address mandatory arrest.
• No attempt to make VAWA gender-neutral

Worse, the bill will take the Dept. of Education's directive on sexual assault on campus and turn the "preponderance of evidence" standard into statutory law.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Bobby Montoya is a 7-year-old boy from Denver. Unlike a lot of young boys, Bobby has no desire to join the Boy Scouts. Instead, he wants to be a Girl Scout.

We first saw Montoya's story over at 9news.com. The NBC affiliate reports that when the boy's mother, Felisha Archuleta, tried to sign her son up for Girl Scouts, a troop leader told her no.
...
We placed a call to Rachelle Trujillo, vice president of communications at Girl Scouts of Colorado, for further clarification. She replied with this statement: "Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization, and we accept all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child lives life as a girl and the family brings the child to us to participate in Girl Scouts, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her. Girl Scouts of Colorado respects the privacy of all girls and families we work with. When a family requests membership for their daughter, we do not require proof of gender, we respect the decisions of families."

Alert here. Excerpt:

'Fathers and Families has joined with Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in a joint letter to protest an advertisement from the luxury shoes, clothing, and bags company Jimmy Choo Ltd. The ad appears both on their website and in many of their storefronts. We explained:

Unwittingly, your ad both trivializes domestic violence and makes it appear that partner abuse is acceptable. The man in the photo appears to be in fear and possibly in pain or even dead, and the woman pictured seems to be about to put her full weight on the man’s skull.

We suggest you call Jimmy Choo Ltd CEO Joshua Schulman and Chief Creative Officer Tamara Mellon and let them know that the ad is offensive and should be removed. They can be reached in their New York office at (212) 319-1111.'

---
Ed note: The image in the ad can be seen here.

Story here. Excerpt:

'NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (Associated Press) — Four children were removed from what authorities described as a filthy Nebraska trailer home where a 3-year-old boy and his 5-year-old brother were kept in a wire dog kennel, police said Tuesday.

North Platte officers went to the home late Monday after receiving a call from someone asking that police check on the welfare of the children living there, police Lt. Rich Hoaglund said. When officers went inside, they were met with the stench of urine and found trash and animal feces throughout the home, Hoaglund said.

An officer soon found two boys, ages 3 and 5, in a 30-by-42-inch wire dog kennel.

"They had a small child's mattress in there, and that's where both kids were sleeping," Hoaglund said. "The gate on that door was wired shut."

The children's mother, 22-year-old Ashly Clark, told officers she put her boys in the kennel at night to keep them from climbing out of the trailer through a window, Hoaglund said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The letter stated that in hearings for these cases, schools must adhere to a standard of "preponderance of evidence."

That means it is more likely than not that the accused committed the act. This is the lowest legal standard of evidence. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has been one of the most outspoken critics of the new mandate.

"This is too low of a standard," Will Creeley, the director of legal and public advocacy for FIRE, said. "This is the same standard used in hearings for speeding tickets."

The campus sexual harassment standards explained by the OCR letter are a part of Title IX, a U.S. law designed to ensure gender equality on campus. The letter reminded schools of their obligation to take immediate action against the harassment and address its effects.

Story here. Excerpt:

'FORT DODGE, Iowa – A woman forced a 20-year-old neighbor to write a diary framing her ex-husband in a murder-for-hire scheme and then killed him because she didn't think he could keep his role a secret, a prosecutor said Wednesday at her first-degree murder trial.

Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand told jurors in an opening statement that Tracey Richter invited Dustin Wehde to her home on Dec. 13, 2001 and forced him to create a diary claiming he had been hired by her first husband, John Pitman, to kill her and her 11-year-old son Bert.
...
The prosecutor said as part of the plan, Richter had Wehde, a loner who had spent time hanging out with her husband, back later that night and shot him nine times from two guns. Three shots that went through the back of Wehde's head would have been instantly fatal, he said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'LEBANON, Ohio -- Two female students testified Tuesday that a Mason teacher accused of having sex with five male students hatched her defense before she was ever found out.

Stacy Schuler faces 16 charges of sexual battery and three charges of providing alcohol to minors for a series of incidents that occurred between August and December 2010.
...
KD testified that she and Schuler confided in each other about everything, including the events that occurred between Schuler and two male students.

"She told me that something had happened with RS and EK (the two students). She said she was really drunk and she thought something happened with RS," KD testified.

KD said that Schuler was crying as she told her that she was afraid of losing everything if anyone found out what happened.

She also testified that Schuler told her she had already thought of her defense if anyone found out.

"She said that if anyone found out, she already had her defense, that she would claim she was insane," KD testified.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Historically, most colleges used a “clear and convincing” evidence standard in student and faculty discipline cases, to safeguard due process. As Nicholas Trott Long noted in 1985 in the Journal of College and University Law, “Courts, universities, and student defendants all seem to agree that the appropriate standard of proof in student disciplinary cases is one of ‘clear and convincing’ evidence.” (Long, The Standard of Proof in Student Disciplinary Cases, 12 J.C. & U.L. 71 (1985)).

Story here. Excerpt:

'Maria Topp, 44, from Wreckenton, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm at Newcastle Crown Court.

She bit Martin Douglas, her partner of five years, during a drunken brawl at his flat in February.

She was granted bail to be sentenced next month and Recorder Robin Mairs warned her: ''All options are open and that will include locking you up.''

Topp, a mother of four with a blonde bob, bit Mr Douglas's testicles off at his flat in Waterloo Street, Newcastle, during the early hours of February 18.

She cannot remember biting her partner, but can recall their fight, and the court accepted that violence had been used by both sides.

Caroline Goodwin, defending, told a previous hearing: "The defendant was on her back with the victim straddling her."

Mr Douglas was so traumatised by his injuries that emergency services staff struggled to understand him when he dialled 999. The 45-year-old DJ later required 19 stitches to his wound.'

From an Office on Women's Health mailing list email:

'Free Training Available For Quick Health Data Online

The Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health is pleased to announce the availability of free training for the online health statistics system, Quick Health Data Online. The system contains data on demographics, mortality, reproductive and maternal health, disease incidence, and access to care at the county level for all states and territories; additionally, data are included on prevention, violence, and mental health at the state level. To the extent possible, data are provided by race, ethnicity, and gender, and where applicable/available, by age. Also, the system incorporates graphing and mapping features so that the data of interest can be used directly as tables, graphs/chart, and maps.Please join us for a free training session!

Quick Health Data Online 101

QHDO 101 will provide an overview on health indicators available, preparing custom queries, and generating tables, graphs, and basic maps.

Story here. Excerpt:

'CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina mother who told police her son killed three family members and himself has been charged with quadruple murder because she wanted their life insurance money, police said on Tuesday.

Susan Diane Hendricks, 48, was charged with the murder of her two sons, Matthew, 23, and Marshall, 20, her ex-husband Mark Hendricks, 52, and her stepmother, Linda Burns, who was in her mid-60s, police said.
...
Family members told police that Hendricks' motive was life insurance money. Hendricks was the beneficiary of multiple life insurance policies taken out by the victims, according to a police report.

Police said Hendricks killed the victims with a handgun that she kept in her night stand.

Pickens County Sheriff David Stone called it "a horrendous act of evil."
...
In 2006, Hendricks shot Doyle "Brian" Teague dead, telling police he had entered her home uninvited and threatened someone. Police determined she had acted in self-defense.'

Article here. No mention of girls getting vaccinated in part to prevent them from spreading the sexually transmitted virus to boys. Excerpt:

'A government panel wants young boys as well as girls to get the controversial HPV vaccine, in part to prevent them from spreading the sexually transmitted virus to girls.

The HPV vaccine has been recommended for young girls to protect them against cervical cancer and genital warts for the last five years. But the vaccine has been slow to catch on — only about a third of adolescent girls have gotten all three shots.

Experts say the HPV vaccine could protect boys against genital warts and some kinds of cancers. But they also say vaccinating 11- and 12-year old boys could help prevent them from spreading the human papillomavirus to girls.
...
There are two vaccines against HPV, but Tuesday's vote applies only to Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, which costs $130 a dose. The other vaccine wasn't tested for males.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Domestic violence against men is a story that is rarely told. Their stories will not be readily posted in the headlines or shown on the evening news, simply because women are normally the ones reporting the abuse, not men. According to some statistics in 2008 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that 11.5 men reported being abused by their mates.

While conducting research for this article I discovered that there was much more information available on domestic violence against women than that of men. This would be expected and for a number of reasons.

Many men refuse to report domestic violence for fear of embarrassment, ridicule and that no one will believe them. Society says that men are supposed to be the stronger sex, not the weaker. Men are also afraid of mistakenly being viewed as the perpetrator and being hauled off to jail. When men do decide to call the police to report the abuse, they may be wrongfully locked up when the police arrive.
...