Article here. Here in the US, women have a higher literacy rate, are the majority of college students, have superior health care, are the minority of unemployed citizens, and are less likely to become homeless. I'm not sure what they mean by conflicts, but men make up the overwhelming majority of war time casualties. Sexual violence? Forced male circumcision is a form of sexual violence. Feminists speak about increased productivity if women were represented in higher numbers through out different industries, yet I hear no one mention education. Women make up the majority of school teachers, one would think increasing the number of male teachers would improve the education system. Excerpt:

'Prominent female politicians including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff joined voices Monday to demand a greater global political role for women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'When the war began, recruitment was massive and enthusiastic as millions of young men responded to Lord Kitchener’s poster appeal: ‘Your country needs you’. But not every man rushed to join the colours, so girls brandishing white feathers were organised by a retired sailor, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald, to shame ‘slackers’ into joining up

The first foray of his Order of the White Feather was on the seafront at Folkestone, where 30 of the women pounced on any man not in uniform.

‘Are you deaf or indifferent to your country’s needs?’ the girls demanded to know, before reminding the men that British soldiers were fighting and dying while they took their leisure.

‘Here’s a gift for a brave soldier,’ they said sarcastically as they handed out the feathers. Fuelled by newspaper reports, the movement quickly spread.

Article here. Excerpt:

'No boys allowed! Jimmy Cao, a 16-year-old senior, is not allowed to play on the Hillsborough High School girls field hockey team, even though there’s no team for boys. Letting boys play on girls teams could eliminate opportunities for female athletes, according to New Jersey’s governing body for high school athletics. Title IX, however, does permit girls to play on boys teams — including contact sports such as wrestling or hockey — if there’s no team for girls.

Laura Pappano, co-author of “Playing With the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal,” played field hockey in high school and at Yale. She spoke to editorial writer Julie O’Connor about why she believes it would be good for the girls on this team, and female athletes in general, to let Cao play.'

Article here. A web search has turned up richard.branson-at-virgin.net as his email address, but it is likely to be read by a member of his staff rather than him. Still, it'll at least get read by someone there. Excerpt:

'There's a way that few people know about that can save millions of lives at next to no cost. That is voluntary medical male circumcision. The bottom line is that it reduces transmission of HIV by 60% in men, the greatest benefits accruing in developing nations that are hardest hit by the epidemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO), UNAIDS and PEPFAR are leading the world in scaling-up circumcision efforts as part of the fight against AIDS.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Reporting from Sacramento— Drastically redefining incarceration in California, prison officials are about to start releasing thousands of female inmates who have children to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.

The move, which could affect nearly half the women held in state facilities, will help California meet a court-imposed deadline to make space in its chronically overcrowded prisons. The policy could be extended to male inmates in the near future, administrators said Monday.

Article here. Excerpt:

Link here. Excerpt:

'Myth: You have to get the baby circumcised because it is really hard to keep a baby's penis clean.

Reality check: In babies, the foreskin is completely fused to the head of the penis. You cannot and should not retract it to clean it, as this would cause the child pain, and is akin to trying to clean the inside of a baby girl's vagina.
...
Myth: Little boys won't clean under their foreskins and will get infections.

Reality check: The foreskin separates and retracts on its own sometime between age 3 and puberty. Before it retracts on its own, you wipe the outside off like a finger.
...
Myth: Uncircumcised penises get smelly smegma.

Reality check: Actually, smegma is produced by the genitals of both women and men during the reproductive years.

...
Myth: "My uncle wasn't circumcised and he kept getting infections and had to be circumcised as an adult."

A HHS.gov mailing list email:

'You are subscribed to Funding Opportunities from The Office on Women’s Health (OWH). This information has recently been updated, and is now available.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Request for Proposals (RFP)
09/15/2011 12:00 AM EDT

Funding is available for activities and events in support of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD...

Story here. Excerpt:

'Maria Gonzales-Esquivel, King County Prosecutors say, tortured and assaulted her male housemate and his children for more than two years, sending the man to the hospital at least six times and blinding him partially in his left eye.

Despite his injuries, which included punctured lungs, wounds to his genitals and a broken nose, prosecutors say the man repeatedly covered for his tormentor, insisting that his ex-wife had possessed the woman and that the ex was responsible for the abuse, not Gonzales-Esquivel.

On Tuesday morning, 46-year-old Gonzales-Esquivel pleaded not guilty at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent to five charges of second-degree assault, including assaults against the daughter. She remains in jail on $200,000 bail.

Eleven days from today, SAVE will be launching the most ambitious project ever undertaken by our movement: injecting domestic violence reform into the upcoming political campaign.

All across the country, we will be asking candidates for state and national office to commit themselves to the challenge of fixing of domestic violence laws.

And this is where you come in....

This coming Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9pm Eastern time, SAVE will be holding the Campaign 2012 orientation. The teleconference will cover:

1. How to find out when a campaign event is planned in your area
2. What flyers are available to distribute
3. Good questions to ask the candidate
4. How to follow up

The theme of Campaign 2012 is Stop False Allegations. Volunteers will receive a free T-shirt to wear at campaign events.

Some background:

The Last Days of the American Male

'Hanna Rosin's 2010 Atlantic cover story, "The End of Men," was one of the most talked-about magazine articles in recent years. "Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind," wrote Rosin, an award-winning journalist for Slate and the Atlantic. "But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed."

That shift, she says, hasn't showed signs of slowing in the past year. And that's why she'll debate for the motion that "men are finished" during the Sept. 20 live Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. debate at NYU.

Retort:

Oh, Come On, Men Aren't Finished

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many might be unaware of the boy crisis in America, but Montclair State University alumnus Dr. Warren Farrell is determined to change that. As Chair of the Commission to Create a White House Council on Boys to Men, he is looking to bring the nation’s attention to this quiet crisis.

Last week he returned to his alma mater to discuss the troubling topic as part of the lecture series presented by the College of Education and Human Services.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Wal-Mart appears to be hoping that a new multibillion-dollar initiative will not only help women, but will also aid in changing its image.

Three months ago, Wal-Mart achieved a major legal victory – but incurred public-relations problems – when the US Supreme Court threw out an employee class-action lawsuit against it. Some 1.5 million women were suing for pay and promotion. It was the largest gender-discrimination class-action lawsuit in history.

“The Supreme Court decision in the Wal-Mart sex-discrimination class action has received an incredible amount of media attention, much of it negative and critical of the court’s decision in favor of Wal-Mart,” says Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law. Mr. Johnson made his comments in an e-mail.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Men are increasingly being banned from council events in Melbourne because it's not appropriate for men to mix with Muslim women, a newspaper reports.

The Darebin Council will ban men from a music concert in December, while another female-only event marking the end of Ramadan was recently cancelled, the Herald Sun reports.

Darebin Mayor Diana Asmar said these events were aimed at women who, "due to their cultural and religious backgrounds, cannot attend events where men and women both attend".

The paper reports the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has backed the bans, and declared councils no longer needed to apply to the court for such exemptions.

Darebin Council originally asked the court for an exemption under the Equal Opportunities Act to stage the women-only events, but was told the events did not discriminate and special exemption was unnecessary.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'BUFFALO, N.Y. — An upstate New York woman has admitted to gambling away thousands of dollars raised to help her son fight cancer.

The Buffalo News reports that 46-year-old Sherry Holcomb of Cortland pleaded guilty Wednesday in state Supreme Court to a felony count of scheme to defraud.

The newspaper reports that Holcomb confessed to losing $15,000 of her son's benefit money while gambling at casinos in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Canada.

Prosecutors say the money had been raised for her 21-year-old son, Ryan O'Donnell, who's being treated for leukemia.'