"Source: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health"

Link here. Excerpt:

'Mental health helps us face the challenges in our life, makes us feel comfortable, supports our physical health, and more. But day-to-day stress and difficult times can wear down our mental health. Major changes like losing a job, the death of a loved one, going off to combat, or coming out as gay can be especially hard. And even happy times — like becoming a father — can take a toll on your emotions.

Today, we know a lot more about ways to promote mental health. Try some simple steps, like making sure to get enough sleep, getting social support, exercising, and finding healthy ways to cope when you feel stressed.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The annual convention of the National Education Association in Chicago this year again passed a bunch of feminist resolutions. For example, Resolution I-61 again put the NEA on record as endorsing the long-dead Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA was debated for ten years, 1972 to 1982 and rejected by the American people, but the NEA is trying to resurrect it. The NEA urges its affiliates to continue to support ratification of this amendment.

The NEA supports full funding for the Women’s Educational Equity Act. That’s a feminist boondoggle to funnel taxpayers’ money into radical feminist organizations. The NEA endorses the use of non-sexist language. That means rewriting textbooks to censor out so-called sexist words like man, woman, husband, wife, boy, girl, and even he and she.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Take, for example, Stanford University. Once Stanford got OCR's letter, it changed the standard of evidence during a student's case from "beyond a reasonable doubt" (say, 98-99 percent certainty) to the "preponderance" standard.

'You might not be surprised to learn that the student was found guilty. You might be surprised, though, about the training materials provided to jurors in sexual assault cases at Stanford. These instruct jurors that being "persuasive and logical" is a sign of guilt, that they should be "very, very cautious in accepting a man's claim that he has been wrongly accused of abuse or violence," and that maintaining neutrality is equivalent to siding with the accused.

Link to press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON—When it comes to mental illness, the sexes are different: Women are more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety or depression, while men tend toward substance abuse or antisocial disorders, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
...
The authors cited previous research that found women suffer more than men from depression, because “women ruminate more frequently than men, focusing repetitively on their negative emotions and problems rather than engaging in more active problem solving.”
...
Past research also indicated that women report more neuroticism and more frequent stressful life events than men do before the onset of a disorder, indicating that environmental stressors may also contribute to internalizing, the report said.'

Article here.

Shrink4Men Radio will begin on the AVfM Radio channel this coming Monday, September 12, 2011 at 9pm EST.

Please call in if you’re able to catch the show live with questions, comments or whatever happens to be on your mind.

Shrink4Men - for men who are recovering from relationships with abusive women and the non-abusive family and friends who love them.

Also see http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avoiceformen

Jews Speak Out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors

A growing number of Jews are in favor of banning circumcision on minors. These Jews recognize a minor's right to their own body, a right that supersedes the rights of a parent to harm the body of a child in the name of religion.

Article | July 28, 2011 - 4:33pm

“In Massachusetts, two Jewish mothers testified in favor of a law making circumcision illegal. Moreover, several Jews and Jewish organizations throughout the country are backing a proposed national law against circumcision. Jewish groups such as Jews Against Circumcision and the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation have endorsed the proposed American MGM bill, which would rewrite the U.S. Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996 so that boys are also protected from genital mutilation.”
- Questioning circumcision, by Shani McManus and Sergio Carmona, Florida Jewish Journal, June 06, 2011

Story here. Notice the headline identifies the man as her boyfriend while the story reports he denies they had a relationship. I would observe it's another example, albeit a subtle one, of media taking her word over his by default, even when she is the one clearly evincing the deranged behavior.

'AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch prosecutors are charging a 42-year-old woman with stalking after she allegedly called her ex-boyfriend 65,000 times in the past year.

The 62-year-old victim from The Hague filed a police complaint in August due to the persistent phone calls. Police arrested the suspected stalker Monday, seizing several cell phones and computers from her home in Rotterdam.

Hague prosecution spokeswoman Nicolette Stoel said Thursday the woman argued to judges at a preliminary hearing she had a relationship with the man and the number of calls she placed to him wasn't excessive. The man denied they had a relationship.

The court ordered her not to contact him again.'

From SAVE:

This is a photograph taken recently of television star Heather Morris (Brittany from "Glee") engaged in mock domestic violence with a male model.

In a series of fashion photos, Tyler Shields shows a black-eyed Morris dressed as Barbie, staring seductively into the camera, and later merrily pressing a hot iron to her partner's crotch. The photos depict a getting-what-he-deserves storyline that reinforces serious misconceptions about domestic violence. Men are stereotyped as abusers, and Barbie supposedly strikes a blow for victims everywhere.

The truth is that men are just as likely to be the victims of domestic violence as women (although they are much less likely to report the crime) and most of the time, domestic disputes result in mutual violence. Predictably, reactions to the photos have focused only on the abuse to Barbie: her assault of Ken has been ignored, even though it is the more serious crime.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the church of radical feminism “Women don’t lie about rape,” so it would be heretical to afford any man accused of rape a fair trial. The recent campus regulations from the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office codify this unjust belief, and virtually eliminate the accused’s rights to due process.

The new rules mandate how colleges and universities are to investigate and prosecute allegations of sexual assault. Campus judiciary boards, made up of students, professors and administrators, must judge allegations based on a “preponderance of the evidence” standard. In other words, to be found guilty, evidence only needs to prove that “more likely than not” an assault occurred. Among other things, universities are discouraged from giving the accused the right to confront their accuser. Any appeal process has to be available for both parties to exercise, creating the possibility of double jeopardy. Institutions that do not comply with these regulations risk losing all federal funding.

Article here. Excerpt:

"Feminism can be thought of as like a corporation. It's interested in its constituents. Well-meaning feminists are often trained only to see a certain way, only to support their constituents. That is partly what underlies the spurious research on battered-woman syndrome. Anyone who questions whether battered women are only simple victims is put in the pillory and crucified.

"There are young, inexperienced women who fall in love with a man and are put in a battering situation, but there is nothing wrong with them more than simple bad luck. That's absolutely possible and my heart goes out to them. But there's also a sizeable group - perhaps 40 to 50 per cent of battered women - who are themselves as much involved in the battering as the man. That simply isn't discussed; it's considered to be 'blaming the victim'. But in fact it's being more perceptive about the difference between real victims and those who portray themselves as victims.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Schools across the country have revamped their sexual assault response policies in the wake of new federal guidelines issued earlier this year.

The rules put a greater burden on schools and colleges to investigate possible sexual assaults by placing them in the same category as sexual harassment under Title IX, which deals with sex discrimination.
...
The changes have some arguing that the federal government has overstepped its bounds.

UNCW criminology and sociology professor Mike Adams said he believes the rules could result in more false reports of sexual assault.

Adams said he also worried about justice since victims now also can appeal a campus disciplinary decision if they disagree with its severity or new evidence comes to light.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many Massachusetts child support obligors are being driven underground, out of their homes, and out of their children’s lives by impossible child support demands. Fathers and Families filed and pursued a highly-publicized lawsuit challenging the state’s new child support guidelines–guidelines which actually raise child support levels in a terrible economy. Our lawsuit made it all the way up to Massachusetts’ highest court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled against us.

Our lawsuit has garnered extensive media coverage, including the recent pieces Dads’ group seeks child-support reform (Boston Herald, 9/2/11), SJC Upholds Child Support Guidelines (WBUR [NPR, Boston], 9/2/11), SJC rejects challenge to child support rules filed by fathers group (Boston Globe, 9/2/11), and Mass. high court upholds child support guidelines (Associated Press, 9/1/11), as well as previous pieces in the New York Times, Newsweek, Psychology Today, CBS radio, WRKO in Boston, FOX 25 TV in Boston, and many others.'

From SAVE:

Have you ever wondered what a candidate's take is on an issue like false allegations? We have. So we're going to ask.

The upcoming election is sure to be the most important and most heated election in recent memory.

This contest will be grabbing the media spotlight. And we'll be right there, asking our very important questions.

Campaign 2012: Stop False Allegations of Abuse will:

1. Increase public awareness about false allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse
2. Engage candidates for state and federal political office in the issue of false allegations
3. Secure commitments from these candidates to work to reform abuse laws

October will find us in New Hampshire. We're currently looking for local citizens to address presidential candidates. Interested?

You can be part of our Campaign 2012 team! We'll provide training, printed flyers, information about candidates' local town hall meetings, easy-to-use forms, and t-shirts.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Too few recognise the social progress Britain has made in recent decades. The gender pay gap has halved since the Seventies; the percentage of women on boards has doubled in the last decade; and half the top posts in the civil service are filled by women.

But worryingly, this month, the deadline expires for British FTSE companies to sign up to a commitment to have 25 per cent women in the boardroom by 2015. If too few comply, then the veiled threat of mandatory gender quotas looms. Far from advancing the meritocratic tide, such quotas would be regressive and counter-productive.

Since Lord Davies's report on the gender balance in the boardroom was published six months ago, headway has been made – 30 per cent of appointments to boards this year were women. But there have also been numerous complaints that the target is tokenistic. Sir Robert Wilson, chairman of the BG Group, points out that a 25 per cent target would require 100 per cent female appointments at his company for the next three years.

It's all beginning to take on a certain surreal quality. Link here. Excerpt:

'As individuals, we want choices that reflect who we are and what's right for our situation. Getting the right health care is no different.

Until recently, information that showed which treatments work best for certain groups of patients, especially women, was hard to find.

Now women's health research is a growing field. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a long-term study launched by the late National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Bernadine Healy, MD, has provided important information on preventing and treating heart disease, breast and colorectal cancers, and osteoporosis in women aged 50 to 79.

The WHI and the Office of Research on Women's Health, led for two decades by Vivian Pinn, MD, helped to ensure that women are fairly represented in NIH-sponsored studies. Before the WHI began, very few studies focusing solely on women had been conducted.'