From IA:

America’s medical organizations all acknowledge that infant circumcision is NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY—yet their members are responsible for nearly all the infant circumcisions performed in the United States!

This October, pediatricians are gathering in Boston for the American Academy of Pediatrics' annual conference, and Intact America will be there once again to tell doctors that circumcision is wrong for baby boys. Thanks to our ongoing Put Down The Knife! campaign, you too can tell doctors that circumcision is a harmful violation of a child’s right to bodily integrity, and it needs to end NOW.

If you haven't yet sent your letter, write to America's doctors right now and demand that they tell parents the truth about circumcision. If you’ve already sent your letter, then please consider asking your friends, family, and coworkers to send letters of their own. The larger our community, the louder our voice!

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's hard to make a cut-and-dried women's-rights issue out of this case because of the accuser's credibility problem, though the sisterhood did have some words to say. "This miscarriage of justice exhibits all the hallmarks of a society that tolerates sexual violence by blaming and shaming the survivors -- but the real shame belongs with the perpetrators and the prosecutors who allow them to walk off scot-free," said National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill.

It is, of course, not at all clear that that is what happened. And will NOW take some responsibility in this mess, for contributing to a culture in which men and women are always adversarial rather than complementary? In which sex is the ultimate expression of independence and power, rather than a beautiful, intimate, life-giving act of love and mutual respect and human dignity?

Article here. Excerpt:

'A NEW women’s only group is being launched by the Banbury Constituency Labour Party on Wednesday (August 31).

The launch is open to members and non-members of the Labour Party and will take place at The Great Western Arms in Aynho.Organiser Annie Higgs said: “The purpose of the group is for women to share issues that affect them both locally and nationally, to meet socially with like-minded women and to invite inspiring speakers. We have an exciting programme of events coming up across the whole constituency.

“I’m hoping this group will empower women and give them a voice.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'KEARNEY — Just For Us aims to offer women information, relaxation and fun.

The new women’s event will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 10 at Younes Convention Center. This is the first year the Kearney Hub will partner with Good Samaritan Hospital to present Just For Us.

The event will include exhibit booths, keynote speaker Peggy Kline, breakout sessions on women’s health issues, on-stage demonstrations, door prizes and more.'

Welcome to the web-based multimedia project that's putting real faces and voices to the current Jewish movement opposing circumcision. This dynamic site is being created by, for and about Jews who are united in the belief that cutting children's genitals is unnecessary and harmful. As our name implies, an increasing number of Jewish people are moving in a more ethical, more humanitarian and more Jewish direction: beyond the bris.

As we reported last week, the U.S. Department of Education (DED) has issued a directive that requires colleges to use the "preponderance of evidence" standard in handling allegations of sexual assault, a standard that in practice removes the presumption of innocence.

Editorials rightly continue to condemn this directive, like:

The New Rules of College Sex

We'd like to thank all of you who contacted Ms. Russlyn Ali, Assistant Secretary, Office for Civil Rights last week by email and phone. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

We are being ignored, and that is unacceptable. This week we take it to the top!

Let's flood the inbox and voice mailbox of Secy. Of Education Arne Duncan. Be resolute and be persistent. Politely yet firmly insist Mr. Duncan remove the sex assault policy that strips due process from the accused.

Please contact Arne Duncan today:
Telephone: 202-401-3000
Email: arne.duncan-at-ed.gov

Your voice matters. Use it.

Article here. Excerpt:

'ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska woman convicted of punishing her adopted Russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth was spared immediate jail time on Monday.

Thirty-six-year-old Jessica Beagley was given three years of probation, a 180-day suspended jail sentence and a $2,500 fine — also suspended — after she was convicted last week of misdemeanor child abuse. Prosecutors say she used a videotape of herself punishing the 7-year-old boy as a ploy to get on the "Dr. Phil" TV show.

Beagley submitted the eight-minute tape for a show segment titled "Mommy Confessions." She said the boy had lied about getting into trouble at school.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'A woman faces life in jail for killing and dismembering an aged pensioner in a bizarre case that prosecutors say shows the dark side of society.

South Australian Supreme Court Justice Trish Kelly found on Tuesday Angelika Gavare, 35, murdered Vonne McGlynn, 82, on or about December 3, 2008.

Gavare wanted to steal Mrs McGlynn's house to make a better life for herself and her two daughters.
...
Gavare became a suspect after she tried to withdraw money from Mrs McGlynn's account and was found with a forged power of attorney, a shed smelling of rotten flesh and some of her victim's things.

Gavare denied killing Mrs McGlynn but admitted she was a liar, a thief, a fraudster and hoped to profit from the pensioner's death.

She appeared surprised at the verdict.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I see it in the school district where I work. Girls punching boys — punching them hard, sometimes out of meanness, sometimes for fun, but still packing a wallop.

It's been increasing in recent times, with situation comedies either reflecting, or leading, the trend. How did these young people learn this? Has this nastiness come to be OK because boys are supposed to be able to take a punch without showing pain? Or do the boys get the whack because they're such muttonheads and they have it coming?
...
So the totals were: eight boys physically attacked by girls, seven boys hit by boys, three girls hit by other girls and one girl struck by a boy. So we're being trained to get a laugh from girls striking and berating boys, and we're being conditioned to believe that boys are sloppy and violent among themselves when they get together, but there's nothing comedic about a girl being injured, whichever sex caused the harm.

Alert here. Excerpt:

'Misandry, simply defined, is the pathological hatred of men and boys. It is the analog to misogyny, but with the bigotry and rage targeted at males.

Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, two scholars in the field of religious studies at McGill University in Montreal, popularized the word "misandry" in a series of books on the topic: Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture (2001); Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men (2006); Sanctifying Misandry: Goddess Ideology and the Fall of Man (2010).

Article here. Excerpt:

'As President Barack Obama puts together a new jobs plan to be revealed shortly after Labor Day, he is up against a powerful force, long in the making, that has gone virtually unnoticed in the debate over how to put people back to work: Employers are increasingly giving up on the American man.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Cut the cake! Both men and women are likely to pack on a few extra pounds after they get married. That modest figure is an average—it also includes married folks who gain or lose a significant amount of weight upon tying the knot. And according to a new study, marriage is linked to a heightened risk for major weight gain among women. For men, the pounds come a little bit later: after the divorce.

Add a steady waist measurement to one of the many social perks of marrying as a man. Married men make more money and get more promotions than single guys. They live longer, have less heart disease, drink less, smoke less weed, and experience less stress. Meanwhile, married women have less fulfilling sex lives and less free time than their husbands. They also have smaller paychecks. (They do get to keep smoking the same amount of weed). These factors help explain why women are less into marriage than men are. And they may also contribute to the gendered risk of gaining weight after getting hitched.

Article here. Excerpt:

'(SALEM, Ore.) - The past century has been marked by the declaration and protection of universal human rights, as well as a marked increase in the quality of life, both in the United States and worldwide. With these improvements, higher expectations regarding a child’s right to bodily autonomy have become socially accepted and legally mandated. Many argue that since female children in the U.S. are protected by a 1996 law banning female circumcision, this law should be expanded to include the protection of male children as well.

There are a growing number of Jews who are becoming increasingly vocal in questioning both the ethics and the legality of circumcision. Jews in the Reform Judaism movement have already been advocating for an end to ritual circumcision for the past 180 years. What follows is a collection of statements from Jews who question the ethics of forced under-age circumcision.
...
Here are some of these pioneers in their own words.

With growing concerns about denial of justice and fair treatment in laws and judicial system and with increasing suicides of men due to marital terror, men’s rights activists across India are demanding that “Men have a Right to live a dignified life” and society must not consider the lives of men as cheap or as disposable. We point at the facts like one married man is committing suicide in every 9 minutes and that intimate terror has no gender bias, while courts deny justice to male victims of intimate terror.

Men’s Rights activists today have no enthusiasm to celebrate August 15th as India's Independence Day, as they no longer feel any sense of freedom inside India’s biased justice system. “Staying alive" is a struggle for Indian men today.

The web site is at http://thewillfoundation.webs.com/. The author of the site (who also maintains another blog discussing legal abuse matters at http://dignifiedlife.blogspot.com/) lives in India and is looking for contributions to a regular, free magazine. According to his email note, he has been the victim of India's Penal Code 498A, a law originally intended to protect women from abuse by dowry-related fraud or misuse of the tradition of dowry, but has become used all too often as a means of gaining an upper-hand in divorce proceedings or in cases where a marriage has gone bad and the law is simply used as a means of getting the state to arrest or harass the husband and/or his family.