Article here. Excerpt:

'Carmen Callil, one of three judges, claimed Roth did not deserve to make the shortlist let alone win the £60,000 prize.

Miss Callil, an author and founder of the feminist publishing house Virago, complained: “He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book. It's as though he's sitting on your face and you can't breathe”.

She was overruled by fellow judges Justin Cartwright, the South African novelist, and Rick Gekoski, a rare book dealer and writer.

Miss Callil complained: “I don't rate him as a writer at all. I made it clear that I wouldn't have put him on the longlist, so I was amazed when he stayed there. He was the only one I didn't admire – all the others were fine.
...
Roth’s career spans 50 years and includes a Pulitzer Prize awarded in 1998. However, his style has alienated feminists who have objected to his focus on explicit male sexuality.

Blog entry here.

Article here. Excerpt:

'We don't recognize feminism in our thinking or our behavior, yet we are constantly bombarded by its ideals through entertainment media, books, movies, in the workplace and, most importantly, the public school system.

In "Save the Male," Kathleen Parker wrote, "Boys learn early that they belong to the 'bad' sex and their female counterparts to the 'good.'"

Despite obvious differences between males and females, feminism aimed to teach girls to aspire to be masculine and boys to be feminine. Public schools have become the focus of increasing girl-centered education and decreasing the natural inclinations of boys.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'San Francisco voters will decide whether to ban male circumcision in the November 8 municipal election.

Activists gathered enough signatures to put a proposal on the ballot, the city's election board confirmed Wednesday.

The measure aims to prohibit all male circumcisions in San Francisco. Led by Lloyd Schofield who is part of a Bay Area “inactivist” group, the advocates want to eliminate the surgery and liken it to "male genital mutilation."

Schofield and the "inactivists" seek to make it "unlawful to circumcise, excise, cut, or mutilate the whole or any part of the foreskin, testicles, or penis" of anyone 17 or younger in San Francisco. Under the proposal, a person who violates the proposed ban could be jailed (not more than one year) or fined (not more than $1,000). Exemptions for religious reasons would not be allowed.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The mother of a young boy found dead on the side of a desolate road near the Maine-New Hampshire border reportedly has confessed to killing the boy, MyFoxBoston.com reported.

The woman, who the TV station identified as Julianne McCrery, reportedly told a Massachusetts state trooper that she killed her son and was contemplating killing herself, MyFoxBoston.com reported Wednesday evening , citing unnamed sources. FoxNews.com could not independently confirm the report with police.

Earlier Wednesday, without identifying the woman, a Massachusetts State Police spokesman confirmed that a woman was being questioned by police, and she was moved late in the afternoon from the Concord Barracks to a nearby hospital for a mental evaluation.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK — Prosecutors say a New York City woman admitted setting fire to her young daughter during a voodoo ritual by pouring flammable liquid on the girl's head and igniting it, scarring her body.

Marie Lauradin (lah-hahr-DAHN') pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree assault by pouring the liquid on her then-6-year-old daughter at their Queens home in 2009.

Prosecutors say Lauradin poured the accelerant on her daughter's head and in a circle on the floor as part of a voodoo practice involving a loa, or spirit.'

How Obama’s Gender Policies Undermine America

How Obama’s Gender Policies Undermine America. By Diana Furchtgott-Roth. New York: Encounter Books, 2010. www.encounterbooks.com. 47 pp. $5.99. Review by J. Steven Svoboda.

How Obama’s Gender Policies Undermine America by Diana Furchtgott-Roth is the sixteenth in a series of small chapbooks Encounter Books is offering in a fascinating new publishing program. In this increasingly screen-oriented age, the concept of promoting paper books by putting out small, inexpensive, pocket-sized pamphlets on topics of political interest is a fascinating endeavor that should be supported.

Furchtgott-Roth is the author of two excellent books, Women’s Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economics of Women in America and the more recent The Feminist Dilemma: When Success is Not Enough.

In fewer than fifty small-sized pages, writing accessibly so that the entire chapbook can probably be read in fifteen to thirty minutes by most readers, the author makes her case that the federal government is hurting our economic strength by attempting to ensure equality of outcome for women in the marketplace and not just equality of opportunity. “Equal outcomes is a pernicious goal for government policy, one that smacks of central planning and heavy official intrusion into private decision making, such as what to study and what vocation to pursue.”

The MANN admins list got an email from a reader who said he felt some of the comments left by others here were hateful/vile and he gave some examples. All in all, I agreed with him re those exaamples. Following was my reply:

"Thanks for your note. I agree there are some really hateful and bigoted things in comments on our site. The MANN admins have discussed this issue at length in the past and have concluded that when we start censoring one comment, there is no end to where it goes. We think that as offensive something is, it tarnishes the poster far more than the site itself. This issue has come up a lot before in legal circles on other forums, such as newspaper forums.

From SAVE: Want to reform state-level DV laws? Visit SAVE’s new Facebook page for the Domestic Violence Legislative Project, and then hit the “Like” button!

Story here. Excerpt:

'At Fathers and Families we receive many letters from divorced or separated military servicemembers with painful but preventable family law problems. Currently, Georgia is one of the few remaining states that has no protections in statute.

To address these problems, Department of Defense Liaisons Office legislative representatives and Fathers and Families legislative representative Michael Robinson worked to introduce Georgia’s SB 112 and HB 282. Both bills largely mirror Fathers and Families’ California AB 2416, which was passed into law last fall. Many months in the making, the bills will help protect military parents’ child custody rights during and after deployments.'

Alert here. Excerpt:

Fathers and Families’ Shared Parenting bill (H02684) will have its public hearing by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Wednesday, May 18 at the State House in Boston. We want your help for this critical hearing. We need you to:

1) Call the members of the Judiciary Committee (as well as your local legislators) and let them know that you support H02684.

The contact info. for all Committee Members is here. To find your own state senator or representative, click here. Tell us how your interactions went by writing to us at FathersandFamilies@FathersandFamilies.org.

Article here. Excerpt:

'RICHMOND,Va— For some it's a cosmetic or health decision. For others, it's a religious covenant.

Regardless of the reason, a majority of baby boys born in the Greater Richmond Area today are being circumcised.

While circumcision is one of the most common procedures performed, a number of things can and do go wrong.

Traci Stevens knew she didn’t want her second baby to go through what her first son did. Stevens says, “My husband said over and over, ‘Something’s wrong.’”

Pediatric urologist Dr. Boyd Winslow confirmed what the Stevens feared, their first son’s circumcision had been done wrong in the hospital and needed to be repeated. To spare their second born, Jonah, the same heartache, the Stevens took him directly to Dr. Winslow a month after he was born. Stevens says, “Jonah didn’t cry one bit when it was done, so I was very happy with that.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Mortensen released a report Tuesday titled "Economic Change Effects on Men and Implications for the Education of Boys," in which he explains how men have not adapted well to the changing economy.

He points out that women are more likely than men ages 25 to 29 to have a high school diploma, that women are more likely than men to continue going to college after the first year and that there have been more women than men enrolled in college since 1981.

"Mortenson argues that teaching styles and discipline policies cause boys to disengage sooner than girls and drop out at higher rates," Education Week reported, adding that the focus in schools on test preparation and writing disengages boys faster than girls.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 22-year-old woman who accused a co-worker of raping her has been charged with filing a false report of a crime, McDuffie County sheriff's Maj. Ronnie Williamson confirmed Tuesday.

Chelsea Ann Johnson of Dearing told police that Donteveous Coleman, a co-worker at Zaxby's, dragged her into a restroom at the Washington Road restaurant on April 25 and raped her.

Coleman, 27, of Thomson, has been released, Williamson said, but the charge against him has not been formally dropped. That will require court action, Williamson said.
...
Johnson was arrested Friday and released the next day on a $6,050 bond, Williamson said.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'An MCI-Framingham inmate pleaded guilty yesterday in Framingham District Court to filing a false rape report last year in Hopkinton.

Andrea Davio-Michaud, 40, admitted to filing a false police report, but she will not face more jail time.

Judge Martine Carroll sentenced her to six months at MCI-Framingham, to be served concurrently with her existing sentence.
...
They questioned Davio-Michaud's husband, who told them his wife has falsely claimed being raped at least four other times over the past 15 years, and that she would often injure herself to add credibility to her story, the police report said.

Davio-Michaud confessed to making up the story.'