Somaly Mam and Nicholas Kristof in happier times. seems nick wont even acknowledge her existence these days pic.twitter.com/XjF1YqQFpT — Tom Bender (@tbendu2) May 31, 2014 In Newsweek‘s latest cover-story, Simon Marks exposes the exaggerations, inconsistencies, and outright fabrications of Cambodian anti-sex trafficking activist Somaly Mam: At the heart of the questions surrounding Mam is a debate within … Continue reading Trafficking Lies
by Tracy R. Walsh Florida’s second-largest school district is under fire for giving teachers of single-sex classes pedagogical tips along the lines of “Girls are not as good at abstract thinking, so they should learn with the help of real-life connections.” Amanda Marcotte rolls her eyes: The complaint quotes directly from the District’s Single Gender Education Legal and Educational Rationale Brief, … Continue reading Giving Schools An Education In Sexism
by Jonah Shepp No, not the scientists: the animals. Francie Diep explains: The U.S. National Institutes of Health—one of the biggest funders of biomedical research in the U.S. and the world—will now require the studies it funds to have equal numbers of male and female lab animals. It’s even requiring gender balance in studies done in cells … Continue reading A Push For Gender Equality In The Lab
Ken Auletta talked to the NYT about Abramson’s firing: Abramson’s attempt to raise the salary issue at a time when tempers were already frayed seemed wrongheaded to [publisher Arthur O.] Sulzberger and [CEO Mark] Thompson, both on its merits and in terms of her approach. Bringing in a lawyer, in particular, seems to have struck them as especially combative. Eileen Murphy, a … Continue reading Fired For Being Pushy? Ctd
In a lengthy piece, Kathryn Joyce profiles GRACE (or Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), an “independent group of evangelical lawyers, pastors, and psychologists” that investigates reports of abuse in Prostestant communities. Joyce reports that GRACE founder (and grandson of Billy Graham) Boz Tchividjian “had become convinced that the Protestant world is teetering … Continue reading Christianity’s Other Sex Abuse Scandal
A reader writes: Your reader’s shock about the study that found 6 percent of college men had attempted or successfully raped might be lessened if he looked at the study’s methodology. The study defines a man as a rapist if he answers yes to one of four questions: 1) Have you ever been in a … Continue reading Only A Fraction Of College Men Are Rapists, Ctd
Marcotte stresses that the high rates of sexual assault on college campuses don’t mean there are as many assailants as you might assume: Let’s be clear: No one is saying that the high rates of victimization among college women mean that all men are rapists. That 1 in 5 college women have been assaulted doesn’t mean that 1 in 5 … Continue reading Only A Fraction Of College Men Are Rapists
Molly Redden warns that the Magnolia State might soon be “the first state in 41 years—since Roe v. Wade—to be without a single legal abortion provider”: [T]he odds don’t look good. The law, HB 1390, requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital or face criminal penalties. Obtaining admitting privileges, however, poses an impossible burden, since most … Continue reading A De Facto Abortion Ban In Mississippi?
Harsher punishments for African-American students start in preschool, according to a new Department of Education analysis: Black children constitute 18 percent of all kids attending preschool but account for 48 percent of all students suspended more than once, the new data show. Across K-12 schools, black students represented 16 percent of the student population but 42 percent suspended … Continue reading Pre-K Prejudice?
For more than 40 years, officers have been allowed to solicit prostitutes while on duty. And they’re lobbying to keep it that way: The state law that exempts police officers, which has been on the books since 1972, attracted attention in Hawaii earlier this month when legislators were considering a bill to toughen the state’s laws on … Continue reading Police With A Free Pass For Prostitutes
