tagged w/ Gender
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Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences.... http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/412-end-of-menEarlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in... more
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By Marsha Walton
WeNews correspondent
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Information technology is one of the fastest growing professions, yet women are leaving the field in huge numbers. One woman who is now on a job search said men in her company often expect her to play a secretarial role.
(WOMENSENEWS)--Janna Jones (not her real name) used to love her job in the information technology, or IT, industry when she was working in the Washington, D.C., area as a computer analyst. Her company worked on mostly large government contracts.
"The firm was diverse, there was lots of mentoring, I never felt any discrimination, I felt very supported, especially as a young woman," said Jones, who specialized in data mining. She used sophisticated software and wrote computer programs to search for patterns of fraud and abuse for government agencies, including the IRS and Medicare.
"I really thought this was going to be a career for me, because things were so positive," she said.
But a move to a company in the Midwest changed that.
"I don't know if it was the company or the geography, but I could hear and feel the hostility," she said.
Jones said even if a woman had been a team leader on a project, when it came time to meet with a client, she would be relegated to a secretarial role.
Read the rest: http://www.womensenews.org/story/women-in-science/100623/it-jobs-offer-growth-women-are-bailing-outBy Marsha Walton
WeNews correspondent
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Information... more
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Contrary to media hype, American manhood is not in decline -- but hopefully toxic gender stereotypes are.
June 14, 2010 |
With each step that American women have taken on the road to equality, detractors have fretted about what their advancement means for men -- particularly the "manly man." The lumber jack. The quarterback. The captain of industry. Clint Eastwood.
Sure, we occasionally see articles lamenting the end of traditional femininity and the difficulty of finding a submissive woman who derives all of life's pleasure from nurturing her family. But a far more common modern lament is the demise of masculinity. In 2000, Susan Faludi explored "the betrayal of the American man" in Stiffed. In 2001, Christina Hoff Sommers decried The War on Boys. In 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that "this is turning into a woman's world," and Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens published a book about "saving our sons from falling behind in school and in life." In 2006, Harvey Mansfield eulogized Manliness, and a Newsweek cover story again warned of an impending "boy crisis." Last summer, in Foreign Policy, Reihan Salam declared the economic crisis a "he-cession."
The latest contribution to the masculinity-crisis meme is "The End of Men," a cover story in this month's Atlantic by Hanna Rosin. Women are outperforming men in schools, at work, and at home, she argues. The global economy is shifting in such a way that it favors "female" characteristics, and male-dominated industries such as manufacturing, construction and finance are declining. "As thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as keys to economic success," she writes, "those societies that take advantage of the talents of all their adults, not just half of them, have pulled away from the rest." What if, she asks, "the economics of the new era are better suited to women?"
It's disappointing that, despite a history of sharp observations about gender and 5,000 words to work with, Rosin makes the same oversight as all of the other hand-wringing articles about the state of the American male. She thinks the problem is men; really, it's traditional gender stereotypes. The narrow, toxic definition of masculinity perpetuated by Rosin and others -- that men are brawn not brains, doers not feelers, earners not nurturers -- is actually to blame for the crisis.
Unlike some other chroniclers of the so-called decline of masculinity, Rosin acknowledges men are not biologically predisposed to jobs that require strength and aggression, just as women are not biologically destined to be better thinkers and caregivers. Yet her underlying assumption is that the growth industries we currently consider to be "women's work" (nursing, home health care, food service, child care) will always retain that designation. Maybe it's just my feminist idealism talking, but I fail to see why these "nurturing professions," as Rosin dubs them, must forever be the province of women. Not once does she posit what would happen if we stopped writing articles that reinforced the stereotype that men are best suited to the manufacturing and finance sectors.
More at the link:Contrary to media hype, American manhood is not in decline -- but hopefully toxic... more
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When Nuzhat Gul says her work takes her on to male turf she means literal turf on golf courses. The only woman in all of India to manage the care and grooming of a golf course, she says other women should find openings in the country's boom in building golf courses.
Her father is a retired agrostologist, which means he studied grasses. And in her childhood she loved playing with boys.
Maybe that helps explain Nuzhat Gul's confidence as the first female turf manager of the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.
At 35, Gul is the first woman to look after the 18-hole golf course.
She holds this historic post for historic reasons. In 1999, as India and Pakistan started fighting on the hills of Kargil, some 200 kilometers from Srinagar, Western countries issued advisories to its citizens. The U.S. turf manager of Royal Springs duly left.
No other qualified turf professionals were available when the job came her way in 2002. She wound up taking what she describes as a job involving lots of physical labor.
"It is definitely not a white-collar job but a challenging 24-hour job,'" said Gul.
Some years back when she attended a course in turf management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, she was the only woman in a class of 64. She stood apart for other reasons as well. "I was the only woman, from a rural background and a developing country," recalled the soft-spoken Gul.
For Gul it was a long way from her village in southern Kashmir, where women who venture beyond homemaking are in more typically female professions such as teaching.
Read the full story at Women's eNews http://womensenews.org/story/women-in-science/100618/kashmiri-breaks-ground-in-golf-course-turf-careWhen Nuzhat Gul says her work takes her on to male turf she means literal turf on golf... more
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Like most gay couples, my boyfriend and I have been asked which of us is “the girl” in our relationship.
It’s less offensive to me than the “who’s on top?” favorite, because I suppose it’s normal for most straight people to hetero-ize “gay relationships” to make sense of them, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re trying to picture us naked and lube-lathered. “The girl” could mean a lot of things.
Still, it’s a question I’ve never really known how to answer. The only difference between our relationship and any heterosexual one is that we’re both men. In my mind, I’m no more in a “comic book fan relationship” or a “white relationship” than in a gay one.
But society starts gender-branding almost as soon as we’re born: girls in pink, boys in blue, Carrot Top in… well, who knows what, and it continues into childhood with the Barbie-for-girls, Tonka-for-boys Happy Meals. What if I wanted both? What’s Barbie supposed to drive? Ken’s busy lookin’ at G.I. Joe, and girl has to shop, become a ballerina, move to Malibu and make some Bratz feel bad about their enormous heads.
READ THE REST AT: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/06/15/a-gay-in-the-life-i-scream-for-ice-cream/Like most gay couples, my boyfriend and I have been asked which of us is “the... more
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Small boy's definition of Father's Day: "It's just like Mother's Day only you don't spend so much." - Author unknown
Another Father's Day is coming. I greet it with mixed feelings.
I've kept a great many of the cards I received from my daughters on Father's Day over the years. Most of them poke gentle humor at me for my fix-it skills, TV viewing habits or availability for light housework.
Fair enough. I'm not exactly a hearts-and-flowers guy. Besides, some of the sentiments are based in fact. I once severed the water line running from the street to the house while attempting to fix a sprinkler, flooding the entire yard. The neighbors still yell "surf's up" when they see me coming.
The guys at the hardware store know me on a first-name basis. I'm Bob, the guy who needs a combination internal pipe wrench and wiz snips with a left handed tongue and groove attachment and carbon steel forceps so I can hang a towel rack.
I'll watch any sports on TV, even leg wrestling from Turkestan where the winner receives a goat. I'm not sure of the exact location of the vacuum cleaner in our house and the controls on our new washing machine look to me like those on a F-16 fighter/bomber.
Despite these shortcomings, once a year I'm Dear Old Dad. Over time, I've gotten dozens of ties, gallons of after shave and enough soap on a rope to scrub down the U.S.S. Missouri. And each time, I received them with expressions of joy which, truth
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be told, are honestly felt.
I couldn't help noticing, however, that on Mother's Day, my wife receives flowers, multiple expressions of love that make her teary eyed all capped with an expensive champagne brunch or dinner at some place where the menus don't have prices.
On Father's Day, I'm sent out to slave over a hot barbecue which, as a matter of survival, necessitates the ingestion of cold beer.
Also fair enough. Moms deserve all the attention. They are the nurturers, the huggers, the comforters, the ones that care and feed for us all.
Men are the dragonslayers, the ones who defend the cave, not to mention change the oil, move the furniture, kill the spiders and unclog the toilet.
It's in our biological makeup to be this way, just like we can't help growing beards and grilling meat.
It wasn't long ago that we were hunter/gatherers who went out with a spear and brought home the evening meal slung over our massive, hairy shoulders.
Nothing says love like a sweaty guy with dirt under his nails.
But, heck yes, we deserve a day. In fact, it wasn't easy getting one.
Mother's Day in this country officially dates back to 1914. But while it was met with enthusiasm, the suggestion of a Father's Day was often met with laughter, according to several historical accounts.
It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, sort of like National Accordion Month is now. Shockingly, many saw it as the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions.
A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. But our elected officials resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized.
Wikipedia, the sometimes reliable online encyclopedia, reports that President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation.
In 1957, Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "singling out just one of our two parents." To no avail.
In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
Finally, the day was made a permanent national holiday when that go-to guy Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
One other historical note: More phone calls are made in the United States during Mother's Day than during Father's Day, but the percentage of collect calls on Father's Day is much higher.
Best definition of a dad? "A father carries pictures where his money used to be."
Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15284070#ixzz0qtNF1nDi
http://www.sarahscreativeoccasions.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/happy-fathers-day.jpgSmall boy's definition of Father's Day: "It's just like... more
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Globally, girls are no worse than boys at mathematics. But stereotypes, some coming from teachers themselves, keep alive the myth that women and numbers don't mix.
For some women, anxiety about math is taught in the classroom.
"Having a highly math-anxious female teacher may push girls to confirm the stereotype that they're not as good as boys in math," said Sian Beilock, an expert on anxiety and stress related to learning and performance. Beilock teaches psychology at the University of Chicago.
Actress and mathematician Danica McKellar (who's appeared in the TV shows "The West Wing," "The Wonder Years" and "The Big Bang Theory") is working to undo that unintentional lesson.
In two recent best-sellers, McKellar has pushed self-confidence and intriguing math study tips for middle school girls. In her first book, "Math Doesn't Suck," McKellar says math "makes you feel smart when you walk into a room, prepares you for better-paying jobs and helps you think more logically."
And, she writes, you don't have to be a geek to be good at it: "I'm here to tell you from personal experience that you can be a glamour girl and a smart young woman who can certainly do math."
McKellar has a mathematics degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her third math book, "Hot X: Algebra Exposed," is due out in August.
Get the full report at Women's eNews - http://womensenews.org/story/women-in-science/100604/girls-math-classes-include-lessons-in-anxietyGlobally, girls are no worse than boys at mathematics. But stereotypes, some coming... more
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en and women are both likely to take a gender-neutral attitude toward most job occupations, according to the preliminary results of an online test launched in February that will keep crunching the data on an open-ended basis.
Some jobs, however--such as carpenters and prison guards--were still considered male preserves, at least by male respondents.
"For the most part, men felt that both genders would be equally suited to most job positions we listed on the test," said Ilona Jerabek in a phone interview. Jerabek is president of PsychTests AIM, the Montreal-based psychological assessments company that developed the 126-question test that takes around 30 or 40 minutes to complete.
"Gender Roles: Are We Still Playing the Part?" provides a description of where people fall on the traditional-modern continuum in professional and personal life.
Nearly 200 men and more than 300 women--their ages range from under 17 to over 60--have responded so far. Most have been Caucasians from North America.
Surprisingly, men have so far been more willing than women to divide household duties with their partners and take on jobs beyond such traditionally male tasks as mowing the lawn and taking out the garbage.
FInd out more at Women's eNews http://www.womensenews.org/story/cultural-trendspopular-culture/100527/online-men-say-are-willing-split-houseworken and women are both likely to take a gender-neutral attitude toward most job... more
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Of all the government adverts that have swamped our radio stations these past few years (must be a quick saving there for the Treasury), one of the most irritating was the jolly woman asking us in a sing-song voice if we had remembered to report changes in our circumstances. Like hell. Every time I heard the ad it conjured up a vision of a lonely official waiting in vain at her desk for people to come in and sign away entitlements to which they feel, well, entitled.
This pathetic advert seemed to me to epitomise the politicians’ total loss of control over the monster that is our benefits system. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) presides over a system so complex that it has to issue 8,690 pages of guidance to help its staff to apply its 51 different benefits — the product of the ever more precise targeting of benefits to particular groups.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/camilla_cavendish/article7138520.eceOf all the government adverts that have swamped our radio stations these past few... more
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A male lawyer was wrongfully sacked because his bosses feared they would be sued if they fired his female colleague while she was on maternity leave.
In a rare instance of a man claiming sex discrimination, John de Belin won £123,000 in damages after one of Britain's biggest law firms 'deprived him of his livelihood'.
Mr de Belin, 45, was one of two associates facing redundancy from Eversheds' property division in Leeds. The other was Angela Reinholz, 40.
Angela Reinholz was one of two associates facing redundancy from the property division of a law firm. An assessment of the 40-year-old and her colleague John de Belin was tipped in her favour so she became the one who kept her job
Mr de Belin won £123,000 in damages. The tribunal found he was wrongfully sacked because bosses feared they would be sued if they fired Mrs Reinholz while she was on maternity leave
To decide who would be sacked, the firm undertook an assessment of both Mr de Belin's and Mrs Reinholz's abilities, including financial performance, discipline history and absence records.
Mr de Belin was fired in February 2009 after losing by just half a point, scoring 27 out of 39 in the exercise against Mrs Reinholz's 27.5.
But he later learned that the test score had been 'unfairly inflated' to the advantage of his female colleague.
He also discovered that Mrs Reinholz was given the maximum possible score for her ability to swiftly secure 'lock-up' payments from clients - even though she was at home on maternity leave during the period of time she was being assessed.
The Leeds employment tribunal ruled that this effectively tipped the balance in her favour and Mr de Belin lost out.
In the judgment, Judge Jeremy Shulman said: 'If any other score had been given to Ms Reinholz... she would have been at risk and not him.
'Eversheds elected to give the maximum notional score for lock-up to Ms Reinholz because it regarded this as the fairest approach, while also trying to avoid a claim against Eversheds by Ms Reinholz. But this clearly worked less favourably to Mr de Belin, who was then put at risk and ultimately dismissed for redundancy.'
He added: 'We do not find that section 2(2) of the Sex Discrimination Act was intended to protect a woman on maternity leave in a redundancy scoring exercise where we find that she received an unfairly inflated score, when all other scores were actual, the notional score being designed to defeat a tribunal case by Ms Reinholz.
'This had the effect of depriving Mr de Belin of his livelihood. We therefore find that Eversheds discriminated against Mr de Belin on the grounds of his sex.'
The redundancy came at a time when Eversheds was cutting staff levels across Britain. Mr de Belin, from Leeds, had 14 years service with Eversheds and earned around £100,000.
Mrs Reinholz is thought to have earned a similar amount but had worked fewer years.
Mr de Belin declined to discuss the case. But, in a comment posted on a legal website, he said: 'There were only the two of us in the redundancy pool and the issue of lock-up could have been approached fairly in many ways. However the risk management process seemed to dictate that was not relevant.
'Eversheds then tried to shore-up the fairness of their risk management policy by a highly improbable interpretation of the Sex Discrimination Act.'
A spokesman for Eversheds said: 'The tribunal disagreed with our decision to act to ensure an employee on maternity leave was not disadvantaged.
'We were surprised by the decision of the tribunal. We stand by the actions that we took and believe that the tribunal's ruling is mistaken. We will be appealing.'
Eversheds has nine offices in the UK and 38 overseas. Among its clients are Centrica and Rolls Royce.
The policy to award full marks to women on maternity leave is applied nationally by Eversheds, whose work practices have been criticised before.
It launched an inquiry last year when Stuart Dutson, a partner in international law, asked colleagues how a female job candidate would 'balance work and a child'.
Eversheds later cleared Mr Dutson of discrimination but warned him about his conduct and sent him on a course about employment practices.
He remains a partner at the firm, which won an equality award from the Law Society in 2008.
The Eversheds website states: 'Each year we act for employers in hundreds of discrimination cases, giving us the experience to assess and judge often finely balanced decisions.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279205/Lawyer-axed-firm-scared-sack-pregnant-colleague.html#ixzz0oF4Cf5YSA male lawyer was wrongfully sacked because his bosses feared they would be sued if... more
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Anyone who has endured years of teenage, and often adult, angst coming to terms with their homosexual attraction, as Alexandra Mankowitz recounted in The Times Online last Monday, cannot help but be deeply moved.
Like her, I too came out at 17, and felt incredible shame and abject loneliness trying to dodge the assumption of heterosexuality and the homophobic bullying that was ever present in the Northern mining community in which I grew up.
Unlike her, however, my parents had no gay friends. Nor were there any visible gay role models within spitting distance of the Watford Gap to offer a hand of hope or consolation in my time of despair and silent suffering.
I was raised in a Christian household and experienced only unconditional love, both before and after declaring my homosexual nature. Yet for many in the gay community, religions represent nothing other than bastions of division and rejection. For some time I too shared this belief, until I was presented with a fresh challenge.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7059732.eceAnyone who has endured years of teenage, and often adult, angst coming to terms with... more
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Last week the annual Gender Studies Conference was held at Bar-Ilan University, which has one of the leading programs in Israel for a master's degree or doctorate in that field. The well-attended conference was titled "Gaps between Practice and Theory" and included 64 speakers at 10 engrossing sessions.
However, anyone who studied the conference's program closely would have noticed that there was not even one male among the dozens of speakers.
A conference that deals with the complex ties between women and men, with the issue of exploitation and repression, which aimed at examining developments in the field, "forgot" that at least 49 percent of its field included men.
This phenomenon can be found not only at the conference but also with regard to the number of male lecturers in the program - 11 per year, as opposed to some 20 women - and the minute number of male students enrolled (0-2 students per year, as compared with 30 women ).
As the first and, to the best of my knowledge, only man so far to complete the Gender Studies program at Bar-Ilan, it seems to me this is not merely coincidental. Gender issues were promoted by very talented feminist women who decided to combine field work - quite justified in my eyes - with the academic theories that were developed in parallel.
However, alongside this important work, a number of problematic tendencies developed, the most problematic being the lack of men in this field. It is hard to imagine a department for Middle Eastern studies without Arab students and lecturers. It is impossible to imagine a conference on the situation of Ethiopian immigrants without a sizable representation of them. Only one thing is indeed possible - totally feminist and female gender studies.
The lack of men in this discourse is ludicrous, not merely because of the lack of a very essential voice in research but because it also undermines the academic side. How is it possible to formulate a theory without reinforcement or criticism from colleagues in the field?
During my studies in the program, I found myself listening to the discourse and not being able to believe my ears.
The absence of males in so conspicuous a manner - and perhaps their exclusion is intentional - from the academic gender discourse, makes it monotonous. The accepted wisdom is that in the past men repressed women and that they continue to do so today, because every man has the potential to act violently.
Bad women? Violent women? Abusive women? Merely vulgar women? There is no such animal. At least not in feminist research.
Not that there is not a grain, or perhaps more, of truth in some of these claims. But the way in which the issues are presented and the extent of internal conviction about their truth repress any other form of thought.
To my regret, the gender studies program lacks all self-criticism, giving students a narrow view of the world. This approach allows female lecturers and students in the program to "feel at home" and to turn the academic world into another arm for their activity.
However it puts them in a very dangerous spot from the academic point of view, that of absolute certitude. It is from places where absolute justice and uniform ideas reigned that hatred and wars have broken out.
The heads of the gender studies program would do well to understand that the integration of men into the program as teachers, researchers, colleagues and students would be the right thing for the program itself, and even more so for Israeli society at large. It would be wise on their part to once again stick to academic fundamentals and to encourage continual criticism of research studies and ideas.
Without a substantive change, the program will be detached from reality, turn into an academic problem child and often be simply boring. And until such a time as they decide to do change course, it would be appropriate for them to change the program's name to "women's studies" or "feminist studies" - a name that better fits the current academic reality.
The writer was the first male to receive a master's degree in Gender Studies fromBar-Ilan University.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/why-is-gender-studies-dominated-by-one-gender-1.289830
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/jdi/lowres/jdin479l.jpgLast week the annual Gender Studies Conference was held at Bar-Ilan University, which... more
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WISCASSET, Maine — After an emotional hearing that lasted hours, Earl “Buddy” Bieler III and Corina Durkee were sentenced to prison on Monday for their roles in the stabbing murder of Rachel Grindal and attempted murder of Tracey Neild in Waldoboro last year.
Bieler, 25, was sentenced by Justice Andrew Horton in Lincoln County Superior Court to serve 55 years in prison for murdering the 27-year-old Grindal and attempting to murder Neild the night of April 19, 2009, at Neild’s home on Controversy Lane. Durkee, 44, was sentenced to 15 years for her role as an accomplice in the crimes.
Neild, the Waldoboro woman whose life — and voice — were almost permanently silenced when her throat was slashed last year by the two people she thought were her friends, finally spoke Monday during the hearing.
“I will never be the same again,” she said as she breathed with shuddering gasps through a tracheotomy tube. “They have made me a prisoner within myself.” The sentences are not enough, said Neild, 33, whose throat was cut so deeply her head was almost severed from her body.
“Justice was not served today,” she said after the hearing.
It was the first time she had faced her attackers since the terrifying night that Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea described as a “bloodbath.” “I knew I was going to die. ... I will never forget [Bieler’s] eyes, the way he looked at me,” Neild said. “I have lived the past year in constant fear of Corina and Buddy. I have not seen one ounce of remorse from either one of them since that horrible night.” Both Bieler and Durkee last month pleaded guilty to Grindal’s murder — Bieler to charges of murder, aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, burglary and theft, and Durkee to the lesser charges of felony murder, attempted murder and burglary.
Bieler, a slight man in street clothes who was shackled at the hands and feet, stood up to give a statement to Grindal’s family, Neild and Justice Horton. He said he did not have a good explanation for what happened that night and he could not apologize enough.
“I can’t ask you to forgive me because I’ll never forgive myself,” Bieler said. “I don’t understand myself what happened. I don’t fathom it. I don’t know if I ever will.”
Zainea said the violent attacks in Neild’s driveway came as the culmination of an hours-long “crime spree” which began after Grindal and Neild apparently drove Durkee and Bieler to the home of a Warren woman where Bieler tried to collect on a drug debt.
After a verbal and physical confrontation there, Durkee and Bieler — who were romantically involved — were dropped off at their home on Dutch Neck Road. From there, Zainea said, they went to Goodnow’s Market in Waldoboro at about 7 p.m., where Bieler brandished a handgun at the cashier and then stole some alcohol. The two then continued to Neild’s home to collect some money they thought Neild owed them.
During these events, Durkee was always at Bieler’s side, Zainea said.
“She was not an innocent bystander,” she said. But DNA and blood spatter evidence at the scene has shown it was Bieler who wielded the knife, first across Neild’s throat, Zainea said, then into Grindal, who was still behind the wheel of her mother’s minivan.
Neild told the court that she firmly believes the evidence is not correct.
“Corina jumped on my back and cut my throat. I felt hot liquid all over me,” she said.
Neild and her family said they did not agree with the plea bargain state prosecutors made with Durkee’s defense attorney Philip Cohen.
“Please do not accept Corina’s plea,” Neild urged the justice. “How can 10 years in the Women’s Center be justice?”
Cohen said after the hearing that, with good behavior, his client might be released after 11 years in custody.
Bieler had not made a plea bargain, but during the hearing, Zainea recommended he serve a 70-year sentence.
Durkee and Bieler showed little emotion during the hearing, even when Grindal’s mother talked about the death of her daughter, who had a strong “creative soul.”
“She had hopes. Those hopes and dreams were slashed, along with her life,” Rita Grindal said.
Rachel had a little boy, Gavin, who “adored” his mother, Rita Grindal said.
“He felt he had to give his Mother’s Day present last year to his teacher, because his mother was dead,” she said. “Gavin’s hurt and confused that his mom’s friends killed her.”
Madalynn Wiggins, whom Rachel had married in a Massachusetts ceremony a year before her death, said the murder has changed everything for her.
“Rachel had a kind heart and a giving nature,” Wiggins said, her voice breaking. “She would say to many of our friends that Buddy and Corina were among her dearest friends and that she would trust them with her life.”
While Grindal’s family members talked about their and Gavin’s loss, Neild’s family and friends said they have seen the injured woman change from an active, confident person to a frightened, discouraged one. Although many — including Bieler and his attorney, William Avantaggio — described the crimes as incomprehensible, Zainea said she could think of one reason to explain the savage attacks.
“He didn’t want any witnesses to his conduct,” she said of Bieler.
After he stabbed Grindal and Neild, Bieler “took off” after a third woman who had ridden in the minivan. Witness Shantelle Quint fled the scene through the woods to get help at a neighbor’s house, with Bieler in pursuit.
“It was to eliminate her,” Zainea said. Avantaggio told the justice he “wished” he could offer an explanation of the crimes his client admitted committing. He shared some of Bieler’s history as Neild and her family listened, stony-faced.
“He got into drugs early and hasn’t gotten off them,” Avantaggio said of Bieler.
Bieler also told his attorney that he had been molested by a guard at a Maine youth correctional center, and that the death of his sister five years ago has seriously affected him.
“There isn’t any indication that he woke up that day with the intent that any of this would occur,” Avantaggio said. “There is more to Buddy than what brings him here today.”
Justice Horton didn’t seem persuaded. “Bieler’s tough times perhaps explain his actions, but they don’t excuse them,” he said. “This was a savage, brutal killing that has no explanation.”
Ultimately, Bieler was sentenced to 55 years in prison for murder, with no probation. While incarcerated, he also will serve a total of 84 years of concurrent sentences for aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, Class A burglary and theft.
Rita Grindal looked relieved as she and her husband left the courtroom.
“I feel it was fair,” she said of Bieler’s sentence. Zainea said she was pleased by the prison time imposed by the court.
“It will allow the victims to move forward with their lives,” she said after the hearing.
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/143092.htmlWISCASSET, Maine — After an emotional hearing that lasted hours, Earl... more
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Kay McCaw was under unbearable pressure. She was going through a divorce, selling her home and working 16 hours a day.
A Danish study showed that women in high-pressure jobs are twice as likely to suffer from heart disease 'I loved the fast pace, but I also had a real terror of getting something wrong. My smoking had shot up to 40 a day, which was a direct result of the stress.'
Stress is thought to have a direct effect on the heart rate. It's also indirectly linked to heart disease 'I thought she was overreacting but I had the first heart attack while the ambulance men were putting me on the stretcher, the second in the ambulance and a huge attack in A&E. The pain was excruciating and I could see that the doctors were worried.'
Scans showed that one of her arteries had gone into spasm, most likely as a result of stress.
'When a nurse told me I had suffered a heart attack I burst into tears. I couldn't believe it could happen to a fit 40-year-old. Heart attacks were for old men, not young women.'
While it's well-known that job stress is linked to heart problems in men, as the Mail reported last week, researchers have found it affects women, too.
A Danish study showed that women in high-pressure jobs are twice as likely to suffer from heart disease, with those under 50 at greatest risk.
Stress is thought to have a direct effect on the heart rate. It's also indirectly linked to heart disease.
But heart disease is not the only traditionally 'male' disease now affecting women.
HAIR LOSS
Gail Porter developed alopecia five years ago
Receding hairline and thinning hair are becoming increasingly common in women, says hair transplant surgeon Dr Peter Williams from The Hospital group citing stress and low oestrogen, particularly as women go through the menopause, as possible causes.
The rise could also be related to environmental factors, suggests Dr Matthew Harries, a clinical research fellow at the University of Manchester.
GOUT
Gout is a form of arthritis which until recently affected nine times more men than women. However, since the Seventies, cases among women have doubled. It's caused by a build up of uric acid crystals in the joints. The crystals are a by product of eating certain foods such as red meat as well as the breakdown of old cells. gout can cause enormous pain and inflammation. 'One reason women are more prone to gout is that they are living longer,' says Dr Michel Snaith a rheumatologist and trustee of the UK gout Society.
'Women are also drinking more, eating more and are more prone to obesity and diabetes all of which raise the risk of gout. They are increasingly suffering from high blood pressure too which affects the rate at which uric acid is excreted from the kidneys.'
LUNG CANCER
Once considered a 'man's disease', lung cancer is now the biggest cancer killer among women in the UK, causing around 13,500 deaths each year - more than breast and bowel cancer combined. The incidence of lung cancer in men has decreased.
The main cause of lung cancer is smoking, says Dr Rosemary Gillespie, Chief Executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. 'About 80 per cent of sufferers are smokers,' she says. The main treatments for lung cancer are surgery to remove part or all of the lung, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, depending on how advanced the disease is
'More women are developing lung cancer now because more have become smokers since World War II and we are only just starting to see the effects of that.
LOW SEX DRIVE
Often associated with depression in men, a similar loss of libido in women - Hypo Sexual Deficit Disorder - is a growing problem.
Up to 36 per cent of all women aged 20 to 70 had reported low sexual desire for a period of more than a according to a study by the Women's Study into Health and Sexuality.
Stress is thought to be a major factor, says Dr Pam Spurr, psychologist and coach. It inhibits the production of a hormone which is involved process of sexual arousal in both women and men.
'Stress is a proven barrier to a healthy life, both physically and emotionally. Libido used to be thought of as a almost male problem - particularly in younger people - but as women have moved into male arenas and taken their in high-flying careers, the demands on have increased to the point where sexual desire is driven out by the pressure of to cope with work and home life.
'Many jobs expect women to leave BlackBerries on all night, even though may also have the demands of children cope with during their "off time".
'Research shows that stress will contribute to a lowering of sexual desire and women are leading as more stressful life now than they ever have.'
LIVER DISEASE
Liver disease - where the liver becomes scarred as a result of alcohol, obesity and other factors - is now rising sharply in women.
'Liver cirrhosis is no longer an old man’s disease,' says Professor Humphrey Hodgson of the British Liver Trust.
'We’re seeing more and more women in their thirties and forties with liver disease. Twenty years ago, that would have been very rare.
'Having six units of alcohol on two consecutive days puts the liver under metabolic strain. Alcohol packs the liver cells with fat, making them susceptible to damage and meaning they don’t do their other jobs as well.
Within ten years, alcohol-related liver disease could kill more women in Britain than breast cancer.'
Since 1991 the number of women between the ages of 35 and 54 dying from alcohol-related causes, including alcoholic liver disease, has more than doubled.
MOUTH CANCER
There has been a huge increase in these cancers overall, but women have been particularly affected.
'In the past we used to see these cancers mainly in men over fifty, but now, as people - and especially women - smoke and drink more heavily at a younger age, the repercussions are beginning to filter through,' says Dr Vinod Joshi, a consultant in restorative dentistry at St Luke’s Hospital in London and the chief executive of The Mouth Cancer Foundation.
Thirty years ago the cancers were diagnosed in five men to every one woman; the ratio is now two to one.
'Seventy per cent of all head and neck cancers are directly related to smoking and drinking,' says Dr Joshi. 'The figures show that if you smoke and drink heavily as well, you increase your risk of head and neck cancer by around 30 per cent.
'In the last few years I have seen more young women than in the past - I expect that trend to continue.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1276828/Flagging-libido-Gout-Heart-attacks-They-used-male-problems-So-women-getting-mens-diseases.html#comments#ixzz0nflBQr83
-------More at link------------------------Kay McCaw was under unbearable pressure. She was going through a divorce, selling her... more
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PORTLAND – April 3, 2010, About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.
The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and m More..ostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn't obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day.
After the marchers reached Tommy's Park in the Old Port, some turned around and walked back to Longfellow Square, but most stayed and mingled in the park. Some happily posed for pictures.
Police said there were no incidents and no arrests – nudity is illegal in Maine only if genitals are displayed.
Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on.
However, McDowell said she plans to organize similar demonstrations in the future and said she would be more "aggressive" in discouraging oglers.
By Edward D. Murphy emurphy@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f49_1272828328PORTLAND – April 3, 2010, About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow... more
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