The campaign against man spreading
Transport chiefs in the Spanish capital, Madrid, have launched a campaign discouraging "manspreading" - men encroaching on other seats by sitting with their legs wide apart. Bus operator EMT is putting up new signs showing a seated male figure, legs akimbo, next to a big red cross.
A similar campaign is planned for the city's Metro system. The move follows an online petition by a women's campaign group, which garnered more than 12,000 signatures. Manspreading. Which was accepted as a word in the online Oxford dictionary two years ago. Is already discouraged in some other cities around the world. EMT said in a statement (in Spanish) that the aim of the new signs was to remind male travellers "of the need to maintain civic behaviour and to respect the space of everyone on board the bus".
The women's group Mujeres en Lucha (Women in Struggle) said in its online petition that it was not uncommon on public transport to see women "with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there is a man next to her invading her space".
In 2014, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided to crack down on the manspreading scourge with signs on the city's Metro that read: "Dude. Stop the spread, please. ".
The US city of Philadelphia also launched a "Dude, it's Rude" campaign, while Seattle's transport provider put up signs showing an octopus with its tentacles draped over bordering seats.
Female versions of Tennessee teacher, Tad Cummins
[QUOTE=TheCane;2046543][URL]https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/10/math-teacher-arrested-for-allegedly-having-sex-with-3-students/22136059/[/URL][/QUOTE]Let's say a male teacher was arrested for having sex with a girl in his sixth-grade class. People would cry "Pervert!" and demand that he be locked up. This was seen recently when Tennessee teacher, 50-year-old Tad Cummins, ran off with his student, Elizabeth Thomas, 15.
But when the perpetrator is a woman. And an attractive one at that. And the student is a pubescent boy, the prevailing thought is that she seduced him into an affair.
This double standard is clear in the case of Mary Kay Letourneau, the Washington State woman released after serving seven and a half years in prison for having sex with her student, Vili Fualaau. He's seen, with a wink and a grin, as a big man for scoring with an older babe. And she's seen as the siren who betrayed her husband and abandoned her four children in a misguided quest for love.
Vili was 12 when his teacher began to groom him for sex. She was 34. He wasn't a young stud, but a child exploited by an adult who was obviously mentally disturbed. She was not a seductress and they did not have trysts. She was a predator and what happened between them was a crime.
Justice prevailed in this case. Though it rarely even gets a chance in most instances of child sexual abuse. Primarily because Ms. Letourneau blatantly violated parole after her first conviction and had sex again with Vili, who was then 13.
But if you ask the public's opinion, you will find that few people think that Ms. Letourneau's crime is as serious as that of a man having sex with a girl. Even if you discount the illicit, immoral nature of sexual contact between a 12-year-old and 34-year-old, how could there really be a "relationship," as it's often been described, between them?
The news media fuel the misconceptions. "Mary Kay gets her boy toy back," guffawed The New York Post on its front page. Many articles and TV reports have focused on the salacious specter of abuser and victim reuniting, with the two children they produced, as one big happy family. A tabloid once described Mr. Fualaau as saying that the two had sex in nearly every room of her house, something you'd never read about a man violating a child. But nobody talks about why Vili Fualaau was vulnerable to Ms. Letourneau in the first place, and the damage that childhood sex with an adult has caused to his psyche. Boys, the assumption goes, can take care of themselves.
Behind the distorted views is the myth that boys cannot be violated by women. According to statistics from the National Center for Juvenile Justice, women commit 20 percent of sexual abuse of boys (and 5 percent of abuse of girls).
Biologically, research shows, the body responds to stimulation even when the mind says no. Boys may consent to sex with a woman because it's easier to identify with "getting over' on someone, than being powerless to stop an attack. But even when children consent, it doesn't count because they lack the emotional and intellectual maturity to understand what they're doing.
Studies show that male survivors also grapple with feelings of isolation, inadequacy and vulnerability, concerns about their sexuality and masculinity, and difficulties finding resources and support. Physically or sexually abused boys are more likely than those not abused to smoke, drink or use drugs. And in one study, 57 percent of molesters were themselves sexually abused as children.
In an interview on the NBC program "Today', Mr. Fualaau tried to explain whether he and Ms. Letourneau might reunite by saying, "I mean, we left on awkward terms. " It was reminiscent of a 50-something woman who described how, when she was a teenager, an uncle would come to her for sex. He stopped for a few years, she said, "And then we got back together. " Her sense of reality was so altered by her experience that she saw a relationship. Such is the case with Vili Fualaau.
There can be no happily ever after to this sad tale. Mr. Fualaau, at 21, said he wanted to be with Ms. Letourneau, and a judge lifted an order banning contact. The court has recognized that as an adult, he has a right to see her, but it's important to remember that the decision to do so was never his. Ms. Letourneau took away Mr. Fualaau's ability to choose for himself many years ago.
One type of female offender prefers to offend with teenagers. According to psychologists, these women are often lonely and angry, have difficulty with relationships with men, have poor understanding of sexual norms and have unresolved feelings from being abused themselves. Their victims are seen as developing young men "experimenting" with their sexuality. Many male victims recount being congratulated instead of being given assistance when attempting to report the abuse. If the same thing was done to female victims of male perpetrators, there would be outrage and those failing in their duty to assist them would face severe consequences. However, female predators continue to get off lightly because of their gender.