If you have been following the story of Nechemya Weberman, an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man accused of being a child molester, you might have thought that it sounds all too familiar.

Weberman, 53, had been working as an unlicensed therapist in the uber-insular community. One of his patients, a young girl who attended "sessions intended to promote her religious practice," accused him of sexually assaulting her beginning when she was 12, according to the New York Times. The community has rallied behind him, it seems, with thousands attending a fundraiser for his legal defense Wednesday evening and a mere hundred people protesting in defense of the victim, who has been lambasted as a "liar."

Rewind to May 2011. The Voice detailed a similar saga taking place in El Barrio: Juan Caceres, a prominent leader of the Mexican community, had been convicted of repeatedly raping his own daughter. Instead of rallying behind her, they publicly villified her.

The Voice wanted to get a better understanding of why this shaming takes place. So we reached out to Grace Perez. She has worked as a sex abuse and domestic violence victims advocate in the New York metropolitan area for some 30 years and organizes the annual Brides March. What did she say?

More >>

Wow.

More >>

Yup, this sure is a 3-year-old breastfeeding on the cover of Time Magazine.

More >>

Hollaback!, the Boerum Hill-based anti-street harassment campaign, will get $20,000 from New York for research and app development.

Right now, Hollaback! already offers iPhone and Android apps where women and men can upload pics of street creeps along with harassment stories. The basic idea is both for people to recognize these low lifes -- and prep themselves accordingly -- and to gather info for mapping initiatives in the Big Apple and 52 other cities worldwide, according to the Daily News.

What the city's cash would do is help developers take the program to the next level -- they want to come up with a way for users to report harassment to authorities.

This is all great stuff -- catcalls are unconscionable, and have no place in any society -- but there are a couple of big concerns that no chunk of change can address.

More >>

Uproar over Barack Obama's Health and Human Services mandate, which basically requires that insurers provide contraception, has hardly come to an end, and a major pro-religion advocacy group has taken the battle against the birth control clause to court.

This law firm, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is also hosting a rally today at the Federal Hall National Memorial, located at 26 Wall Street.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization has organized before upcoming arguments over Obamacare in the U.S. Supreme Court.

More >>

It's Cardinal Timothy Dolan Week (no, really), and the conservative Catholic leader has certainly not let the eponymous 7-day shindig go to waste.

Dolan made the rounds in Albany on Monday, where he and other top Catholics made clear their anti-abortion and anti-pedophilia prosecution positions.

The church top honcho emphasized his opposition to the Reproductive Health Act, which basically makes state policy "up to date" with Roe V. Wade.

("America's Pope" said that the pedophilia measure, which would extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases, would irreparably drain church coffers.)

If you were a little confused why New York -- a state with very pro-choice policies -- would still be debating abortion, not to worry.

Though the Empire state was the first in the union to decriminalize pregnancy terminations and remains one of the most pro-choice places in the U.S., reproductive health advocates want to fix a few legal loopholes that might undermine choice.

Runnin' Scared has put together a very brief guide explaining what this is about.

More >>

Writing on the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy in his column, Frank Bruni makes the point that there are a whole lot more words in the English language for sexually "transgressive" females than there are males -- who also typically wind up being lauded for their promiscuous proclivities.

"What's a male slut?" he muses. "A role model, in some cases. In others, a presidential candidate."

Bruni, articulating the injustices of this double-standard, then details some of the backlash Limbaugh faces, including calls from some prominent feminists that the FCC remove him from the airwaves.

Of course, asking the FCC to step into the fray is nothing short of open advocacy of censorship, and it's disheartening and unconscionable to see this promoted by respected feminists.

(This point was made yesterday in the Atlantic, which also voiced concern over Limbaugh's possible prosecution.)

But it's worth emphasizing that censorship isn't just wrong -- it stands to hurt the feminist cause more than help it.

More >>

When Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show Feb. 29, it sure seemed like the end of an era might be upon us.

Public outcry prompted sponsors to pull support from the show, leaving many to wonder whether the conservative stalwart would have much longer to lash out against liberals and ladies.

To be fair, Rush did damage control issue an apology, but many saw the mea culpa as meaningless -- worthy of all-out mocking.

But as bad as Rush's gaffe might be -- and to be clear, it is bad -- you have to wonder: could this bolster Limbaugh's languishing career?

More >>

Happy International Women's Day: if you are a married and educated woman in America, you probably make a lot less money than your husband -- a fact which might have prompted ladies to leave the U.S. workforce in droves, economists say.

Reuters reports that the Federal Reserve is set to release a new set of stats on this issue.

The Fed's Findings? "Between 1993 and 2006, there was a decline in the workforce of 0.1 percent a year on average in the number of college-educated women, with similarly educated spouses."

Surprise, surprise: economists think that pay disparities between wives and husbands might have something to do with this.

More >>

Rick Santorum might think that contraception is sinful; that women shouldn't fight in combat; that rape babies are a gift from god; and that it's totally cool for his kids to hold their miscarried sibling -- but that doesn't mean he's anti-woman claims his wife, Karen Santorum, in an upcoming CBS interview.

Karen Santorum gets mad when people insult Rick's record on women's issues. (Random aside: Does she regret taking his name now that it means "the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex" in common parlance?)

Anyway, Karen, who has worked as a neonatal ICU nurse, got a law degree, and published two books, does not want you to think her hubby is an inept misogynist tool.

More >>