The surgery was performed while the child (now aged eight, and who identifies as male) was in the state's care. The lawsuit, filed by the his adoptive parents Mark and Pam Crawford in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center, accuses the Department of Social Services and others of performing a "dangerous and mutilating surgery" to "radically restructure [the child's] reproductive organs in order to make his body appear to be female" without medical justification.

As reported by NBC News affiliate WSFA:

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But this weekend on NPR's "All Things Considered," the latest stop on his celebratory media tour, Salter was asked by host Arun Rath about his women characters -- and he gave what might be as bizarre an answer as has any male writer these days, suddenly faced with direct questions about literature and gender that they might not have been asked before.

Here's the transcript:

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Boots' enlightenment began after Twitter user Sean E. Gray posted a photo from the store, with the caption "not impressed." It revealed the store's "Girl Toy" section, featuring princess gear and mini-tea sets, and the "Boy" section -- chock-full of Science Museum brand kits.

As the Guardian reports, Boots initially defended the placement, saying its real estate choices were based on "customer feedback" and making the stores "easier to navigate." But in the face of mounting criticism, it has since retreated, promising on its Facebook page that "It was never our intention to stereotype certain toys. It's clear we have got this signage wrong, and we're taking immediate steps to remove it from store."

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How dare they!

Patrik Biverstedt, headmaster of the Soedra Latins upper secondary school in Sodermalm, told the Associated Press that the school introduced the neutral changing room at the behest of the students, who suggested it last year.

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A study from Germany finds that men do a much better job of interpreting one vital set of signals — the emotions conveyed by the eyes — when they’re communicating with another man, compared to another woman.

“The finding that men are superior in recognizing emotions/mental states of other men, as compared to women, might be surprising,” a research team led by psychiatrist Boris Schiffer reports in the journal PLOS ONE. They add, however, that it makes considerable sense in evolutionary terms.

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As reported by Claire Gordon at AOL News:

While the rules are no longer in effect, Elkjer's lawsuit says, they created a segregated culture that persists -- a culture that denies female attorneys the same opportunities for business and for raises as their male colleagues, and hurts their ability to work. This violates the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, her suit states, which prohibits employers from making decisions that harm the "terms, conditions, or privileges" of employees on the basis of gender.

"If their concern was harassment or something, you wouldn't do that to African American employees," says [attorney Amy] Gibson. "'We're afraid someone will accuse us of racial harassment, so white employees can't be alone with African American employees.' That's crazy..."

Elkjer had raised her grievances with the firm for more than six months, according to her lawsuit, but faced hostility from the powers-that-be. She says that much of culture that she's describing comes from "the example set by one or more of the firm's managing equity partners." The lawsuit wasn't specific about the exact wording or rationale of the policy, or the years that it was in effect. Gibson says that she's concerned about violating the firm's confidentiality policy, which was brought to her attention -- in a manner she found "threatening" -- not long before she filed suit.

In a statement, Scheef & Stone said there is "no evidence" to support Eljker's allegations, and that the firm is "fully prepared to defend this case."

"In fact, objective evidence and our business records will clearly show that Ms. Elkjer disagrees with legitimate business decisions," the statement said, "based on objective non-discriminatory criteria by the firm's management that have nothing to do with gender and apply to all attorneys in the firm."

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The survey interviewed 1,500 likely voters about two fictional candidates, "Dan Jones" and "Jane Smith." The interview subjects were split into groups, some of which received materials on both candidates that did not mention any of their physical attributes while others received materials that either included neutral, negative and positive appraisals of Smith's appearance:

Neutral description: Smith dressed in a brown blouse, black skirt, and modest pumps with a short heel…

Positive description: In person, Smith is fit and attractive and looks even younger than her age. At the press conference, smartly turned out in a ruffled jacket, pencil skirt, and fashionable high heels….

Negative description: Smith unfortunately sported a heavy layer of foundation and powder that had settled into her forehead lines, creating an unflattering look for an otherwise pretty woman, along with her famous fake, tacky nails.

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The title of Moore's book, "How to Create the Perfect Wife," explains what Day was up to. From an early age -- sniffing at the revelry in that 18th-century party school, Oxford -- Day knew exactly how he intended to live. He planned to commit himself to "the unremitting practice of the severest virtue." He would adopt an austere existence in the country, thinking, reading, writing and doing good works, while receiving few visitors. The one thing he required to achieve this nirvana was a mate, and for that, too, he had something very particular in mind.

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So why does the word "feminist" scare them so? Don't they know that, per Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams: "If you believe in the strength of women ... you’re soaking in feminism"?

A list of other high-profile, force-of-nature women who may "run the world," but won't cop to the F-bomb.

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But you will find very few corresponding stories about heterosexual men's struggle with childlessness. And that is weird, according to researchers at Keele University. Because, as one study found, they are kind of baby crazy, too.

Researcher Robin Hadley carried out a survey of 81 women and 27 men who did not have children, and asked them if they wanted them. He found that men were almost as likely as women to want children -- 59 percent to 63 percent -- but actually more likely than women to feel depressed, angry and jealous if they didn't have them.

Of the men who wanted children, 50 percent experienced isolation because they did not have them, compared with 27 percent of women; 38 percent experienced depression, compared with 27 percent of women; and 56 percent experienced jealousy of those with children, compared with 47 percent of women.

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Defenders of California's ballot referendum banning gay marriage said today in court, and in their brief, that if marriage becomes a "genderless institution," children will suffer, because gay people can't procreate without help -- or rather, because marriage evidently exists to sanctify the accidental baby-making of men and women, despite the fact that so many women and men making babies today are rejecting marriage. Yes, this is their real argument.

Making it into a "what about the children" question sounds better than hating gay people for being gay, and it also sounds better than saying that men are intended for one thing and women for another. And yet that's exactly the implication made clear before the Supreme Court today. (The child-welfare argument may not work, either, no matter how much Antonin Scalia fulminated about the "sociological evidence" being too inconclusive about the impact of being raised by gay parents -- there was swing voter Anthony Kennedy wondering aloud whether the "voices of the children" of gay people should be heard.)

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Reporters Michael Grynbaum and David Chen provide a few lines in the front-page story to explain that Rudy Giuliani was also a political hothead and that Republican mayoral candidate Joseph J. Lhota once challenged a 77-year-old Holocaust survivor to “be a man.” The rest of the piece includes passages like this:

A session of the New York City Council had descended into chaos, and lawmakers were openly questioning her leadership. Ms. Quinn, the Council speaker, decided there was one person to blame: Betsy Gotbaum, then the city’s public advocate, who had been presiding.

The response was sudden and fierce. Ms. Quinn summoned Ms. Gotbaum to an office nearby and, with little warning, began shouting at her in increasingly angry tones about appearing weak in front of other lawmakers.

“You were like Bambi in there!” Ms. Quinn exclaimed, slamming her hand on a table for emphasis, according to Ms. Gotbaum, who was on crutches at the time.

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The issue is urgent. Very little can get done in this country politically without a rough consensus in the political system.  Yet no reasonable consensus can be reached where one of the two major parties has taken on the nature of a political third party, an extremist faction on the political spectrum whose views are obviously out of date, flagrantly false and at odds with the historic values of mainstream American society.  The United States is currently in a long-term decline, which will become irreversible if causes are not addressed.  Thus, the answer to the question of whether a GOP evolution can take place is among the most important facing the nation. Let’s look at the chances.

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Our children are both 13 now. They live in different towns and move about in different circles, and they will, when the time comes, pick their own damn prom dates. And though it should have been obvious back then -- especially for a gay-friendly, big city mom whose children would grow up going to pride parades with their lesbian aunts -- not every boy is going to go to the dance with a girl. Not every little princess dreams of marrying a prince. I had been talking about my children's world as a strictly heterosexual place while they were still in the womb, even though I knew it wasn't. But I'm trying to do better now.

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In the Pew Research Center study being released Thursday, researchers saw a big spike in the share of working mothers who said they'd prefer to work full time; 37 percent said that was their ideal, up from 21 percent in 2007.

The poll comes amid a national debate on women in the workplace ignited by top Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, who writes in a new book about the need for women to be more professionally aggressive.

In "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," Sandberg argues that women have not made true progress in the workplace over the past decade and that they need to raise their hands more and "lean in" if they want to land more senior positions in corporate America.

The shift toward full-time work in the Pew poll, however, coincides with the recession and may have less to do with career ambitions than with financial realities.

"Women aren't necessarily evolving toward some belief or comfort level with work," says study co-author Kim Parker, an associate director at the center. "They are also reacting to outside forces and in this case, it is the economy."

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In order to stay afloat (like boobs in the ocean), they've undertaken a pretty ambitious rebranding effort. The franchise is hoping that by creating a "sleek and comfortable" environment and adding salads to the menu, they can attract the Chipotle-eating masses and, you know, the womens.

And it's maybe kind of just a little bit working?

A new brand index report reveals that both men and women have a more positive opinion of Hooters than ever before. But despite minimal gains, the chain remains in hilariously low standing with both genders.

Still, the report did find that women seem to hate Hooters less than they used to. Researchers asked women to rank their feelings about the restaurant on a score from 100 to -100. In the latest round of surveys, women's impression of Hooters improved from -26 to -21. For men, the chain moved up from -3 to 2.

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Laura Miller dug into Candida Moss' scholarly work on Christianity's obsession with martyrdom, titled "The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom." She writes:

"Moss is thorough, strives for clarity and is genuinely fired up in her concern for the influence of the myth of martyrdom on Western societies. 'The idea of the persecuted church is almost entirely the invention of the 4th century and later,' she writes. This was, significantly, a period during which the church had become 'politically secure,' thanks to Constantine. Yet, instead of providing a truthful account of Christianity’s early years, the scholars and clerics of the fourth century cranked out tales of horrific, systemic violence. These stories were subtly (and not so subtly) used as propaganda against heretical ideas or sects. They also made appealingly gruesome entertainment for believers who were, personally, fairly safe; Moss likens this to contemporary suburbanites reveling in a horror film."

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So what gives?

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