Gender in the news

As a gender specialist, different types of news stories catch my attention. They seem to call out the injustices and inequities and hypocrisy in our midst... and then there's the differences in how men and women are socialized. Here are a few "gender" stories (a triple play from Time.com):

Iraqi Women's Minister Resigns in Protest. So what exactly was the "Mission" that we "Accomplished" in Iraq?

What Men Really Think In case you were wondering...

Calling a Truce on the Octuplet Mom. Why has has everyone been hating on her so much? Is it because she had so many kids? Others have been celebrated with gifts and TV reality shows. Is it because she wanted to procreate? Others have done so in the name of an evangelical movement called Quiverful without such vitriol. Is it because she was artificial inseminated? Others, including scads of Hollywood types, have been birthing kids. Could the difference be that she's a single woman? When Ricky Martin had a surrogate mother birth two children he plans to raise alone no one seemed to care. Could it be that she has a foreign/Muslim sounding name? Do we as a society believe that the right to have children is directly connected to the financial resources one has?
2/12/09 UPDATE: Now, that more details have been uncovered about the cost of the octuplets and how public dollars will be used for health care, food stamps and disability insurance, the conversation could get more interesting. While I certainly don't agree with what she did, I find it fascinating to see how much newsprint and airtime is devoted to how much she might "cost" the public ($1.3 million over a lifetime by one estimate), compared to the $66 million in bonuses (called retention benefits or something like that) that was paid out by investment banks to 6 individuals, basically from US taxpayer dollars. Seems that a nuttysingle mom is more interesting than the wealthy banker class that's used to mega millions on an annual basis. Interesting morality play.