I will be speaking on the subject of feminism, and why the atheism movement needs more of it, in Riverside, California this April 23rd (2016), Saturday, in room 302 South of the Highlander Union Building on the UC Riverside campus, at 1pm (900 University Avenue). Details here.
This is a joint event of the UCR SSA (Secular Student Alliance) and RAFT (Riverside Atheists and Free Thinkers). There will be Q&A and I will be selling and signing books after. Admission is $10; free for students.
- “Is Feminism Evil? What Feminism Really Is & Why Movement Atheism Needs More of It”
The internet has spread a mythology of sexism and misogyny that is now predominantly embraced by atheists, impeding understanding, and progress towards women’s equality. Like racism in the South, anti-feminism is now spread not always explicitly, but often through code words, fake concerns, and subtle bigotry. And its effects are being felt within movement atheism.
Feminism is about understanding and fighting this, and finishing what the Enlightenment started. Resistance to this is not rational, as we can see by the illogical and ill informed ways atheists attempt to claim they do not harbor outmoded sexist ideas, and thus end up perpetuating the very sexism they claim doesn’t exist. Personal stories, documented facts, and published science verify all of the ways women are still being treated unequally, and what to do about it.
Needless to say, this announcement raised a hullabaloo from atheist anti-feminists. I think the anti-feminist comments have all been expunged since…too bad, some of them were amusing, like one guy who said he was going to show up wearing a Thunderf00t shirt in protest. Or the one who complained that atheists should only talk about creationism (read that sentence a couple of times until you get how weird it is for an atheist to say that). Or that one should only call themselves a humanist. Or that this talk will surely be attended by all the “bad” feminists (because they only like the “good ones” I guess).
Thanks for proving my talk’s point, guys.
Near as I can tell, a “good” feminist is one that doesn’t think you’re a sexist*. Richard, if you want to give a nice peaceful talk, Just find a group more sexist than your “typical” group of organized Atheists (such as, but not limited to Daesh, The Taliban,and the Saudi Royal Family) and attack them while letting your audience know that they’re cool. Remember, people don’t want to talk about sexism, they want to talk about people more sexist than themselves. Self reflection is hard.
*Actually, this goes for all activists.
I’m not sure what your actual intended advice is. But I’ve done this sort of thing several times already. And the goal is to get people to see the sexism that’s invisible to them. Even if it’s in themselves. That’s what happened to me. And countless others I’ve met.
It is thus just like atheism. Everyone says evangelizing atheism doesn’t work, because religious people are too irrational to listen. Then you ask a room full of atheists, “Raise your hand if you came to atheism from religious fervor through some or various forms of atheist evangelism?” And watch half the room reply.
Contrary to the much ballyhooed backfire effect, teaching people to recognize their errors works. A significant percentage are reached. A small percentage become radicalized (becoming more fundamentalist). But compound interest prevails. In the long run, we win. And they die off from old age as their numbers shrink. The only frustration is how many decades it takes. But only by applying the effort do the gains get made every year.
This is how all social justice causes are fought for, predominantly. Including the social justice cause of getting people to recognize and abandon religious privilege, and recognize and abandon religious prejudices, and recognize and abandon socially harmful religious beliefs.
As for religion, so for sexism.
Will this talk be recorded or streamed in any way? I don’t live anywhere near Riverside (or California for that matter) but I’d be very interested in hearing this talk. Thank you Richard!
Possibly. But I’m never sure.
What is the deal with internet misogyny?
Everywhere you go on the internet, there is misogyny.
I am more interested in hearing your talk on Roman steampunk, rather than feminism. Did your DragonCon steampunk talk ever get published?
I haven’t gotten word if it has.
Hi Richard
Aside – I just signed up for your Free Will course next month, looking forward to it.
1. According to my research many traditions of Easter come from paganism. Ishtar the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess and Eostre the germanic pagan goddess formed the first myths centered around the vernal equinox. Ishtare was thought to travel to the earth from the moon in an egg and her son Tammuz was fond of rabbits. Hence the tales and traditions that accrued. Do you agree?
The Wikipedia entry on this is fairly good. That will give you some of the nuances of what’s known or what’s conjectural.
@Richard:
No advice, just being cynical. Keep up the good fight. Although I don’t live anywhere near Riverside, I would like to hear the speech, might cheer me up a bit.
My main objection about feminism in general is that some feminists (certainly not the majority) take it for granted that I ought to be a feminist as well. However, it really does depend on how we are to define it.
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Does feminism mean that we should not have unnecessary barriers? Okay, fine, call me a feminist then, even if I don’t apply that label to myself. But once those barriers are lifted, that’s it. Mission accomplished. Or not?
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Many feminists are evil, hypocritical and self-serving. That is a separate thing from feminism itself. Lots of religious people are just as bad, though, right? But the idea that all rape claims must be believed, regardless of evidence, is repugnant (e.g. the Jian Ghomeshi trial).
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There are lots of logical failures within feminism, even though feminism itself does not ask us to be illogical. I might be cautiously pro-choice when it comes to abortion, but I do not have time for the ideas that the fetus is “just a clump of cells”, that the fetus is “part of the woman’s body”, or that I should not have an opinion unless I have a uterus (according to Bill Nye). So as a man I’m allowed any opinion on abortion as long as it’s the ‘correct’ one.
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One thing is for sure: everything is up for debate, whether it’s scientific theories, social theories, or anything else.
Many atheists are evil, hypocritical and self-serving. Therefore we should not be atheists? Nor promote atheism?
Your logic is missing.
Also, no one has argued “all rape claims must be believed, regardless of evidence.” And Jian Ghomeshi was never accused of rape. And he was acquitted. And the standards for criminal conviction are higher than the standards for civil or administrative conviction. Hence the fact that O.J. Simpson wasn’t convicted on a criminal standard but was on a civil standard does not mean he was innocent. Likewise Ghomeshi. With three women finding him skipping consent stages in BDSM scenes, and another reporting his sexual harassment of her, with eight accusers at least so far, he does not sound like a safe partner.
As far as your not having a uterus, or the metaphysics of a fetus, unless you can produce a relevant argument for violating women’s autonomy in those cases, your autonomy is not at issue. That does not give you any position of authority in the matter. You are welcome to have opinions. You will even literally get a vote. But it remains morally true that women should be the ones who get to decide how we will treat their bodies. They don’t belong to us.
I’m curious about how you set the bounds to define ‘Feminism’, Dr. Carrier, and what kind of situations you recognize as unequal treatment of women. Would you give any clues to that? Living thousands of miles away, I will be unable to attend.
I’ve blogged on these issues before. But as I refine the talk, eventually it will become more widely available, too.
I’m just quickly replying on a technical point. Yes, some people do believe that evidence is not relevant when a person is accused of rape, according to some of the hashtags published in this article:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2598399/jian-ghomeshi-not-guilty-verdict-sends-twitter-into-a-frenzy/
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One woman tweeted, “When you need more proof than her truth, you’re rape culture.”:
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https://twitter.com/Lyndsay_Kirkham/status/713594452384817152
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She also tweeted, “A woman’s truth *is* evidence.”:
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https://twitter.com/Lyndsay_Kirkham/status/714117833555386375
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I’d believe that most claims are true. But not 95%+. Some people do make false accusations.
Testimony is evidence. You aren’t claiming that isn’t the case, are you? Because the entire legal system would collapse if testimony is rejected as not being evidence.
You are confusing people talking about the villainy of assuming all testimony is false, and then fallaciously concluding they are saying all testimony is true.
You also shouldn’t cite twitter. 140 characters forbids nuance. If you want to know what someone actually thinks, you need to hear more than 140 characters.
When you have three (now eight) separate victims, the odds all are lying are dismal. Surely you must admit that. Or else you think all Catholic priests are innocent of raping anyone.