My Reaction To "The Greak Geek Sexism Debate" (Part 2)

Okay, now that I've had something to eat, it's time for Part 2! In the second incident in The Great Geek Sexism Debate roundup, we have a feminist skeptic that was harassed for her feminist beliefs at The Amazing Meeting, a big skeptic conference. She was then harassed online after the conference, and her address was posted online.

All becase she dared to be a feminist in a space that largely regarded feminism as irrelevant at best and bullshit at worst.

I choose "bullshit" because one of the most famous atheists, at least in mainstream culture, is Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller. He also says "feminist" the way Draco Malfoy says "mudblood." He's not a fan. I don't actually know if they did an episode of Bullshit about feminism, and quite honestly I'd rather not know if they did. No really, please don't tell me. Athesists and skeptics have notoriously bad attitudes toward feminism. What's sad is that a lot of these atheist public figures, mostly men, have great things to say about other topics. I'll watch their videos and agree enthusiastically with almost everything they say. Then they bring up feminism and there's an old-school, cliche record scratch in my head. This often turns me off from these figures completely, or almost completely, but that's because I am a feminist. The non-feminist viewers will follow these anti-feminist viewpoints as "religiously" as they follow everything else these men have to say. They'll insist that they think women should be equal, but come on, this guy makes some good points . . .

Not what you'd expect, huh? Especially when you think of how many women must stray from religion and become atheists and skeptics to escape sexism.

That's why feminism is so relevant to the skeptic community. Just like it's relevant to the nerd community. It's not directly relevant to the subject matter, but it's necessary because the community breeds anti-feminism and misogyny, making the community hostile toward women in general, especially women who vocally challenge the status quo. Like the woman who complained about the man who propositioned her in an elevator at 4am at an atheist conference, only to have Richard Dawkins sarcastically compare her frivolous problem to women in Africa having their genitals mutilated. Because if women are experiencing really bad oppression, we're never allowed to talk about our own problems regarding harassment and microaggressions.

I'm not saying that a conference focusing on pseudoscience should have programming with regards to women in the community, at least not on par with their relevant programming. But aside from a better approach to convention harassment, the community in general should have a place for people to talk about this issue. Maybe host an after-hours roundtable discussion, or host a separate conference for the issue. Either way, since this issue is plaguing the skeptic community, feminism is absolutely relevant.