Probably the elevatorgate thing?
What's that?
Quick summary;
High profile atheist/sceptic blogger
Rebecca Watson was on a panel at a convention of atheist/sceptic types about "Communicating Atheism". During the panel she said she found it sexist for guys she doesn't know to hit on her.
She then spent some time in the bar with a number of others from the conference before heading to bed in the hotel around 4AM.
When she left one of the guys from the bar (who she didn't know) followed her into the elevator. While in the elevator with her he asked her back to his room for a cup of coffee.
Needless to say this freaked her out a bit and she said as much in a video she made after the incident.
Video here. Probably worth watching that and reading the first few comments to see the early response. In particular this exchange;
Not sure the guy in the elevator thing was an instance of sexualizing you, just an example of a bad way to approach someone.
There is a small chance that this man meant nothing sexual in his comment, despite the fact that I had clearly indicated my wish to go to bed (alone) and the fact that the bar had coffee and therefore there was absolutely zero reason to go to anyone’s hotel room to have it. Sure. There’s a chance.
But regardless, the point I was making was that people need to be aware of how their comments might make someone feel extraordinarily uncomfortable and even feel as though they are in danger. This person failed to recognize that even though I had been speaking about little else all day long.
Greg Laden outdid himself with a post going back to Rebecca's original point from that early comment. Sadly that whole debate was quickly overshaddowed by the shitstorm to follow.
The shitstorm started after Richard Dawkins made a few really, really stupid comments.
This is a good place to read up on that.A number of the feminists within the atheist movement condemned these comments, but a massive number of people came out in support of Dawkins
and the guy from the original incident, claiming there was 'zero bad' in the incident and that Rebecca was deliberately creating a massive scandal to... well, not entirely sure.
Most people are content to just attack her as an annoying woman who wouldn't shut up.The level of misogynistic attacks involved in any discussion of the incident is incredible. A lot of previously respected individuals have lost all that respect. And a few have really distinguished themselves.
Frankly, the atheist/sceptic movement seem to think that they are the progressive ones compared to the nasty regressive/conservative religious groups, so sexism isn't a problem for them. After all, the oppose religious restrictions on women, so how can anyone accuse them of being misogynistic? That largely means that when people do start pointing out sexism within the movement the reaction is vitriolic and aggressive attacks against the accuser. And so the problems are never addressed and/or get worse.
Author
Topic: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread (Read 873719 times)