Category Gender

My letter to Goldsmiths in support of Maryam Namazie

For what it’s worth, I wrote a letter to the Goldsmiths Student Union and University Communications team in support of Maryam Namazie. If you are unaware of what has recently been going on, Namazie, an atheist ex-Muslim secularist was asked to speak to the Goldsmiths Uni Atheists and Humanists. However, she was hounded at the talk by members of ISOC, the Islamic Society. Amazingly, and this is pretty shocking, ISOC’s actions and stance was then supported by Goldsmiths Feminist Society and the LGBTQ Society!

Feminism, Jess Phillips (MP) and MRA nonsense

Today is sponsored by:

Gender differences/outcomes ≠ gender inequality (of opportunity, rights and respect)

Let me explain.

For those of you outside of the UK or not following some current news in the UK, some rabid argumentation has erupted concerning the Labour MP Jess Phillips concerning a Tory MP’s demands for an International Men’s Day to discuss men’s matters. Apparently, the feminism is pretty evil (from what I have been reading) and men are discriminated against to the point that they need their own International Day

A scientist weighs up the five main anti-abortion arguments

Of all the myths surrounding abortion, I feel that the assertion that it leads to depression and suicide must rank as the most odious. It is a perennial favourite of anti-abortion groups. Anti-abortion campaigners call it PAS – post-abortion-syndrome, a term coined by Dr Vincent Rue. Rue is a prolific anti-abortion campaigner who testified before the US Congress in 1981 that he had observed post-traumatic stress syndrome in women who had undergone abortions.

Petition for Jenner to give back medals…

Is it a poe?

That’s the question. It is written in such a way that it reads to me as a poe. Here is the chang.org petition description which comes in light of Olympic athlete and medal-winner Bruce Jenner’s recent announcement of being trans and having a transition to Caitlyn Jenner. There has been some controversy in this announcement in the way it has been reported by some outlets. There are a whole host of people who have had their introduction to the transgender movement and they are not quite sure how to say thing, whether to take the piss, or whether to treat the story in a more repectable manner. Here is the description:

Rooney Rule and Positive Descrimination

This is something I wrote four years ago on my previous blog, but thought it was interesting to bring up again. I thought about it in response to a comment over on fellow writer Rebecca Bradley’s Lateral Truth piece, “Social Justice: A Millenarian Movement”:

Recently, the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) has been toying with the idea of employing the Rooney Rule when shortlisting and interviewing candidates for managerial positions in football clubs in England. The rule demands that clubs must interview at least one black person for manager when recruiting.

Dawkins, Abortion and Catholic Fervour

Someone with whom I once did teacher training is now a fervent Catholic and blogger at his site. We have had many a strong argument on facebook, and recently he alerted me to this blog post to see what I thought. I am now going to critique his piece on abortion and Dawkins.

“Psychology Gone Astray” – an excerpt from an upcoming Onus Books release

Dr Caleb W. Lack, purveyor of the fine opinions and science over at Great Plains Skeptic here at SIN, already has two Onus Books publications:

Mood Disorders: An Introduction

Anxiety Disorders: An Introduction

These great little introductory texts illuminate the latest understandings on these conditions. Look out for one on OCD to come. Further to such contributions to the Onus Books portfolio, he is, with a fellow psychologist, producing a text called “Psychology Gone Astray: A Selection of Racist & Sexist Literature from Early Psychological Research”. Here is a post from his blog to describe the project. In reading the MS to edit it, I am finding much of interest in this early, pseudoscientific era of the discipline:

Proof (again) that the Daily Mail is a Racist, Sexist, Bigoted Diatribe

I am no fan of the right-wing espouser of nonsense and lies that is the Daily Mail. It is a horrible UK paper. For those across the pond who don’t know, it has a rather chequered history, supporting the Nazis way back when and then continuing in the vein ever since. Not really chequered, ac
++tually. All bad. I have written myself to the Mail about a misrepresentation of statistics once in their headline article which effectively amounted to lies.

Nigerian woman wins beauty pageant billed as Islam’s answer to Miss World

Oh deary me. Not only are women deemed worthy in their appeal to men, but now they are deemed worthy on account of their most useful trait: their knowledge of the Qu’ran (whilst wearing a headscarf and high heels). Can this world get any more fucked up on account of religion?

Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola wins contest where participants are judged on their knowledge of Islam

Feminism: Christian vs atheist misogyny and sexism

I have been involved in long and protracted, and not to say a little tiring, debate on facebook about misogyny with regards to atheism, and the apparent schisms in the “atheist community”. Though most feminists will probably sigh at another man giving their tuppence on what should be a fairly straightforward point, I do feel the need to pass comment in the context of atheism and theism. Feminism in its various waves has become more and more nuanced in its outlook in what is now, in some sense, a broad collection of ideologies.

Understanding ‘God’s war’ against abortion and Wendy Davis in Texas

Texas state senator Wendy Davis has electrified the pro-choice movement. Not just because of her sheer endurance in a nearly 11-hour filibuster, not just because she stood up to condescension and sexism, and not just because she did it all with aplomb and grace. For pro-choice activists, it has felt far too infrequent that they’ve seen a Democrat – much less one from a deep red state like Texas – unabashedly support reproductive rights without an ounce of ambivalence or calls for elusive common ground.

Caroline Lucas and the irony of topless models and dress code

This is delicious irony. Brilliant. In a bad way. Caroline Lucas, sole Green MP in the UK, and stalwart of socialist ideal, the environment and women’s rights, is championing the cause of the curtailing of the ubiquitous page 3 topless model in the UK’s most popular newspaper, Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid. The anachronism that is the page 3 topless model in modern society is all too obvious. So obvious, that most people don’t bat an eyelid. But it is pervasive and supports sexist ideals which most probably permeate into the rape culture in Britain that is illustrated by the shocking stats that were produced by Amnesty International last decade: