About this.
Now, not all atheists are misogynists. Nobody’s saying that. What Rebecca was saying, and what I’m reiterating and many others have as well is that misogyny is a problem in the atheist community. And it’s a problem we don’t need and I would hope don’t want. Life’s hard enough being an atheist, why do we need to make it worse for ourselves by not stepping up when we see behaviors that are disgusting and demeaning within our own?
Nobody is saying this is a problem only with atheists, but that’s one of the quickest rebuttals out there. Yes, the problem exists in other spheres of influence, but why does that excuse our allowing it to happen in ours?
If you think it’s okay for those kinds of comments to be associated with us, if you think it’s okay to call Rebecca a lesbian bitch whore, if you think it’s okay to treat women like second-class citizens, then I don’t want you around me or my friends. I’m tired of people asking why there aren’t more women at atheist events. We know why. We have done a piss-poor job of creating an environment where they feel like equals. We have created the situation by assuming that they are there because they clearly want to touch our privates.
Me, I like having women at atheist events. Not because dude that girl is hot and I bet she wants to do me, but because women are people with different experiences than mine and often have interesting things to say. So my promise to the women in my world is this; when I see misogyny, I’m going to punch it in the teeth. I would expect others to join me in this. I will be there to keep you safe and stand up for you when others are acting like it shouldn’t be a big deal or like you’re just misunderstanding. Bullshit. I’m in your corner. If I want to have you around, it’s because of who you are, and not because of what you look like.
From Big Ugly Jim at meddling kids, via Tedra.
This is great too from Greta Christina http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2011/12/29/why-yes-but-is-the-wrong-response-to-misogyny/
Both of those were great.