There are a few online skeptical hidey-holes I pop my head into, and I saw a peculiar question posed in one. A skeptic was frustrated by all the recent hubhub stirred up by ElevatorGate (a Google search will give you all the information you need about ElevatorGate if you don’t know what it is), and [...]
Archive for July, 2011
#20 You should be yourselves and be welcoming.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged hostile environment, sexism, skepticism, women on July 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
#19 Don’t wait for leadership to give you permission to act.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, women on July 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Oh, skeptics! Always wanting more women to participate actively, never wanting to do much about it. There are a lot of reasons people don’t want to do much about it, and not all of them are pure meanness. (Only one of them is pure meanness.) Sure, there are a lot of people with psychological barriers [...]
#18 What do you have to lose? This is not a rhetorical question.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, transitions, women on July 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
When women are represented equally within the skeptical community, the entire scope of the skeptical movement will change. It can’t not. A huge influx of people who have not traditionally had their desires made known are going to influence the culture and the decision-making process, and many aspects of the skeptical community that are taken [...]
#17 Focus on the message rather than the delivery.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, women on July 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Women speaking up about the sexism they experience in skepticism has caused some pretty tense conversations. Women don’t particularly like bringing up things that bother them, or explaining to people–some of whom are friends–why they have merely tolerated or actually feared what seems like perfectly ordinary interactions from other points of view. These conversations bring [...]
#16 Don’t confuse wishful thinking with empathy.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged empathy, sexism, skepticism, women on July 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A big reason cited by women for not participating actively in skepticism is a lack of empathy for their position. They’ll be asked by people within the skeptical community what is keeping them from participating, but when they state their reasons, they are argued with or ignored. Consider this common example: Women say they don’t [...]
#15 Stop complaining about “reverse sexism.” It doesn’t exist.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged reverse skepticism, sexism, skepticism, women on July 23, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Disclaimer: Now, I’m no scholar, or philosopher, or political scientist, and I don’t consider myself well-broached in topics beyond Feminism 102 stuff, so the claims I am about to make about sexism maybe are not accurate. I welcome clarification and correction from people who actually do know about it, and hope that I get my [...]
#14 Don’t rely overmuch on the feelings of the women already in skepticism.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, women on July 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This suggestion is multi-pronged, so I’ll use subheaders for clarity. Regarding the Feelings of Women Already in Skepticism The women who are already actively participating in skepticism are constantly looked to for insight for what is keeping those other women from participating actively in skepticism. This is a good thing. Women know better than men [...]
#13 Stop defending rape. It’s completely disgusting.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged rape, rape culture, sexism, skepticism, women on July 21, 2011 | 27 Comments »
Note: Anyone who has been raped is the owner of that experience, and can downplay or joke or mock or disparage or present it in absolutely any way that he or she wants. This post is not aimed at that person. Want more women in any endeavor dominated by men? Stop defending rapists. Stop: denying [...]
#12 Don’t complain about what women do to help each other.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, women on July 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Women in skepticism really are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. When they broach the topic of why there are so few women in skepticism, they get answered that if they feel there’s a problem, they have the freedom to solve it. When they start to solve the problem of increasing the [...]
#11 Those statistics do not mean what you think they mean.
Posted in Handy Guide, tagged sexism, skepticism, women on July 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
There is a pattern that frequently appears among skeptics, which I will paraphrase as briefly as possible to get to my point: WOMAN: It’s creepy. Please stop. SKEPTIC: What are you afraid of? WOMAN: <Statistics about violence by men against women> SKEPTIC: <Statistics about violence by men against men> More men are killed by men [...]
