Month: June 2013

Off the Front Page

Stephanie Zvan3 Comments

Yes, the front page of FtB is woefully and shamefully out of date. There is a blog on there whose blogger decamped for greener pastures* three months ago, as well as the blogs of others that have left us more recently.

More critically, our four new bloggers aren’t featured in the body of the page. This is because our webmaster has been devoting time to an overall redesign that doesn’t stick new people down at the bottom where they may not be seen. However, it doesn’t solve the problem of our new bloggers writing good stuff that is being missed in the meantime. So, here are some recent posts to give you a sense of why you should be putting in the work to go to their blogs to find their stuff.

Ally is writing about a subject dear to my heart: how to discuss the complexities of rape. In this case, he’s using a couple of examples to talk about how not to write about false rape allegations:

What Ben misses, I think, is that the single biggest obstacle to justice and personal recovery for rape victims is excessive disbelief. It is disbelief that sees too many reported rapes being “no-crimed” by police or inadequately investigated. It is disbelief that sees rape victims being branded liars or sluts by internet vigilantes, and it is the fear of disbelief that deters many victims from reporting the crime in the first place. If we genuinely want rapists to be convicted for their crimes, saying “I believe her” (or for that matter “I believe him” in around 10% of reported rapes) has to be the default starting position for police, media reporters and social media commentators alike.

This does not imply that belief trumps evidence. I don’t think anyone is suggesting we “throw out the judicial process.” Nobody is suggesting police, prosecutors and juries abandon the collection and analysis of evidence and testimony, or the requirement that someone be proved guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. The moral payback, I believe, is that when allegations have been properly investigated and there is no proof that an individual is guilty of the offence, that person is held unequivocally to be innocent, without a stain on (usually) his character.

Yemisi wonders whether those condemning vigilante “justice” for alleged thieves in Nigeria would be so quick to condemn violence in response to other “crimes”:

I wonder how many people that are indignantly condemning the lynching of the 4 University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) students would also condemn this action if the accusation was not that of robbery but that of sodomy. What if these students were accused of being gay, would it be OK to lynch them?

I ask this question because many Nigerians often very casually mention that gays should be publicly ridiculed, mobbed and stoned to death. Many Nigerians make it a duty to leave threatening messages on social networks where any gay person, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual is featured.  When I granted a National newspaper an interview where I condemned the anti-same-sex marriage bill and called for the recognition of LGBT rights as human rights, many Nigerians left comments calling for gay Nigerians to be lynched. Unfortunately, only few Nigerians ever bothered to condemn such comments.

Tauriq lays out which debates he would really prefer to be having:

This doesn’t mean that we don’t legitimately care about these, nor that these aren’t discussions worth having, or are simple to solve. But, if more people – often opposing – were willing to critically examine WHY they are opposed to these problems – instead of reacting “from the knee” – we would either have less vitriol, less discussions or better quality ones.

There are good reasons to oppose euthanasia, as I’m sure there are might be better reasons not to legalise abortion than “killing babies is wrong because God says so”. We might not be convinced by these opposing arguments, so far, but setting the views we think right against the best views of the opposite side only highlights how much stronger our views are.

Sunil gets into the emotional valences of color and what those mean for those of us with darker skin colors:

I love that jarring last line, because it never occurred to me to wonder if any country would have a black house as their leader’s home.

The association of whiteness with goodness and blackness with badness is a known socio-cognitive bias. The skin tone implicit association test for example “often reveals an automatic preference for light-skin relative to dark-skin”. There is plenty of explicit bias too – you only need to watch Indian advertising or read the matrimonial columns for a few days to understand the high value that is placed on light skin. This advertisement for “Garnier White Complete Fairness Cream” for example, is par for the course. There’s a good discussion in the nirmukta.net forum on the origins of skin colour bias, for those who want to know more.

I was reminded of these matters because a few days ago, a law student filed a complaint in India’s consumer court against a crayon manufacturer, for having a pink/peach crayon called “skin”.

Go read them and catch up on what you may have been missing. We’ll keep the pressure on to get that new front page up.

*This is a joke that works much better in a country where the money is green.

Off the Front Page
{advertisement}

When We Have Equity

Stephanie Zvan4 Comments

The first question on the “Gender Equality in the Secular Movement” panel at Women in Secularism was (I paraphrase), “What does gender equity look like? How will we know when we’re there?” My answer there was short, because it was a panel, so I want to expand on it here.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’ll know we have gender equity in the secular movement when we can put on a conference about our work and our concerns and not have that conference start with a statement that says, “Those are good. Those are important. But for the love of humanity, don’t take things too far!”

We’ll know we have gender equity when we can be as cranky as the guys. Continue reading “When We Have Equity” →

When We Have Equity

Atheists in the News

Stephanie Zvan

At yesterday’s event with David Niose, he spoke about a Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit in Massachusetts, and someone from the audience asked him about press coverage. Niose noted that the Boston press is quite liberal, and they don’t seem to have any particular problem with atheism, but that big atheist stories are still rarely covered.

He used Jessica Ahlquist’s lawsuit and harassment as an example. Despite covering a lot of Rhode Island news, the Boston press didn’t find it newsworthy when someone received torrents of hate and abuse for standing up to their community. More impressively, they didn’t find it newsworthy when a lawmaker called a young activist an  “evil little thing”.

As an identity movement (as Niose explicitly identified the secular movement), we need visibility. We are easier to demonize and easier to abuse when no one is looking at us. That means we need a friendlier, more knowledgeable press.

The good news is that there is work underway to make this happen. From Teresa MacBain:

I have a great opportunity to be a part of the “Meet the Freethinkers” panel at the upcoming Religion Newswriters Conference in Austin, TX. Representatives from the movement will present the broad range of freethought to a large number of reporters who cover religion. This is a first of it’s kind event and I’m honored to participate.

I’m asking for your assistance in funding my trip. Your donations will be used to secure the following:

  • Airfare
  • Hotel
  • Transportation
  • Meals

Thank you for supporting me in this adventure.

Teresa is an excellent choice to represent freethinkers at this event. Onstage, she speaks eloquently to what our community looks like at its best. Offstage, she is warm, charming, and accustomed to answering even the most ridiculous questions gracefully.

Of course, she does it all on a nonprofit salary. So if we want someone like Teresa representing us to the religion press and sharing with them the kind of newsworthy stories we have to tell, we need to help her. I’ve given some. She’s almost halfway to her goal. Let’s get her the rest of the way there.

Atheists in the News

Saturday Storytime: Call Girl

Stephanie Zvan

This is Tang Fei’s first English-language publication. I have a feeling it won’t be her last.

“I did as you said and switched to a different car. Can you tell me why? It’s… unusual.”

The middle–aged man turns to gaze at Xiaoyi. This is the first time they’ve met. The two are squeezed tightly into the backseat of the little Daihatsu Charade: the schoolgirl in her dark blue, short skirt, the man in his elegant hanfu. Once in a while, in a moment of carelessness, their knees bump into each other and separate immediately.

In the driver’s seat is the chauffeur, his uniform neatly pressed, silver epaulettes on his shoulders, brand–new white gloves on his hands.

“You brought a chauffeur.” Xiaoyi frowns.

“I haven’t driven in a long time.”

Xiaoyi turns her eyes to the flow of traffic outside the window — which is not flowing at all. It’s Friday, and the traffic jam started at noon. It doesn’t really matter. They’re not in any hurry. The man takes out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow. The Charade’s air conditioning isn’t working — unpleasant for those used to Cadillacs.

“Where to?” he asks.

“Nowhere.”

“Okay. Just so long as you’re happy.”

They are always so good tempered, treating her like a pet, adoration mixed with contempt. Before they really start, they’re all the same.

Xiaoyi turns to give the middle–aged man a careful look. His eyes are dark, strange but friendly. They seize her and don’t let go.

“What do you want me to do?” she asks.

“Like you do with the others.”

“So you haven’t thought through what you want, yourself.”

The man laughs. “I just can’t be sure that you can satisfy me.”

“You’re greedy.” Xiaoyi winks. Her eyelashes are long and dark, fanning seductively.

The man’s Adam’s apple moves up and down. The way Xiaoyi’s shirt clings to her body tells him that she’s not wearing a bra.

“Let’s start now,” Xiaoyi says.

“In the car?”

Xiaoyi reaches out and closes the man’s eyelids. Her hands are ice cold.

Keep reading.

Saturday Storytime: Call Girl

Niose in Minneapolis

Stephanie Zvan2 Comments

I’m terribly late with this, because I thought I’d blogged it already. David Niose is in town tomorrow for a Secular Coalition for America event in which I’ll be taking a small part. Details:

Workshop on “Nonbeliever Nation:
The Rise of Secular Americans” with activist and author
David Niose (nee-OH-see)
Saturday, June 8, 2013
10:00 AM–2:30 PM with lunch break noon-1 PM
Lower Assembly Hall of First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
900 Mount Curve Avenue, Mpls, MN 55403, uphill from Walker Art Center

A new group of Americans is challenging the reign of the Religious Right. Continue reading “Niose in Minneapolis” →

Niose in Minneapolis

Ron Lindsay's Radical Feminism

Stephanie Zvan53 Comments

There’s one part of Ron Lindsay’s opening speech at Women in Secularism that has been continuing to bug me. The rest of it, I’m mostly content to let others talk about. Greta’s had her say. No one has really stood up for any of the content of the speech in any detail as far as I know, just made vague calls for the value of questioning and critical thinking that ignore the context of the talk.

This part bugged me, though, because it was a mystery:

And who decides what’s included within the scope of social justice anyway? What is the definition of social justice?  I read a blog post by Louise Pennington the other day; she stated that although patriarchy may predate capitalism, we cannot destroy patriarchy w/o destroying capitalism. Is the destruction of capitalism considered part of a social justice program? If so, that position certainly has very significant implications.

Oh, well, if Louise Pennington says–what?! Who is Louise Pennington? What did she actually say? Why is it we are expected to be listening to her and engaging with her ideas? And why mention her at a secularism conference? Continue reading “Ron Lindsay's Radical Feminism” →

Ron Lindsay's Radical Feminism

The Long Ride

Stephanie Zvan3 Comments

A note from my husband.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading up to Proctor High School in Duluth, MN on a bus with a bunch of strangers and some people I work with. Then, on Saturday, I’ll be riding my bicycle 75 miles to Hinckley, MN where I’ll spend a glamorous evening at Hinckley High School waiting for Sunday and 75 more miles of cycling to White Bear Lake, MN.

Why would I do this? Sometimes it feels like an unachievable goal. On Friday and Saturday night, I’ll be trying to find a place to hang a hammock on an athletic field. Maybe between the goal posts? There will be thousands of people I don’t know, which will grant me both a certain level of anonymity as well as a feeling of being out of place. I have a lot of sunblock packed, but I’ll be spending 6-8 hours in sunlight both days and it will probably all wash off in the rain on Sunday. And I’ve probably biked less than 200 miles so far this year, so I’ll nearly double my distance over a single weekend and easily double any distance I’ve biked in a day this year.

But the fundamental reason I’m doing this is that it benefits the National MS Society. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society uses money collected from this MS150 event to fund cutting-edge research, drive change through advocacy, facilitate professional education and provide programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.

For one small example of surprising MS research, check out this interview on Science Friday with Larry Steinman who found that amyloid plaque, normally associated with Alzheimer’s disease actually improved MS-like symptoms in mice.

LARRY STEINMAN: [W]e decided to ask when we administered these amyloid molecules, would it make the mouse model of multiple sclerosis worse. That was our hypothesis because we knew that the molecules are supposed to be villains.

Much to our surprise, we found that when we administered them to mice who were paralyzed, they were able to walk around. And as long as we continued to administer these molecules on a daily basis, intravenously, we found that they were perfectly fine. When we stopped giving it, the paralysis recurred.

Now that you’re impressed by science, join many other atheists and freethinkers by donating to my ride and helping the MS society work toward ridding the world of MS. For the first $500 in donations made today, Stephanie and I will match your donation 50%. Even if you can’t give much, this is a way to give more.

The Long Ride

My "Pseudonym"

Stephanie Zvan31 Comments

Despite the footnote on my prior post, I’m still getting this crap:

You’ve also never admitted that you’re writing under a nym yourself. Or is Zvan your real name?
Spoiler alert: She won’t answer this question.

Adding to the funny is the fact that the person who signed the paperwork required to make Zvan my legal name has now twice told “spectator” that I’m using my real name. Yes, Shari there was maid of honor at my wedding. But apparently it’s more fun for spectator to keep insisting that I answer her charges or keep up with what I’m writing to see whether I’ve already answered that quesion.

Since she’s not keeping up, it’s time to let everyone else in on the joke. Want to know where this idea that my name is a pseudonym comes from? Continue reading “My "Pseudonym"” →

My "Pseudonym"