I live a pretty sheltered life. The geoblogosphere has been welcoming for women, at least that I’ve seen: I never worry about my competence being questioned because I’ve got lady bits, I don’t see women pushed to the margins, I don’t have to worry about running up against unexpected sexism. Even when talk strays from …
Category Archive: civilization
Jul 03 2012
On Tides, Visibility, and Quiet Revolutionary Acts
There was a time, back when I first began seriously aiming at a life as an author, that I thought I’d have to select a pseudonym. Well, I knew I’d have to – writing under my birth name would lead to far too much potential violence, and it is never good PR for a writer …
Jun 19 2012
A Brief History of Speaking Out on ETEV
I’ve spent the past few days immersed in the latest furor over sexism in the atheist and skeptical communities. I haven’t yet read the transcripts for “The Great Penis Debate,” but I’ve read quite a bit else, including many comment threads, and I’m still amazed by the sheer volume of the screeching resulting from something …
Dec 08 2011
Warning: Fencesitters and Bystanders May Be Affected
At the risk of inviting a miasma of socks, I am going to talk about Womanspace once again. It’s important, and I’ve got a point to make. There are a couple of open letters that are worth reading. Dr. O’s An open letter to Dr. Rybicki makes a very important point: Maybe your short story isn’t …
Nov 17 2011
Rising Up
I’m making an exception to my “no links to HuffPo because they are a repository for woo and wackaloonery that should not be rewarded” because this is important: Jesse Kornbluth: The Police Riot at Berkeley: If They’ll Beat a Poet Laureate, Will They Kill a Student? Go read it in its entirety before coming back …
Oct 26 2011
Support the Secular Student Alliance
It’s this easy: 1. Like the SSA Facebook page. You do not need to be a student to do this, you need only support our cause. 2. Upvote the reddit article to push back against all the Christian down votes. 3. Become a member of the SSA ($35/year, $10/year for students) and/or donate to the …
Sep 23 2011
We Need to Stop Executing Peoplel
Last night, the state of Georgia executed a man who was very likely innocent. Like PZ, I don’t care whether he was guilty or innocent. I care that my country is one of the few countries in the world that executes people. From Wikipedia I used to be a strong death penalty supporter. Some crimes, …
Sep 01 2011
Is There a Word for a First World Nation Becoming a Third World Country?
Even when I was a kid, I knew I was lucky. I had a middle-class family in a prosperous country. Sally Fields used to come on the teevee soliciting funds for all those poor, starving kids in other countries where families were lucky if they had a bit of cloth to throw over a stick …
Jul 24 2011
In the Face of Terrorism: Norway, the Myth of a Madman, and a Better Way
Image Source Guardian.co.uk This man is a terrorist. Blond, blue-eyed, solidly middle-class, raised and educated in a Western democracy, yes. He’s far from the al Qaeda foot soldier everyone expected when news of the Oslo bombing and subsequent shooting on Utoya island broke. Some are calling him Norway’s Timothy McVeigh, and that’s apt: both of …
Jun 17 2011
On Terry Pratchett and Escape Routes
This news brought tears to my eyes, because I adore Terry Pratchett and I never ever want the world to be without him: Three and a half years ago, Terry Pratchett, the beloved author of the Discworld series, announced that he has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Now he’s made an even more startling announcement. Pratchett, who …
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