Kelly Damerow answers questions after her talk. The first question you hear is from Rebecca; the last two or three are from EllenBeth.
I don’t want to beat up on her personally. It’s an exposed position, standing there with the camera trained on you. The problem is with some of the organization’s decisions.
But having said that, her reply to Rebecca is strange. It’s that the SCA puts an emphasis on diplomacy and respect. Right; so why Justin Vacula? Is it diplomacy and respect to tweet
So, Jen’s allegedly finished blogging…and this time it’s not her boyfriend who kicked her off the internet.
when Jen McCreight reports that the constant harassment has triggered her longstanding depression?
You tell me.
What a lovely story about Rogers raising eyebrows at a meeting of Republicans! Tell us more, please!
/snark
The response to EllenBeth’s last question bothers me more than anything I think, because it sounds like Kelly wasn’t responding to the issue in any way.
EllenBeth says that if Vacula was on a call for Florida, she would withdraw her participation. Kelly’s response is that the SCA would do what’s best for Florida, and PA is different. But how do they know what women are not going to get involved in PA now that Vacula’s there? Are they really hearing the message that just him being involved can or is scaring off women?
I was planning to attend the PA Atheist conference this past weekend, but when I found out Vacula was attending, I decided not to go. That wasn’t the only reason, admittedly–I worked till 9 on Friday and had to work till 9 on Sunday, and driving back and forth to Harrisburg in the middle on Saturday was not super appealing. But I was going to do it anyway, partially because Jamila Bey was going to be there, and I really wanted to hear her speak again…but Vacula being there made the choice of making the trek or not very easy.
There’s a local freethinker group that has a monthly social gathering which I’ve pretty much stopped attending because there are some pretty sexist asshats there and I just don’t want to deal with the aggravation and frustration of debating them. If the SCA is looking for overt harassment or complaints or public debates to clue them in that they’re scaring off women–they’re not going to get it. They’re just going to see women slowly stop participating or never start.
Kelly says at the end that she’s been reaching out to minority communities and hasn’t gotten the response she’s wanted. Yeah. And she’s not going to. And she’s not going to (in most cases) get people contacting her and saying–I’d love to help, but this individual or this public statement or this policy of yours makes me not want to join. She’s just going to get people who quietly walk away or never step forward in the first place.
*sigh*
Orating to a homogeneous vocal ensemble and all that, I know. Sorry. Just venting. 🙂
The response to that last question is extremely puzzling, I agree. Is she trying to say that Vacula is somehow right for Pennsylvania? I’m male and I still don’t want to be involved in an organisation under his leadership, so it’s not only women they’re driving away.
FYI, onion girl: I was at the PA conference (although I almost didn’t go because of Vacula, and I did leave before his talk), and Jamila Bey was unable to make it, so her talk didn’t end up happening. If that was the main reason you considered going, don’t regret missing it.
Well, the atheist community here in PA IS pretty sexist. So she might be right.
Why is Dracula so obsessed with women? Answer: ‘Only Women Bleed’. (Alice Cooper song! Beautiful melody. Check it out – sorry I’m a technophobe – can’t do links yet!) Maybe that’s why Vacula’s an atheist – vampires can’t bear to look at a crucifix.