Something lighter today. My good friend and my  favorite comedian Matt Gubser gives his take on the questions I asked on Friday. This is him working on his bit before it’s completely finished, so he’s asked that you not judge him by it. I think it’s hilarious, though.(Video is NSFW due to some salty language.)

Yes, recently we asked for more submissions. I hear from many many men that they like what we’re doing here. I also hear that they want to contribute. Well, have I got news for you — YOU CAN!

Don’t worry about having something “original” to say (lord knows I’m not very original), or for it being super-duper polished (you’ve read my work, right), just write a few hundred words, make a video, draw a picture…and send it to me! Tell us that diversity is important to you. Tell us what you’re doing to make things better.

Also, still looking for a couple of staff writers who can post once or twice a week. I am a busy guy and I need help to make this place as awesome as it can be. Get in touch, please.

( If you really won’t contribute, please at least spread this call far and wide to people who might.)

I hear it over and over and over again. “I’m an atheist (or skeptic), so I’m not a racist/sexist/homophobe.” The theory seems to be that religion and irrational belief are the source of all human wickedness. Since the speaker is an atheist or a skeptic and so has rejected theism and/or embraced critical thinking they have also rejected all other irrational beliefs in society.

Bullshit.

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I’ve had intelligent people tell me that women need to accept some responsibility for incidents of sexual harassment at conferences and online because some women “dress like sluts and act like whores” which creates a sexually charged atmosphere that contributes to men harassing or assaulting women, even the ones who don’t act all slutty and whorish. I think you know what I think about that, but today I want to find out what you think about sluts and whores and what those words mean.

Is there a difference, as some have told me there is, between saying a woman “dresses like a slut” and calling her a slut?

Is there a difference between calling a man a whore and calling a woman a whore? Please explain why you think so.

Are women responsible for the sexual behavior of men around them if they dress a certain way? Where does that line get drawn? What does that say about men and their agency as humans?

Why is it that rape and sexual harassment are often mitigated because of the behavior of the victim but murder and robbery usually are not?

Lets discuss.

It seems as if a lot of men get really upset when feminists talk about gender-inequity. We point out sexist language and misogynist ideas in society that people have internalized and we say they’re not cool. We talk about privilege and ask that people be aware of the unearned privilege they might have and take that into account. Then we get told that we’re overreacting and need to calm the fuck down and stop being so emotional. Well, I don’t get told I’m being emotional, because I’m a man and “everyone knows” men are the rational ones. (Did you know that the stereotype used to be flipped? Men were capable of robust emotion and women were coldly calculating and rational.)

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In an earlier post I talked about how privilege is itself diverse. That is, everyone has a little privilege over someone else. I want to go into more depth on that today. Our identity (how we see ourselves) and our role (where society imagines us to fit) can be said to be constructed, in many ways though not completely, by where we happen to fall in the social or cultural categories most people “see”. Some of these groups are more privileged than others. When I say privilege in this sense I’m talking about those special advantages or immunities enjoyed by a member of a certain group.

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So, Sasha touched on this a few days ago, but it’s time to touch on this again. And we’re going to keep touching on this until people learn. I’m patient.

The most insidious form of douchebag is the Misunderstood Douchebag. You know the type: he’s really not that bad, people just don’t understand his ways. If only people got that what he was doing was noble and not at all in the blind pursuit of getting into girls’ pants, the world would be a much fairer place. The Misunderstood Douchebag is the genus of the species Nice Guy^tm.

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A reader hipped me to a video recently. I watched it. I can see the appeal, since it’s a video all about being awesomer to people. Something about it didn’t sit right with me, though. Here, you watch and then we’ll get back together after the jump and compare notes.

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[This article was originally posted on August 29th, 2011 at Skeptic Freethought.]

Hoping that I don't sound like this.

“Feminist” is a polarizing word.  You’ll generally see it used in one of two ways: as self-identification by people who consider themselves feminists, and as a pejorative by people who do not.

It’s a word with an ugly connotation in many people’s minds, not unlike the word “atheist”; people hear the “-ist” suffix and infer an ideology that seeks feminine supremacy rather than gender equality, just as many see atheism as a rebellious denial of God rather than an affirmative acceptance of a godless universe.

To be sure, there are differing opinions among those who consider themselves feminists regarding what it means to be a feminist. There are disagreements about its implications regarding sexuality, marriage, reproductive rights, and parenting. There are disputes about what reforms are needed in modernized Western societies compared to developing nations.  There are debates about who gets to call themselves feminists, particularly about whether this label can apply to men.

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Unfit for civilization.

In the last day much has been  said about “The Amazing Atheist”, most notably (from my chair) by Jen McCreight, Greg Laden, and PZ Myers. Until this morning I didn’t  intend to address it in this space until reading the comment’s on PZ’s piece filled me with such a dark, bleak sense of despair about the state of humanity and the atheist/skeptical community. So, I’d like to start out by stating, very clearly, exactly how I feel about this “Amazing” guy and his defenders.

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