Catholic church’s fading influence in Poland *

Jul 12th, 2012 | Filed by

The giant Jesus statue didn’t stem the tide after all.… Read the rest



Why are most policy experts male? *

Jul 12th, 2012 | Filed by

In a society that values women more for their bodies than their brains, female underrepresentation in the smarty-pants professions is the entirely predictable result.… Read the rest



Pakistan: prominent university lecturer shot *

Jul 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Two prominent educationists, who are also human rights activists and feminists, came under attack when they returned to Pakistan from the US.… Read the rest



One Law for All letter to Trevor Phillips *

Jul 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Sharia family law has been described as “wholly incompatible” with human rights and democratic principles by the House of Lords.… Read the rest



Hello sailor

Jul 11th, 2012 5:11 pm | By

Brilliant. The Washington Monthly does a big ol’ serious thinky article on Y No Wimmin at policy events, forums, and conferences around DC, and before people can even get to the serious thinky words they get an eyefull of a pouty babe with big tits in a tank top.

The comments below the article are mostly pretty annoyed.

H/t Katha Pollitt… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Why do women MPs in Pakistan oppose women’s rights? *

Jul 11th, 2012 | Filed by

“I want a woman MP who understands my multiple marginalisations as a woman in the Pakistani society.”… Read the rest



Farida broke all barriers

Jul 11th, 2012 3:52 pm | By

How miserably sad and depressing. Farida Afridi, an activist for tribal women in Pakistan, was murdered today. (You know how. You don’t even need to look. Leaving home for work. Guys on motorcycles. Guns. Died on the way to the hospital.)

Along with her sister Noor Zia, Farida was committed to social change and economic emancipation for women from the platform of a welfare organisation called the Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA). Both women were among the founding members of the NGO and had a Masters degree in Gender Studies.

Due to tribal customs and traditions, women in the area remain mostly restricted and unable to achieve their true potential, but Farida broke all

Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Pakistan: activist for tribal women murdered *

Jul 11th, 2012 | Filed by

Farida Afridi broke all barriers and relentlessly worked for women’s development. So naturally guys on motorcycles shot her.… Read the rest



Practicing being more assertive

Jul 11th, 2012 11:01 am | By

I’ve been wondering what Richard Dawkins thinks of Paula Kirby’s salvo against the Sisterhood of the Oppressed and the Approved Male Chorus. I expect a lot of people have, seeing as how she’s the executive director of RDF-UK. I’m sure we’ll never know, in the sense of being told in so many words. But possibly there are hints…he did a tweet today quoting and endorsing praise of Paula’s Washington Post blog post from last year, Religion lies about women. I RTd it with a “Ditto.” I liked (and posted about, and wished I’d written) that article last year, and I still do.

But I don’t see any RTs of the salvo against the Sisterhood of the Oppressed. That’s … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



A new documentary on the world of “purity balls” *

Jul 11th, 2012 | Filed by

The women who take virginity pledges and go to purity balls are promising that their bodies aren’t their own, but instead belong to their fathers and future husbands.… Read the rest



The Louis CK of Indonesia

Jul 11th, 2012 9:59 am | By

Boy, the chief justice of the Indonesian Supreme Court has a weird sense of humor. He told Angela Merkel (who is in Indonesia on a visit) that the Indonesian constitution guarantees the rights of atheists. Orilly? How does he explain Alexander Aan then?

Supreme Court chief Mahfud MD is telling the vesting German chancellor that the Indonesian Constitution gives people the freedom to be atheist or communists.

Mahfud was answering Chancellor Angela Merkel’s question about the freedom of religion and democracy in Indonesia during a visit to the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening.

“Since its inception, the Supreme Court has guaranteed the freedom of atheists and communists in this country, as long as they do not disturb the freedom

Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Indonesia Supreme Court chief tells Merkel atheists are free *

Jul 11th, 2012 | Filed by

And everyone has a good laugh.… Read the rest



This is not that

Jul 11th, 2012 8:57 am | By

On that Popehat post All This Talk of Harassment Is Harassing Me! - a comment that helps to explain the basic confusion. Author, Robert White.

Sounds to me like this “free Thought” movement is having what I call “the Libertarian problem”.

As a movement, I have found, Libertarianism is a thin rich chocolate shell of progressive idealists hiding a meaty, inconsistent nougat of biggoted ass-hats looking for a system of thought that can keep the faggots, darkies, spics and freeloading liberals out of their lives. Both outer shell and inner douchebag (again, talking libertarian here) unable or unwilling to take their propositions all the way to their logical conclusions…

Ohhhhhh – they* think “freethought”=libertarian. Nooooooo. No no no no no. … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Other way around

Jul 10th, 2012 5:00 pm | By

Revisiting an old grudge for a moment – you may remember that Orac jumped on me very hard for an analogy about [people complaining about oppression and thus making things worse by scaring people who are subject to the same oppression]. The analogy I used was Jews in Germany in 1936. Orac is a self-appointed cop of (apparently) any kind of Nazi analogy. He said so himself.

As you might (or might not) know, I very much detest the gratuitous use of argumentum ad Nazi-um. I even have a special category for it on my blog.

I was annoyed by the bossy tone and the timing*, but on consideration I decided he had a point, so I withdrew the analogyRead the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Jakarta Globe on intolerance in Indonesia *

Jul 10th, 2012 | Filed by

“They have secular views on human rights, which of course will always be different from ours,” said Indonesian Council of Ulema deputy chairman.… Read the rest



Knowing you can

Jul 10th, 2012 2:24 pm | By

I’ve just thought of something – well, a few minutes ago, while walking up the street.

Remember the opening of The God Delusion? “I didn’t know I could”? Remember the way the argument turns on that idea – not knowing you can get out, and consciousness raising as the first step to getting out?

Well that’s feminism, you know. Knowing you can. That’s where consciousness raising came from, remember?

The two rebellions have a great deal in common, you know. Both rebel against the principle of male authority and arbitrary hierarchy. Both are about humans standing up straight instead of squirming on the ground. Both are fundamentally about a break with monarchy.

So it’s odd that a segment of … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Suck up the pain of unjust suffering

Jul 10th, 2012 12:25 pm | By

You know how Dan Savage likes to say that conservative Christians should ignore what the Bible says about homosexuality just as they ignore what the Bible says about slavery? Peter Montgomery at Religion Dispatches points out that actually they don’t always ignore what the Bible says about slavery. Sometimes they use it to tell the workers to submit. Ralph Reed, in 1990:

Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.

Does that remind you of anything? It reminds me of anything.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



The religious Right, the bible, and slavery *

Jul 10th, 2012 | Filed by

The religious right doesn’t ignore Bible passages about slavery altogether; it uses them to support anti-worker, anti-union policies.… Read the rest



Here’s something for skeptics to debate

Jul 10th, 2012 9:53 am | By

What’s wrong with torturing animals for fun? Why not, after all?

Nothing should be off the table when skeptics get together for a chin-wag, right? So recreational animal torture should be on the table. It shouldn’t be a given that that’s not ok, just the way “treat people as equals” shouldn’t be a given, because skepticism. Right? We can’t just assume that torturing animals for shits&giggles is a crap idea; we have to demonstrate that it is, with evidence.

Why, for instance, is there anything wrong with the fact that someone encased a live kitten in concrete up to the front legs on the property of FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) patriarch Isaac Wyler? Why is it stomach-turning to … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



FLDS patriarch tortures a kitten to death, sheriff laughs *

Jul 10th, 2012 | Filed by

The live kitten, trapped up to the shoulders in concrete, was found on the property of Isaac Wyler; it died shortly after being rescued. Warning: picture.… Read the rest