Witnesses told AFP that bodies lay scattered in the blood-spattered churches as scores of wounded were rushed to hospital.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Iraqi women face court-ordered virginity tests 
Jul 2nd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because a woman is required to be a virgin at marriage, and if she’s not her male relatives might kill her.… Read the rest
The tide of history advances only when people make themselves fully visible
Jul 2nd, 2012 4:54 pm | By Ophelia BensonGood about Anderson Cooper, huh?
I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand.
Yep, and the same applies to atheists. Boy do young atheists get bullied in this country. Any hidden Name atheists out there? Speak up!
Anderson himself (he doesn’t mind if I call him Anderson, does he? I’ve considered him a … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The Oppressed Sisters and their Approved Male Chorus
Jul 2nd, 2012 12:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe second part of problems with Why it’s totally fine to call The Sisterhood of the Oppressed Feminazis and Femistasi and totalitarian.
Remember the Women in Secularism conference the other week? How that conference was hailed by the Oppressed Sisters and their Approved Male Chorus!
Wow. I don’t have much more than that.
Well wait, one thing occurs to me. Paula’s counterpart Liz Cornwell was at that conference. Liz and I were both absolutely electrified by the talk that Wafa Sultan gave, and excited about possibilities for RDF to help her get the word out. It seems odd that Paula is willing to be quite so rude about the conference. She’s angry at “the Oppressed Sisters” for dividing the … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
How to oppose the use of any kind of name-calling
Jul 2nd, 2012 11:38 am | By Ophelia BensonOk so what about Paula’s Google doc?
Sigh. Do I really care?
Oh well. Maybe a point or two.
First, since I gather this has touched a nerve in some quarters, I shall deal with the terms “feminazi” and “femistasi”. As a general principle, I oppose the use of any kind of name-calling.
Well don’t we all, provided we get to resort to it when we really want to.
… Read the restFor the record, I am categorically NOT suggesting that the people I have applied these terms to are, in fact, Nazis or Stasi members, or would ever have sympathized with either of them. There are many of us who are proud to be called Grammarnazis and who know perfectly well
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Nazis and Stasi and bears, oh my
Jul 2nd, 2012 9:43 am | By Ophelia BensonDear oh dear, lots of new assigned reading first thing in the morning; how will I ever catch up.
There is Rebecca’s post on being called Feminazis and Femistasi. (I read that yesterday actually, but late in a long and rather nerve-racking day, so I’m treating it as new.)
There is Paula Kirby’s eagerly-anticipated (since she announced it yesterday) Google doc “Sisterhood of the Oppressed” (gee I wonder what that could possibly be about, and what its take might turn out to be).
There is Alex Gabriel’s unanticipated and lovely mash-note to Freethought blogs. Alex’s note is especially pleasant because it includes detailed accounts of what he likes about a whole slew of particular blogs on the network, … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
There are also global standards
Jul 1st, 2012 4:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonAt least someone gets it: why if person X – let’s call him Merelyatruck – is a sexist shit at blog Y – let’s call it ARF – a woman Z – let’s call her OB – wouldn’t want him commenting on her blog (let’s call it B&W) no matter how fake-civil he pretended to be while there.
Said eigenperson:
… Read the rest#87 Justicar:
I think it’s very clear what Ophelia is saying there. She’s saying that if you are good in Location 1 and bad in Location 2, then you may act well sometimes, but you are not a good person, because a good person tries not to act badly anywhere.
I would agree with that. While it is
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Another afternoon
Jul 1st, 2012 3:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh, jesus christ.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The borg talks to itself
Jul 1st, 2012 10:43 am | By Ophelia BensonWe did another Freethought blogs conversation video. We talked about social justice and facts v values and equality / happiness.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Khalid Mohd torched wife 1 to make space for wife 2
Jun 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rema Jamel asked him to help extend her visa; he said no, and told her she couldn’t take her children back to Jordan, then doused her with lighter fluid and set her on fire.… Read the rest
Everybody’s an expert
Jun 30th, 2012 4:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s another thing Paula said, that’s much much more trivial, so I didn’t want to combine with the Nazi&Stasi totalitarian accusation – but it’s one that I keep getting and it’s really…a bad thing to do, so I want to address it too. Actually it’s not all that minor, as a thing to do – but it was about me, so it’s minor in that sense.
It started where I left off, with
I disagree. I see real strains of totalitarian thought over there. And I lived in a totalitarian state for 2 years.
The other said
Incidentally, I do hope you are as strident in your condemnation of threats against eg Ophelia Benson. That’s serious.
Paula said
… Read the restWhat threats?
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
That’s not a Godwin, that’s a Wollstonecraft
Jun 30th, 2012 3:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore deep rifts. Or the same quantity of rifts, but deeper. Or more, and deeper, rifts. Or rifts that are no deeper but spread out over a wider landscape. Or -
Stop it at once.
Wossa rift this time? It’s calling Freethought blogs totalitarian and comparable to both Nazis and the Stasi.
That’s a bit much, I think.
One reason for my judgment there is that Freethought blogs is not actually a secret police force. It’s not actually any kind of police force. It doesn’t have a police force. It doesn’t have state power. It doesn’t have any power, except the power of opinion.
There are other reasons, but that will do to be going on with.
The sad thing … Read the rest
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Deutsche Welle on destruction of Timbuktu sites
Jun 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Timbuktu is home to three historic mosques as well as 16 cemeteries and mausoleums recognized by UNESCO, watchdog for some of history’s most threatened cultural exhibits.… Read the rest
Destruction of Timbuktu shrines has begun
Jun 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Witnesses said Islamist fighters began attacking the shrines on Saturday morning, using shovels and pickaxes.… Read the rest
Mali: Islamists plan to destroy world heritage sites
Jun 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ansar Eddine intends to destroy all the mausoleums in Timbuktu today. [in French]… Read the rest
The disproportionate amount of attention it gives to sexism
Jun 29th, 2012 5:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonI usually avoid the word “privilege,” because it’s a red rag to a bull and I’m nothing if not accommodating, but sometimes…
Like now, at Thunderfoot’s Palais de Contempt.
…what I have been trying to tell deaf ears on freethoughtblogs for the past week, that their views are poorly positioned to achieve their stated objectives and are widely unrepresentative of the wider rationalist community in:
1) The disproportionate amount of attention it gives to sexism compared to other issues.
2) The way that those who disagree on the matter of sexism are attacked with a disproportionate amount of strawmen, invective and branding (misogynist, MRA, etc etc). This is a behavior more in line with bullying than free thought.
We … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
At the end of Kasr El Nil bridge
Jun 29th, 2012 5:05 pm | By Ophelia BensonDon’t read this unless you’re prepared to be upset and enraged. It’s Natasha Smith’s account of being grabbed, stripped and assaulted by a swarm of men in Cairo a couple of days ago. It’s horrible.
Don’t read even this brief excerpt unless you’re prepared. Trigger warning, in short, though I don’t usually like the term.
… Read the restMen began to rip off my clothes. I was stripped naked. Their insatiable appetite to hurt me heightened. These men, hundreds of them, had turned from humans to animals.
Hundreds of men pulled my limbs apart and threw me around. They were scratching and clenching my breasts and forcing their fingers inside me in every possible way. So many men. All I could see
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
So get off Twitter. We see you are still on Twitter.
Jun 29th, 2012 4:15 pm | By Ophelia BensonA guy who talked shit to Tory MP Louise Mensch and threatened her children via email was given a suspended 26-week sentence earlier this month.
Zimmerman targeted Mensch after last summer’s riots when the Corby MP suggested that sites such as Twitter ought to be closed down if the police thought it necessary. Mensch was also in the public eye as a member of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, which questioned Rupert and James Murdoch over phone hacking.
Oh well in that case – obviously she deserved anything he chose to deal out.
… Read the restAddressing her as the “slut of Twitter”, Zimmerman said: “We are Anonymous and we do not like rude cunts like you and your nouveau riche
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Chopping children for god is not abuse ok
Jun 29th, 2012 12:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonVia Zinnia – more vicious shite from Brendan O’Neill.
There are many bad things about the modern atheistic assault on religion. But perhaps the worst thing is its rebranding of certain religious practices as “child abuse”. Everything from sending your kid to a Catholic school to having your baby boy circumcised has been redefined by anti-religious campaigners as “abuse”.
Yes imagine that! Some people are so depraved that they actually think it’s “abuse” to slice off part of an infant’s penis to please an imaginary god. How could that possibly be abuse?!
… Read the restThis use of emotionally loaded language to demonise the practices and beliefs of people of faith has reached its ugly and logical conclusion in Germany, where a
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
