Gretchen This piece on Jezebel really struck some chords, both in itself and because of some of comments from women sharing their experiences. Really, guys, telling a strange woman– or even an acquaintance or co-worker– to smile is a creepy thing to do. No need to feel bad about it, just read for some explanation and then please … Read more
Do you recall those pastors who made it into the news lately for making outlandishly bigoted statements about homosexuals from the pulpit lately in the wake of Obama’s statement of support for gay marriage, and were recorded doing so? Well, you might be gratified to know that, as CNN’s Belief blog tells it, harsh anti-gay … Read more
Yep, I’m going to make the comparison. But perhaps not how you think. I am not talking about this: Is the overuse of video games and pervasiveness of online porn causing the demise of guys?Increasingly, researchers say yes, as young men become hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting … Read more
I don’t like Psychology Today, part 2: So Elyse of Skepchick wrote a blog post a couple of weeks ago describing an incident that followed a talk on vaccination she gave at Skepticamp in Ohio. You can read the entire thing here, but to put it briefly, a couple she didn’t know aside from a … Read more
So, some of the people who took exception (let’s call it that) to Anita Sarkeesian’s “Tropes vs. Women” Kickstarter project— which has now been officially funded, to the final tune of $158, 917– have started a project of their own. It’s going to be another web video series, called “An analysis of male roles and … Read more
Jay Smooth on the whole tropes vs. women thing:
If you don’t already read Matthew Inman’s webcomic The Oatmeal, or the group blog Popehat devoted to “law, liberty and leisure,” here’s an excellent reason to start. Ken of Popehat begins: Yesterday afternoon, I started getting tweets and emails (to both my work and Popehat accounts) and Facebook messages tipping me to a bogus-lawsuit-threat-on-the-internet story. … Read more
Not the kind of video game trollI’m talking about It’s now nearly the end of the funding period for Anita Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter project “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games,” and it has raised more than $100,000 over its initial goal. I don’t want to detract from the validity of the idea itself or her ability … Read more
From Jason Foscolo’s blog Food Law: At the NYT, Bittman evokes Mrs. Lovejoy in his support of the Bloomberg Soda Tax. I tend to stay away from policy on this blog, but Bloomberg’s soda ban perfectly crystalizes the absurdities of our food system. We pay farmers to overproduce the raw materials for our sweets, then … Read more
Ronald Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), wrote a piece for the Huffington Post comparing coming out as an atheist to coming out as LGBT. In it he urges atheists to reveal their existence to the world for much the same reason that it’s good for “queers” of all sorts to … Read more