You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Gender Issues’ category.
I am continually amazed by people and their ability to be rational in one aspect of their life and the ability to completely ignore rationality in other aspects of their life. The example that I often see is people who are in evidence based professions, especially the ones that require the application of scientific rigor, that ignore the same critical thinking skills when it comes to their theism. However I now have a new shining example of this and it saddens me because he used to be a person I had a lot of respect for.
What Happened!?!?
The person I am talking about is Thundefoot of course. For the people who don’t know him, he is a scientist who has gained popularity on Youtube mostly by debating theists. Although debate may be a poor choice of term to describe what usually when on when he talked with these people. Evisceration perhaps? But I digress, this post isn’t really about that. It’s about what happened since he joined Free Thought Blogs. Thunderfoot decided to throw his hat into the ring in a controversy in the greater atheist community.
This controversy started when Rebecca Watson gave a talk at a skeptic conference about sexism and added personal antidotes about how being sexualized at these conferences creeps her out. Later that night (at 4am) she was at the bar and decided to call it a night. Unfortunately another attendee decided to tailgate her into the elevator and ask her to his room for “coffee” in an overt pickup artist move of cornering. When Rebecca Watson got home, she posted a video of experiences and talked about the cornering and said Guys, Don’t Do That. Apparently this act of defiance of male privilege was taking things too far and she was sent a shitstorm of death and rape threats by the skeptical community at large.
The saga continued up until this year’s convention where recently the organizer of the event had the gall to blame her for the extreme reduction of female attendees. And this is where Thunderfoot enters the equation. He entered with a blatant sexist joke with a picture of Darth Vader, jabbed with a “This isn’t a big problem” (correction , it read “*THIS REALLY ISN’T A BIG PROBLEM*”), a left cross of Talking About Sexism Is The Problem, Not Sexism, and delivered the knockout blow (paraphrased) So STFU About All This Stuff. It was a truly epic saga of bullshit.
After he got called out on this by P.Z. Myers he got all butthurt. And since then he’s been removed from Free Thought Blogs. And the butthurt continues. Once wonders where it will end. For more on this simply google elevatorgate.
TL;DR
Thunderfoot goes all sexist and then gets all butthurt when there is a blow-back from the womenz. Sad days for Bleatmop as someone he used to respect makes a mockery of himself.
There seems to be a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about abortion lately. I’m thinking it could possibly maybe be about CPC MP’s motion to discuss when life starts. This motion is, without a doubt, no matter what the detractors say, a backdoor attempt to try and take away Canadian women’s hard won human right to their own body. Attempts to paint this as anything but that are either disingenuous or misinformed. The only result of Woodworth managing to redefine when life begins at anything before birth is for him to carry on and propose a bill to then introduce limitations on abortion. Supporting this discussion is to support the attack on women’s reproductive freedom.
I bring this up because of what I’ve been seeing on other blogs I frequent, namely Dammit Janet and Unrepentant Old Hippie. They’ve both left progressive bloggers because it seems that suggesting that human rights, in particular a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, is not up for debate is worthy of calling said people idiots and shrill.
My response to said “progressives” is simple.
It’s regressive to think debating the merits of a particular group’s human rights is a good idea.
Stop playing Woodworth’s game.
It makes you a bad person.
Stop it.
Trust Women.
Even Jebus thinks you are bug-frak crazy.
Christianity is the religion that keeps on giving. By “giving” I mean keeps on festering. Christianity exudes an oozing rancid pus that encrapulates and taints those exposed to its toxic effects. Dogmatic religious beliefs, like those espoused by Christian Patriarchy, are the putrefying ichor that rots modern secular society.
Pleasantries aside, this is probably one of the worst things you will read all day. I’m going to re-post a article from No Longer Quivering about Matt, a young patriarch in training, and his thoughts on the role of women in a traditional christian family. Trigger warnings for domestic violence, misogyny and homophobia are mandated for such piece.
The Red Pen O’ Snarky-Justice is raising an uproar that cannot be quelled, and thus, my commentary shall appear in red italics lightly treading on the wide trail of fail Matt leaves behind him.
“It’s possible that Matt is a troll and his comments should be ignored or deleted – but his arguments are not at all unlike the “biblical” beliefs which I heard taught/preached regularly during my Quiverfull days. I am assuming Matt is a young man based on his immaturity and know-it-all attitude – of course, given that patriarchs rarely grow up, it’s possible that he is an old man – maybe he’s the pastor of an IFB church.
So, without further ado – here’s Matt:
“I take it from your post that you are dead set on fornicating, although the Bible tells you not to do that.
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. [and the bible, like all religious delusional nonsense, is full of shite]”
“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.[Ownership of one human being by another is a fracking aberration. Claiming that it is endorsed in holy scripture doubles down on the bullshite and vile misogyny omnipresent in the bible.]”
“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.[translation: Smile while you take your abuse as the bible says its okay, hell, you should be thanking me for letting you fully enjoy your noble roles as incubator, house slave and fuck-toilet]”
You are mistaking voluntary submission with involuntary servitude. As a Christian lady you are commanded to be subject to your husband, it is asked of you to submit. It doesn’t say “men, oppress your woman to all costs!”[I command you to voluntarily submit – this like most christian apologia has a sickening circularity along with a dash of guilt – witness the next sentence]. As a Christian woman who claims to believe in the Word of God, which is inspired/breathed by God, your Creator, is it alright for you to dismiss what that Word says? [Because god is such a fair (ordering genocide) and noble (endorsing slavery) creature, we should trust this derranged lunatics words to the letter – you want to be a properly deluded christian right?]
Matt, if if smells like BS...
A woman surrenders to a man so easily when he takes charge [Being afraid of being beaten to death will do that]. That is the danger of having a matriarch with a man in subjection. The woman indeed is the weaker vessel, tossed to and fro, giving in to whims, and judges things according to her motherly instinct [**swoosh!!** Wow, did you hear that it was sound of women being dismissed as fully autonomous human beings possessing all the rights and freedoms men have, embrace being a second class ‘semi-person’ ; it can be fun because possessing as lady brain automatically makes you retarded] For instance, she would say sodomite couplings are lovely, because love is blind [Funny how woman = love = stupid]. A man who is not of God would say “I don’t care, to each their own”, but not mention love in the equation.
A man of God would not even let a sodomite in under his roof or in the vincinity of his children!![Except in church, because being buggered as an alter boy is a holy experience, praise the lard for that!] Let me tell you something, love is not blind![Wait, didn’t you just say it was like a sentence ago?] Even infatuation is not blind. But infatuation and love are two different things. Love is a choice. Hate is a choice [Word Salad is a Choice!]. I will hate the wicked and their deeds [some dude was saying something about turning the other cheek – ya know tolerance and stuff, but I digress, religious are fundamentally intolerant and Matt is doing just a spiffy-awesome job at being a douche-nozzle for jebus at the moment] Yes, hate.
Furthermore, sodomites hate God, and infiltrate churches to spit in God’s face [projection much?]. You might say, “sodomites love each other, so what’s wrong with that”? I love my siblings, does that mean I have sexual relations with them?![ah, the gentle conflation of incest with same sex relations *sigh*] I love men, as brothers. I love women, as sisters. But by God, there is only one person I take sexual pleasure in[mentioning the palm sisters in a godly rant, Matt really is all over the place on this one…]! Love is not sex. Learn it, woman.
So, if you’re a Christian woman, your God that you supposedly love, tells you to submit and be in subject to your husband in every thing[huh, god was a 
misogynist asshat too, colour me shocked]. Am I a jealous man? Every man of God should be jealous! Just as God is jealous, and wants us only to worship him[my goodness you are a special snowflake aren’t you cupcake, you get to be a jealous abuser because god says so, convenient].
And why am I jealous? Because the woman is the weaker vessel[citation needed, and ‘god says so’ is his magic book does not count], and evil men who have acknowledged this takes advantage, to defile you [because explicitly calling women inferior and infantilizing them isn’t defiling them at all].
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.[whoa shields up! Unfounded pontificating incoming!] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth [I’m going to assume that Douche-twaddle is referring to men that are not patriarchal misogynists who don’t actually want to enslave women].”
I’m telling you, there’s a lot of weak vessels, silly women, out there, who ungodly men lie in wait for. Am I controlling for keeping my woman away from these evil men? Then so be it. Yes, I am in control, but I love my woman enough to grant her freedom of thought and expression[as long as it completely agrees with my frakked up shite filled point of view; there fixed for ya]. She is as intelligent as I am, but still the weaker vessel, due to her willingness to surrender and submit to a man who takes charge [so she’s evil if she does not submit and then she is also evil because she does submit, this like the rest of your circular bullcookery is half-baked, nutty-rotten religious hatred of women].
Matt says pretty fracked-up-shite here and needs a photo to break the wall of text and add luminosity to Matt's solemn pronouncements.
Ask yourself, how many men adopt the interests and beliefs of their wives [just the ones that care about their partners thoughts and feelings and want to share as opposed to dominate their lives]? None. How many women adopts the interests and beliefs of their husbands? They are in abundance[because you beat the ones that don’t submit, you dastardly fuck]. It is clear that a woman submits to a man who rules her, even to the point of abuse, I’m sad to say[the christian Dark Ages are calling, they miss you]. Therefore a Christian man is told to love his woman as himself. What man would abuse himself[most patriarchs don’t; they save the beatings and abuse for their wife and children, duh?]? He may abuse drugs or alcohol but not himself.”
Wow. Deep-breath….*whew*. You’ll need a shower after immersing yourself in the rectum-orious musings of ass-spittle like Matt. Religion is an ugly piece of work and of course as mentioned around here from time to time, rotten to the core. The sheer amount of hate for women turns ones guts sour.
Christian patriarchy, like all fundamentalist wack-a-loon religious fappery, is fundamentally anti-woman, anti-child and anti-modern (anti-civilization, while we are at it) paternalistic bullshite. This branch of the christian death-cult ranks up there with the crazy Muslim sects that demand the burka and female genital mutilation from their woman-folk (cultural artifacts/religiously backed…your choice, it is still patently wrong).
How we let the religiously sponsored abuse of Women continue to exist in the so called civilized West is beyond me.
Get your fill of Hate and Bigotry all under the guise of Traditional Family Values!
The amount of bigoted american-conservative right wing fail is impressive. One Million Moms oozes hatred and discrimination as it attempts to protect children from the ‘filth’ of the society and the entertainment industry. Pro-Tip – Labelling people as evil and immoral because of their sexual orientation is a hate filled regressive act. You won’t find the overtly bigoted language on OneMillionMoms, but the sentiment is quite clear none the less.
“The conservative Christian group One Million Moms is angry. Angry like just-missed-an-awesome-sale angry. Sure, the down-home-sounding offshoot of the reliably right-wing American Family Association exists in a perpetual state of twisted knickers. It’s whipped itself into a frenzy of indignation at the not-quite-exclusionary-enough tactics of Macy’s, Levi’s, Jenny Craig and Oreos in just the past few months. But its outrage at JC Penney, the jeans supplier to at least 800,000 of those million moms, is especially intense of late.
At issue is the group’s contention that by hiring Ellen DeGeneres for a new campaign, the department store is “jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon” and turning away from “traditional families.” The organization warns darkly that “Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.” There is so much to love in that sentence alone. Culture war! Brand transformation! Fearless disregard for the rules of comma usage after a subordinate clause! “The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended,” they continue, “and choose to no longer shop there.”
When you see the phrase “traditional families” and “culture” war being bandied about so casually, you know you’re dealing with a true bucket of loons (extra-crispy). Ellen responds thusly –
“After announcing she was “proud and happy” that JC Penney was sticking by her side, she explained to America that “Being gay or pro-gay is not a bandwagon. You don’t get a free ride anywhere. There’s no music, and occasionally we’ll sing, ‘We Are Family,’ but that’s about it.” And she noted that “For a group that calls itself the Million Moms, they have only 40,000 members on their [Facebook] page. They’re rounding to the nearest million.” It was a witty retort to a campaign of hate, though frankly, not nearly as hilarious as the Million Moms’ depiction of DeGeneres as an “open homosexual spokesperson.””
Ignorance, discrimination and bigotry the hallmarks of Christianity – One million Moms is three for three.
The binary view of gender is a regressive patriarchal notion that needs to be abolished and the sooner the better. The gender binary hurts women and men as people are shoehorned into roles that they are not suited for and then judged as being deficient by society according to these normative values. Gender, in fact, lies along a continuum rather than any artificial divide.
So, what explains actions like this?
“Today’s award for bigotry and intolerance goes to one Richard Floyd, a GOP State Rep. from Tennessee who has introduced legislation that would ban transgender individuals from using public restrooms and dressing rooms that are not designated for the gender listed on their birth certificates. What’s more, Rep. Floyd said in a recent interview that if he “was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there” (by which he means a transgender person), he would “stomp a mudhole” in that person.”
Ah, here is where what sociologists and psychologists talk about when they say that gender roles are enforced by society. Here we have a supposedly sane elected individual saying on public record that he would beat someone up if they dared use the bathroom that did not match the meat-parts they were born with.
It gets worse… Richard Floyd the lawmaker in question continues with this (emphasis mine):
“Don’t ask me to adjust to their perverted way of thinking and put my family at risk. We cannot continue to let these people dominate how society acts and reacts.”
Respecting the gender your brain is programmed with is a perversion? Really? Dick, what makes you think that your conception of gender is the correct one? I mean, did someone make you president/godhead of the gender division institute and that your word IS the law? Oh wait, he is a white male and thus what he spake can only be considered “truth“.
Traditional conceptions of gender have a corrosive effect in our society with regards to tolerance and understanding people who are different than ourselves. Gender norms are in desperate need of a overhaul.
Behold, the fetus fetish.
Unfortunately, the torrent of burning stupid never stops (the republican primary debates are ample evidence), not even for the new year. Brazil has just passed a piece of legislation making compulsory to register if you happen to be pregnant. How nice. Winnowing away of the rights of women has not gone away in the new year and it looks like the pace is increasing in South America.
“In the dead of night on December 27, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff enacted legislation that will require all pregnancies to be registered with the government. Provisionary Measure 557 (PM 557) created the National System of Registration, Vigilance and Monitoring Women’s Care during Pregnancy and Post Childbirth for the Prevention of Maternal Mortality (National Registration System).
She used a provisionary measure—intended only for urgent matters—that allows the president to pass a law without congressional approval. Congress only gets to debate and approve the law once it has been enacted. Rousseff claims that PM 557 will address Brazil’s high rates of maternal mortality by ensuring better access, coverage and quality of maternal health care, notably for high-risk pregnancies.”
Kinda spooky. No debate, no discussion just poof! and you get to watch your rights disappear in the rear view mirror of misogynist public policy.
“Both public and private health providers must report all pregnancies—providing women’s names—with the National Registration System so the state can then track these pregnancies, from prenatal to postpartum care, presumably to evaluate and monitor health care provided.
How does simply monitoring pregnancies reduce maternal mortality? There is no guarantee that care will be available to all pregnant women and no investment in improving health services included in the legislation.”
Of course registering women having birth might be considered a first step if there was more medical aid forthcoming, but nothing like that is in the legislation.
“And what’s the benefit to women? PM 557 does authorize the federal government to provide financial support up to R$50.00 (roughly US$27) for registered pregnant women for their transportation to health facilities for pre-natal and delivery care. However, to receive the stipend women must comply with specific conditions set by the state related to pre-natal care. Let’s face it, that paltry sum may not even cover the roundtrip for one appointment depending on where a woman lives.
In fact, PM 557 does not guarantee access to health exams, timely diagnosis, providers trained in obstetric emergency care, or immediate transfers to better facilities. So while the legislation guarantees R$50.00 for transportation, it will not even ensure a pregnant woman will find a vacant bed when she is ready to give birth. And worse yet, it won’t minimize her risk of death during the process.”
So, bad for women, bad for their life expectancy, bad for their chances to die in pregnancy. It would seem to be a fairly raw deal for women all the way around.
“Last but certainly not least, MP 557 violates all women’s right to privacy by creating compulsory registration to control and monitor her reproductive life. In fact, it places the rights of the fetus over the woman, effectively denying her reproductive autonomy. A woman will now be legally “obligated” to have all the children she conceives and she will be monitored by the State for this purpose.”
Ah, there we go the real reason for MP 557, those unruly women need less autonomy. Why does that always seem to be the answer when it comes to many programs dealing with women’s health? Rhetorical questions aside, Brazil needs to get this bill back in front of the assembly and rework it into less a monstrosity, stat.
This clip is about the acceptance of same sex couples making out in public spaces. Why is it okay for hetero couples to mash face, but not when of the same sex. Gauge your reactions and how you feel about the situations presented. Examine your feelings and ask where do they come from, and are they based on rationality or just what someone told you was OK and what was NOT OK. Question those assumptions as authority has a nasty habit of being wrong.
The clip ends with a similar situation only this time the same sex couple is female. Do you think the reaction will be the same? If I can find the clip we’ll watch and see, but I can already guess the result. It is much more OK for two women to be making out because women as members of the sex class, happen to be doing sexy things appeals to patriarchal norms in society and thus is far more acceptable then two men (clearly violating patriarchal norms) engaged in the same activity.
So, when you hear people talking about sexism and patriarchy and feminism do not rationalize it away as “some topic that does not apply to you” or “those battles were won years ago.” The struggle for a genuinely decent society is still ongoing and could always use more people who are aware of the problems and their privilege and most importantly how they can make a positive difference.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…