Almost three years ago, a feminist activist committed what many not-so-impartial observers apparently see as an unpardonable sin: she was less than polite to a small squad of Men’s Rights activists at a demonstration in Toronto. At least one of these gentlemen caught her outburst on video, and uploaded it to YouTube.
You know the rest: the video went viral, and the activist, a red-headed woman known as Chanty Binx (or “Big Red,” to the douchebag army), found herself suddenly transformed into “The Posterchild of Everything Wrong with Feminism,” as one of her haters put it. Her face has become ubiquitous in antifeminist memes, and she’s endured nearly three years of harassment.
Earlier this month, antifeminist YouTuber Sargon of Akkad — who makes his living pandering to some of the internet’s worst lady haters — posted an animated video by another antifeminist YouTuber in which an angry Islamist and an angry feminist sing a song explaining that they pretty much believe all the same things. (For some reason, this nonsensical theory is something that a lot of antifeminists have convinced themselves is true.)
The angry Islamist in the video is a familiar racist stereotype, complete with “funny” accent. [Correction: He’s evidently supposed to be a parody of this guy, known as Dawah Man, a legitimately terrible person you wouldn’t think atheists would have to strawman in order to criticize..]
The angry feminist, meanwhile, isn’t a generic figure; she’s an especially crude caricature of Binx, spouting nonsense that neither Binx nor any other feminist actually believes: the video ends with her encouraging the Islamist to rape her, because it’s not really rape if a Muslim does it, dontchaknow.
It’s a vicious, hateful little cartoon made worse by the fact that these words are being put in the mouth of a real woman who’s been the target of a vast harassment campaign for years.
Yesterday, Richard Dawkins, apparently seeing this horrendous video as a clever takedown of some brand of feminism that he must think actually exists, shared it with his 1.3 million Twitter followers:
Dawkins, a well-respected scientist-turned-embarrassing-atheist-ideologue, has become notorious for his endless Twitter gaffes. But this is plainly worse than, say, his famously pathetic lament about airport security “dundridges” taking his jar of honey; his Tweet contributed to the demonization of a real woman who’s already the target of harassment and threats.
The awesome Lindy West pointed this out to him in a series of Tweets and linked to one of my posts cataloging some of the abuse Binx got after the video of her went viral.
In a series of eloquent and angry Tweets, she made clear to Dawkins how and why he was misusing his huge platform and contributing to an atmosphere of hate online. Dawkins, alternately indignant and defensive, ultimately took down the offending Tweet, but not before making other Tweets that were nearly as bad. Dawkins can’t even do the right thing without being a dick about it.
Let’s watch Lindy at work:
After what was apparently an unsatisfactory response from Dawkins — I couldn’t find his Tweet, if there was one — West repeated and expanded upon her basic points. [EDIT: The unsastisfactory respose, West tells me, was that Dawkins posted a link to one of the videos of Chanty Binx at the Toronto demonstration.]
Well, that got his attention:
So there you have it: when informed that a tweet of his will almost certainly worsen the vicious harassment faced by a young woman whose only “crime” was being rude to a couple of MRAs in public, Richard Dawkins, a one-time winner of the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year Award, replies by saying that “she deserves nothing more than ridicule.”
West replied:
Dawkins then decided to suggest that perhaps Binx was, you know, crazy:
Dawkins ultimately agreed to take down his Tweet linking to the execrable video. But he offered no apology. And he went on to suggest that just maybe Binx had … threatened herself.
We’ve seen this, er, argument before.
Does Dawkins have any conception of just how much abuse women like Chanty Binx get? If she were sending herself all the threatening and harassing messages she gets, she wouldn’t have time to eat or sleep.
And I wonder if Dawkins thinks she drew the caricature of herself that was used in the video he retweeted.
Thoughtful as ever, Dawkins made sure to remind his 1.3 million followers that Binx still deserved all the mockery they could deliver. Just not the death threats please!
And he begged his readers to think about the real victims here — those people, like him, who might have to curtail their mockery somewhat because their terrible, terrible fans might be inspired to hurt someone.
RIP, Richard Dawkins’ comedy career.
Is Dawkins actually unaware that by punching down at a woman who’s already been the target of a three year harassment campaign he almost certainly is contributing to the threats he claims to deplore? It’s hard for me to believe that he could be so naive. But the alternative explanation — that he knows full well that he’s encouraging the harassers — is even more disquieting.
One good thing has come out of this ugly episode today: The Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism has un-invited Dawkins from its event this year. A post on the group’s website today explains:
The Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism has withdrawn its invitation to Richard Dawkins to participate at NECSS 2016. We have taken this action in response to Dr. Dawkins’ approving re-tweet of a highly offensive video.
We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views. However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS. The sentiments expressed in the video do not represent the values of NECSS or its sponsoring organizations.
We will issue a full refund to any NECSS attendee who wishes to cancel their registration due to this announcement.
The NECSS Team
Good for them. The atheist movement needs to stand up to the haters and harassers in its midst, including those like Dawkins, who may not directly harass or threaten but who use their huge platforms to amplify and embolden this hatred and harassment.
It would be nice if Dawkins were to actually learn something — a little humanity, a little humility? — from this incident, but when it comes to the subject of feminism Dawkins seems incapable of taking in new information, much less learning anything from it.
EDITED TO ADD: And now, as if to prov what I just said in that previous paragraph, Dawkins is now second-guessing his decision to take down his tweet linking to the video, because GamerGaters are telling him that Chanty and I made up the evidence of the abuse she got.
NOTE: Lindy West has a book coming out soon. Pre-order it below!
CORRECTION: I added a bit noting that the Islamist in the cartoon video is supposed to be a parody of a real person.
EDIT: I added a line about Dawkins tweeting a link to a video of Chanty Binx at the Toronto demonstration.
@Chaltab
Exactly. Even Ayaan Hirsi denied that there was sexism in the West. I think the problem is that these people get too defensive of their atheist movement to criticize any flaws among its members.
I mean, Sargon is a rape apologist. (he made a video defending Elliot Rodger *throws up*) That’s HORRIBLE. And I remember how p*ssed he got when finding out that Laci Green was a feminist. What the hell, how is it any of HIS business that Laci supports the equal rights of women?? He’s a creepy borderline sex offender trying to control women, a disgrace to the movement. Says alot when they don’t kick him out.
Eh, I don’t really agree. I believe what I believe, and I can’t just choose to pretend otherwise, no matter how toxic Dawkins gets. That’s why I say I’m not in his group — because if I am, I can’t not be.
I think the guy who made fun of my “fee fees” qualifies.
I think you’ve gotten burnt out on MRAs and twitter trolls and whatnot, and your default position is “attack mode”. In this post you accuse me of telling you to stop talking about sexism…I would never do that. I was trying to have a dialogue, and I’ve never tried to stifle anyone’s speech. I’m only asking you to consider the effect your words have on others. You may not think I’ve been bullied here or made unwelcome, but the fact is that’s how I feel, and I think that’s valid.
Hey IN51P1D, if you don’t like how hanging out in this space makes you feel, there’s a very easy solution.
@aptronym
WEE-WOO WEE-WOO MAKE WAY FOR THE TONE POLICE.
Fuck your fee-fees.
I get it…you’re not here to have your views challenged. I’ll show myself out.
“I showed up to this coffee shop for the first time and it’s all wrong! I don’t like the music! I don’t like the decor! I don’t like the menu! All those things need to change. Hey, people hanging out at the coffee shop, why don’t you understand that your coffee shop is wrong?”
@ paradoxy
I completely understand, and agree, with the point your making, but there’s a slight fallacy here.
Judaism is complicated because ‘Jewish’ encompasses both an ethnicity and a religion. But they are separate things. You can never stop being ethnically Jewish but you can abandon the religion, and many ethnically Jewish people aren’t necessarily born into the religion. Their parents may be of a different religion or none, and raise their children that way. So you can be a Jewish Buddhist for example.
Islam is different. There is a tendency in some countries to associate Islam with either a particular ethnic appearance (i.e. Brown skinned) or culture (i.e. Arab) bit that’s completely fallacious .
There is no one culture or ethnicity that correlates with being Muslim and being Muslim correlates with no particular ethnicity or culture.
Muslims come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds and many different countries.
There are plenty of Arabs who aren’t Muslim for instance and plenty of brown people aren’t Muslim. Similarly there are many non Arabs who are Muslim and many non brown people who are as well.
Obviously some people use Muslim as a racist shorthand for any brown person or Arab, but they’re falling into the same fallacy for their own nefarious reasons.
I appreciate you had the best of intentions in using the example but it is incorrect and it is problematic. My non Muslim Arab friends hate it when people assume that all Arabs are Muslim for instance. They have nothing against Muslims but it’s like assuming all Americans must be Christians.
Being born into a Muslim family and being raised as a Muslim is no different from being born and raised as a Mormon.
The ‘Muslims aren’t a race’ thing can be used by racists to mask their actions, but it’s equally as wrong to say that Islam is a race even when done for the best of intentions as it negates the identity of non Muslim Arabs and brown people and suggests that Muslims who aren’t Arab or brown are somehow not ‘real’ Muslims.
Hope that makes sense.
IN51P1D,
Calling people here bullies is going too far. Even though you said you didn’t want to call specific people out, but that would have been way better. We, and feminist spaces in general, have a lot of sealions that come in here, act tedious, and then whine about mean we are. If someone says something that you find offensive or could maybe be worded better, quote and reply to that. Don’t come in here and call the entire community mean. That’s not going to go over well. If you’re here in good faith, I suggest you take this advice and maybe step back for awhile and try again later.
Thread,
That said, whether this person is a sealion troll or here in good faith, this is not at all the first time this issue has come up, and in the two years or so I’ve been here, more than one regular and non-troll commenter, including me have taken issue with the way people talk about atheist. I’ve tried to offer solutions many times. It hasn’t been listened to before, but I’ll try once more.
If you’re talking about movement atheism or movement atheists, say so. Don’t just say “atheism” and assume everyone will automatically understand you don’t mean all atheists.
Use some sort of term that makes it clear you’re talking about the specific subset of atheists that are causing the problems. I like MRAtheist, personally. But Randroid atheists, Dawkin’s style atheists, reddit atheists and similar qualifiers work.
Please stop saying “I’m an atheist and I’ve never faced any marginalization” or “nobody I know thinks less of atheists” or similar things. Just because you don’t personally see something or experience, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I know everyone here knows this, because we explain to trolls all the time.
It oppression Olympics to say that atheists are uniquely oppressed or oppressed more than other groups. By all means, call out this attitude. It’s crap. But, saying atheists are less marginalized than every other marginalized group is also oppression Olympics. Is it necessary to turn around and do the same thing you decry?
A lot of atheists do manage to go through their whole lives without facing any real oppression based on their atheism. But, there are people who are ostracized from their families or communities for being an atheist. In some countries, people can be jailed for being atheist activists. Since half of my country thinks you can’t be moral and be an atheist at the same time, whenever I meet someone new, or start a new job or something, I have to evaluate whether or not it’s a good idea to tell them I’m an atheist. That’s not right.
I think my suggestions are pretty simple and easy to carry out and none of them involve not being able to talk about sexism in the atheism community or mock awful things individual atheists say. I really do think taking just a little bit of care will stop a lot of these arguments.
@Chiomara:
Funny how nobody ever seems to apply this reasoning to, say, anti-tax conservatives. Nobody’s telling them “Quit bitching about US taxation and go do your activism in places like Scandinavia and Belgium where tax levels are much higher! Those are the places that REALLY need some tax relief!”
No, for some reason opinion-havers other than feminists are allowed to protest things they don’t like in their own countries even if other countries are worse off. Wonder why that is.
@David Futrelle:
A bit OT, but have you been following all of the foofaraw about the medievalist Allen (not novelist Jonathan) Frantzen’s attacks on feminism? I’ve been wondering if that was going to rate a WHTH post at some point.
Yes, because someone making a snide remark about your feelings in a situation where you’re martyring yourself about atheism and sexism within the atheist community is a good example of the whole community (that happens to be dedicated to mocking misogyny) bullying you and we’re all just mean. [/sarcasm]
“I’m only asking you to consider how I feel about people pointing out sexism in my theology! I just want to talk about how mean you are about saying that atheism has a problem with sexism! See, I’m being bullied and I don’t feel welcome here because you said that there’s a problem with sexism, but I would never tell you to stop talking about sexism! Accommodate me by talking to me like I’m the only person who’s ever said this to you!”
No one paged the Tone Police.
You know what I’m also getting burnt out on? This conversation. I’ve had it a billion times before, and I’m really tired of having it. It’s not a matter of “no one here wants their beliefs challenged!” so much as it’s an issue of “You all just won’t listen to me repeat the same stuff over and over no matter what you say to debunk it!”
Not the same thing. Have a nice life.
@WWTH:
Mea culpa on that. I’m very used to doing that with other groups as well, so it does carry over to other conversations. I’ll try my best to not do that in the future.
As for the “Oppression Olympics” stuff: I will say in my defense that the only reason I brought it up is because the sealion tried to compare being an atheist with say, being murdered for being trans, so it did get my hackles up a bit.
@Alan: Thanks for the correction! I’ll keep that in mind when I veer out of my lane again. 🙁
Probably wasn’t my place to say that, now that I’m thinking about it.
I call ’em asstheists.
LinkxZeldaFan
He believes he is a “real feminist.” Kinda like Christina Hoff Sommers. Feminism is great until it starts trying to tackle systemic issues, then it’s gone too far. There is also the fetishization of “civility” which always favors the privileged groups. It’s much easier to ignore a minority when they are being polite and quiet. The added bonus is if they get too loud, it makes them look bad.
@ paradoxy
Please don’t be upset. You were acting with the most honest of intentions; and ‘what’s a religion; what’s an ethnicity?” has taxed philosophers and jurists for ages. 🙂
(We even had a court case to decide in the case of Sikhs!)
I never, ever, ever, ever, EVER said anything even remotely like that. I’m disgusted that would even suggest it. I hate myself for posting here again, but what you’re saying is gross and false, and someone needs to open your eyes to that.
@weirwoodtreehugger everything you said makes sense, I admit I had to look up the term ‘sealion’, and yes, I would have felt much better if some other term like MRAtheist was used. I’m not here long-term, this place definitely doesn’t fit my temperament…obviously.
@IN51P1D
Yeah dude, fuck this place, bunch of insecure intolerant little bitches who dogpile anyone who dares speak their mind. I respect you David Futrelle but some of your posters here are fucking control freaks though I understand it’s only because they’re scared of anyone with opposing views.
I remain a feminist atheist who still supports Dawkins but also defends Anita and other feminists. And @dhag85, FUCK YOU, I didn’t like you the moment I came here you oversensitive bigoted piece of shit. Do you live in a closet by yourself? Because that’s how you sound. Can’t say “crazy” but it’s okay to call me stupid? Go fuck yourself and good luck getting more friends online. 😉 Word-censoring dumbass.
@Tesson, It’s cute that you’re trying to be friends with me now. <3 Here's a better suggestion: Kill yourself and find a better hobby than shoving words in people's mouths. In fact, go shove a nice big green elephant trunk up your ass. 😉 BITCH.
@Katz, and FUCK YOU, you complain about bullies but you bully others for speaking their minds? You're no different from the misogynists and cyberbullies you're always bitching about.
@Paradoxical Intention, Dude, I like your posts but go check yourself. You're denying that this guy IN51P1D gets dogpiled when he tries to explain himself, it's disgusting and you're no different from the MRAs who deny the victims of cyberbullies. GO FUCKING CHECK YOURSELF.
@weirwoodtreehugger, Of course there's bullies on here. Condemning and ignoring people who complain about bullying only shows your own ignorance and that you're unwilling for you and your group to accept criticism. You guys are FUCKING HYPOCRITES…just wow. The intolerant cast-offs of society lol. No wonder you're so bitter.
Seriously, I now understand what the term SJW means.
Please ban my ass because this forum sucks though I still respect David Futrelle's work. Keep exposing the misogynists. For the rest of you, bye bitches! 😉
3…2…1…. DOGPILE ME, BITCHES.
(remember I won't read your responses so have fun stewing about mwah 😉 *blows kisses*)
Link, get off the stage sweetheart.
http://i.imgur.com/dEIgx.png
That was a pretty spectacular flounce. Now I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or glad I didn’t respond to the earlier accusation that I put words in your mouth. Oh well. Laterz!
Does that mean it’s safe to get back to discussing how we were going to find One-Eyed Willie’s lost treasure?
Well, unless Link is Aptronym’s sock, that came out of nowhere.
Should’ve stayed there. Yawn.
Way late to the party here, but:
If you change “Men” to “Misogynists” or “The patriarchy,” we’re all on the same page again. I think this one was just miscommunication. ^^;
I’ve already posted this picture in this thread, but let me post it again for LinkxZeldaFan and IN51P1D’s sake.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41zQZOfqigL._SY300_.jpg
Well, LinkxZeldaFan is getting banned for breaking several rules of the comment policy in one post. I’ll just email David about it now.
Also
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/fyu.gif
…Whoa what the fuck just happened? She just sort of exploded all at once. I was expecting that from someone but LinkxZeldaFan didn’t even appear to be part of that disagreement.
IDEGI….
My theory about why religion isn’t important in the UK is that if I understand correctly it’s the only country in which Protestantism was imposed from the top down (and not without a fight—go Yorkshire!) rather than from the inside out (i.e. through the clergy).
And speaking of scientific spokespeople who’ve let us down, I’m dismayed to report that Neil deGrasse Tyson is turning into a Dawkins:
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/27038631191