Yes, let us all be rational together. Let us all have a polite discussion about the appropriateness of recognizing the right of women to be angry about a few millennia of second-citizen status. Isn’t this a dreadfully divisive distraction that might interfere with our promotion of science literacy? Shouldn’t we consider anti-feminists as a reasonable part of our eminently reasonable movement?

While I appreciate what Novella is saying, and I think he says it well, I think it also fails to forcefully acknowledge that the atheist/skeptic movements must fully recognize the equality of all men and women, and the reality of the systematic oppression of men and women, or it fails to live up to those rational, reasonable, critical-thinking ideals we supposedly have.

This is not a topic for debate. It’s time to stop pretending that it is.

I would have thought so too. So where are they? Why don't they raise their voices like Maryam Namazie & Sarah Haider?

...I also do wish Dawkins would recognize his special place within our community and the power that position holds. I told him that when we had the conversation that led to the joint statement in July 2014. He definitely does recognize his special place for some purposes, i.e. when it’s pleasant for him, but he seems not to when it comes to recognizing the harm he does to the random people he targets. He’s doing it now, today – he’s still producing hateful tweets about the woman in the video, still insisting that she deserves all the mockery possible. His special place right now seems to be Bully in Chief.

You know what I wish? I wish Dawkins would just change direction. I wish he would buckle down and find out who all those progressive feminist universalist Muslim and ex-Muslim women are and promote them. That’s what. I wish he would stop using his massive Twitter voice to attack and bully individual women he takes a dislike to, and individual Muslim schoolboys he takes a dislike to, and instead use it to tell his million fans about people he likes. Stop the bashing, and start promoting instead.

He could do that. It wouldn’t hurt him. It would be fun, and he could feel he was accomplishing something. He would be accomplishing something. He’d be putting his fame to good use.

What’s he accomplishing now? What good does he do by trashing feminism and promoting other people who trash feminism? How does that help anything? In fact how is he not just wasting valuable time and resources that he could be devoting to promoting the very people he claims to be such an ardent ally of? I feel like writing a new Dear Muslima addressed to him. Millions of girls taken out of school to be married to men older than their fathers, and here’s Dawkins busy retweeting MRAs all day instead of doing anything to help those girls.

I’m serious. He could be helping, and he’s not. Why not?

Richard Dawkins is to feminism as Kent Hovind is to evolutionary biology.

Dawkins’ “where are the feminists” tweet from the other day is Hovind’s “where are the transitional fossils?”

Dawkins’ retweet of the video last week is Hovind’s “science is a fundamentalist religion.”

Dawkins’ support for CHS is Hovind’s support for any non-evolutionary biologist who disputes evolution.

And I’d bet a dollar that he promotes Maryam’s anti-Islamicness, and not her feminism, much like Hovind will quote actual evolutionary biologists if they happen to say something Hovind thinks supports his creationism (Ken Miller, perhaps).

This is why Dawkins won’t promote the good stuff: like Hovind, he doesn’t have any. Hovind can only bash evolution because he doesn’t understand it, refuses to learn and can’t promote an evidence-based alternative (because there is none), and Dawkins can only bash feminism because he doesn’t understand it, refuses to learn and can’t promote an evidence-based alternative.

Dawkins knows the creationist tactics well enough from fighting against them. Now, he’s putting them to use.

Oh please, I'm passionately in favour of feminists. Just not those who care about shirts while ignoring Islamic misogyny.

...I won’t be attending the Reason Rally. Any movement with that man as its figurehead does not represent me.

...our dream of a future where people are free to express rational and reasonable views without the fear of reprisal, retaliation, or retribution!

Guess what Dawkins retweeted?

If @RichardDawkins was a real feminist he wouldn’t waste time on FGM & child brides, he’d tackle real issues like butts in video games.

So he retweeted himself a Gamergator Dear Muslima. We are fast approaching Peak Dawkins.