Thursday, December 13, 2012

Atheism, Feminism, And the Whole Purist Movement

For the record I would like to state it here that I am NOT a feminist. That said, it does not mean that I do not care about the different issues plaguing females. I acknowledge them and will fight tooth and claw to address these issues and concerns but I still will NOT call myself a feminist.
Attaching that title to myself makes me feel like I am ONLY focusing on the issue being directed at women, those (un)fortunate enough to have been born with a vagina. And that is not the case.

Gender is not important in one's fight against injustice. One's gender should not be one's basis for one to take action. Women are plagued with issues and discrimination, it is true and I am not denying that but that doesn't mean that other people and the opposite gender don't have problems of their own. If you deny this, then you are discriminating.

I am also starting to hate the whole wave of this "new" feminism movement. IF their posts and blogs are to be the yardstick by which we judge one's views and actions that I can say most of them have become quite paranoid and even misandrist. Its the same as misogyny in my book.

One recent example is the whole Michael Shermer and Ophelia Benson barb. The Atheism+ side seems to employ the same tactic to bring in traffic to their side and that is, say something unfounded and attack the person they deem deserves their special ire and attention. The latest victim is Michael Shermer, hey they already got to Dawkins and Harris. Who's going to be next?

Its funny how Ophelia Benson tried to demonize Shermer and twist his statement in an event which she ironically didn't even show up for. How these new feminists behave now makes me distance away from the whole movement. The witch hunt for supposed misogynists is what is killing this movement as they are attacking the very people, the men, who are in all out support of the whole movement.

"There is a deeper problem here that I have observed over the past several years that I would like to address to the larger secular community, and that is the dangers of in-group fighting and inquisition purges of those who are not “pure” enough in their atheism, skepticism, or humanism." - Michael Shermer

What do I identify with, people might ask. I call myself a humanist. I care about issues affecting humanity and will not stop nor purely concentrate my attention on just feminism and femininity.
A lot may not agree with my views and might probably see contradictions but this is a better approach for me.

Read:
Ophelia Benson's blog post here.
Michael Shermer's response here.

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