PICS VIII: 10% LARGER THAN PICS VII

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

He has completely lost the plot, hasn't he?

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

also, since when is that a genre?

[Cain]

Oh hell, I thought this was satire.

Dawkins has successfully Poe's Law'd himself.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh hell, I thought this was satire.

Dawkins has successfully Poe's Law'd himself.

I did, too. I had to look it up to see if it was real.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

also, since when is that a genre?

There's some good body-positive largely lesbian-produced porn out there. You have to be specifically looking for it, though.

[Doktor Howl]

Saw this coming.

Getting some popcorn.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

On a related note, I am finding it fascinating how in the Atheist and Skeptic community, allegations of sexual misconduct by their leaders generates a completely different reaction than allegations of sexual misconduct by religious leaders.

When young men come forward and say that a priest molested them when they were children and that the Church did nothing, that is substantial evidence. When young women come forward and say that a prominent member of the Atheist/Skeptic community molested them when they were drunk and that the convention organizers did nothing, that is hearsay and not enough evidence to reasonably influence whether or not we attend his talk on morality.

Actual quote:

I'm asking if you have any proof that this actually happened? Michael Shermer been accused of being a rapist on many occasions. That doesn't mean Michael Shermer is actually a rapist.

What I'm saying is that this is a common accusation of something. The links that were posted are also not evidence of anything except people making accusations without evidence.

It's not a fact, and what you all are doing is not educating, it's spreading further misinformation. If you have any actual evidence (keeping in mind that wild accusations are not evidence) then I will be happy to change my position.

It's my suspicion that A. these double standards are necessary to protect their sense of superiority and reduce their cognitive dissonance arising from their pure and precious leaders doing the same vile things they've been touting as the sole domain of the religious, and B. the guys saying shit like the above are complete and utter misogynists who probably think that most allegations of date rape are just the woman "regretting it in the morning". Because, you know, we totally still live in an era where we have to protect our reputation of purity by claiming we didn't actually want to have sex, and the best way to do that is to publicly broadcast that we had sex.

[Demolition Squid]

Attitudes towards what constitutes rape are only just starting to catch up with reality, too.

I was watching Question Time a few weeks back and they had a female MP who was saying she disagreed with a rape conviction for a footballer on the basis that the woman was so drunk 'she can't be sure she said no'. (Note - the jury disagreed with the MP in this case, which means that we had the fantastic case of a public official holding up one of the very few rape convictions in the UK and, despite not being in the trial at all, saying that the justice system was wrong to prosecute.)

I've started to hear a few people making the point that you can't give consent at all when you're drunk off your ass - and that's good. But there's large parts of the media and many public figures who haven't gotten this memo, and still seem to think the onus is on someone to say 'no' rather than 'yes' - let alone being in a fit state to be able to say 'yes' at all.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

also, since when is that a genre?

Not sure it's a genre, but porn that doesn't explicitly degrade women exists. (There's a market in that some people don't get turned on by listening to people shout insults.)

[Doktor Howl]

also, since when is that a genre?

Not sure it's a genre, but porn that doesn't explicitly degrade women exists. (There's a market in that some people don't get turned on by listening to people shout insults.)

Here we go again.

Porn always degrades people, by its very definition.  It commidifies the person, rather than their work.

[Cain]

Well, gay male porn doesn't degrade women.  Well, except by the tumbr definition whereby the existence of gay men is proof of patriarchal misogyny (yes, I have seen this tired old trope being redeployed).

And Demosquid, while I think the ethical case for affirmative consent is pretty solid, the legal case is a little more problematic.  I definitely agree if you're too drunk to remember, then you are not capable of giving consent but...well, it's a tricky subject.  Especially when it's being dealt with in the typically ham-fisted way the "debate" has been in America.

With regard to atheism and sexism....this is actually something of a proof of the earlier discussion about the SJW backlash.  When you delve into the politics of online atheism, you'll quickly find there is a deep divide between "atheism plus" - this is to say, political atheism/liberalism/social justice and "atheism/skepticism/libertarianism" factions.  A lot of this goes back to Rebecca Watson and the "elevatorgate" derpitude.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My favorite response so far:

"Good idea to beam erotic videos to theocracies?"

What does that even mean? Some kind of porno ray? I'm starting to wonder if he was high when he wrote this.

Now I'm thinking, when did he have this idea? Did it occur to him while he was watching porn and masturbating? Did the idea excite him?

Probably not, but still, that mental image is going to stick. I'll have a hard time taking him seriously now.

Not that it was easy before.

For my part, I'm kind of just impressed that he managed to pack so many bad ideas into less than 140 characters. Islamophobia, blind misogyny, sexual exploitation, disregard for the basic humanity of an entire country's population, and sexual harassment.

I kind of hope that the last thing he tweets before he dies is "Just fucking with ya".

[Cain]

I hope he tweets that after he dies.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I hope he tweets that after he dies.

Even better.