Rebecca Watson, misogyny in atheism, and Elevator Guy

Rebecca Watson, sexism/misogyny in the atheist community, and Elevator Guy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKHwduG1Frk#t=2m44s

There was another panel on women atheist activists, and I disagreed with a lot of what happened on that panel, particularly with something that Paula Kirby had said. Paula Kirby doesn’t have a problem with sexism in the atheist community, and because of that, she assumes that there is no sexism. So I thought that I would, during my panel, discuss what it’s like to communicate atheism as me, as a woman, but from a different perspective from Paula. I don’t assume that every woman will have the same experience that I’ve had, but I think it’s worthwhile to publicise the fact that some women will go through this, and that way, we can warn women ahead of time as to what they might expect, give them the tools they need to fight back, and also give them the support structure they need to keep going in the face of blatant misogyny. So, I was interested in the response to my sort of rambling on that panel, which, like this video, was unscripted and rambling, for which I apologize.

But the reponse was really fascinating. The response at the conference itself was wonderful, there were a ton of great feminists there, male and female, and also just open-minded people who had maybe never really considered the way that women are treated in this community but were interested in learning more. So, thank you to everyone who was at that conference who engaged in those discussions outside of that panel. You were all fantastic, I loved talking to you guys. All of you except for the one man who didn’t really grasp, I think, what I was saying on the panel, because at the bar later that night, actually at four in the morning, we were at the hotel bar, 4am, I said, you know, ‘I’ve had enough, guys, I’m exhausted, I’m going to bed’. So I walk to the elevator, and a man got on the elevator with me and said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I find you very interesting and I would like to talk more. Would you like to come to my hotel room for coffee?” Just a word to the wise here, guys: Don’t do that. I don’t really know how else to explain how this makes me incredibly uncomfortable, but I’ll just sort of lay it out that I was a single woman, you know, in a foreign country at 4am in a hotel elevator with you, just you, and… Don’t invite me back to your hotel room, right after I finish talking about how it creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable when men sexualise me in that manner.

But everybody else seemed to really get it, and thank you for getting it. Then Aron posted the video online, and the response was fascinating. I wanted to thank all of the misogynists who commented on that video, because some people will watch that video and they’ll think that maybe I’m exaggerating—you know how girls are, sensitive—and then they’ll read your comments and they’ll realize exactly how terrible you are and how it *is* a problem. So then we can move on with actually helping to stop the problem. So, thank you for not hiding your misogyny, thank you for putting it on display.