Niall ( 10 years ago )
Well, I've made it clear that I'm personally not 100% on the side of this blgoger, but I do think they have some valid points to make. And I also feel that the hatred Watson gets is over-the-top, but at the same time, I don't think she's above reproach. And again, I'll point to how Skepchick was falling over itself with praise for the last TAM, but in the last 11 months has done an about-face and has declared that TAM is bad for women and is not a safe space. I'm sorry, but that stinks to high heaven; something is just not right.I think there's wrong being done on BOTH sides of this squabble, and at this point it doesn't matter who's wrong is worse. The problem is we have people on both sides digging in their heels and refusing to budge. There's screwed-up human beings in the mix here (and I don't mean that as a slam to anyone, to my mind being human is to be screwed-up by definition) and lots of emotions at play, including a lot of wounded ego and injured pride on both sides. And yes, prejudice. I do believe there's some sexism going on, but also I think sometimes (not always) folks can see prejudice where possibly none was intended or no ill-will felt. I've seen that with feminists, with pagans/wiccans, with gays, etc. I've dealt with folks who are sexist and racist; I have an acquaintance who is rather sexist, quite racist, but without a trace of homophobia. I've dealt with women who intensely hate men and assume men only want to get laid. Look at Dianic Wiccan Z. Budapest, who raised ire at a pagan gathering for declaring her women-only circles were openly only to those who were  born women,  e.g. no transsexuals allowed. I knew a self-styled feminist who felt that men were menaces to society and should be eliminated, and another who just shrugs and says  We're all messed up in this world,  and invites me over for dinner and bad movies.Despite the rambling, my point is, I've seen it all before. Are sexual assaults being covered up at TAM or other skeptic events? I don't know, I'd like to see both sides of the issue. Are people being sexist? Or overly touchy? A large part of it is in our perceptions.So what if the next TAM is only 18% women? There's still women going and presenting, women who DO feel it's safe space. And I'm waiting to hear anything they have to say about it. It could very well be this is all a temporary aberration and next year it'll be back up again. Who knows? Maybe this will all blow over. Maybe DJ Grothe will resign in disgrace and go to a farm to raise turnips. Maybe Rebecca Watson will be revealed as a liar and end up working at McDonald's. (Not that I think either of them are evil and deserve that, but it's always a possibility.) There's little way of knowing what the future holds.And even if this  new blood  you spoke of once rises up and starts its own string of events, it's not going to be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. I say it's almost guaranteed that this vaunted  new blood  will suffer it's own internal conflicts and accusations of prejudice (either the same or different ones I'm waiting for shrieks about speciesism if it's held in a hotel that serves meat), because history repeats itself.Because new blood or not, they're still human, and fall prey to human nature, in all its glorious ugliness.