They are all recipients of the 2014 Secular Woman Awards, and they are all deserving.
Hey, I’ve also had the personal honor and privilege of meeting every one of them in real life, and will probably be bumping into them again, at which time I shall bask gloatingly in their reflected glory.
Russia has decreed that transgender people are not allowed to drive. Why, you might wonder?
Many Muscovites loathe driving because of the daily traffic jams, and it now seems that the government has found a new solution to the problem: People with "sex disorders," including those who identify as transsexual or transgender, may no longer drive. "The decisions are aimed at reducing deaths from road traffic accidents," an official statement on the decree reads.
That makes no sense. Is there evidence that this particular subgroup contributes inordinately to traffic accidents? They certainly aren’t common enough that removing them from the road will make a dent in their traffic problems. So I have a better idea.
I’m impressed. It takes awesome levels of fuckuppery to achieve this: they convinced a major tech company to invest $300 million in an initiative to oppose #gamergate’s goals.
Someone has violated the Holy Law of the online harassers: Thou Shalt Not Dox, because that might expose an asshole to the consequences of their actions. Guess who?
It is every mother’s worst nightmare to lose a child, and I have to feel Carla May Alcorn’s pain.
My sweet 16 year old son, Joshua Ryan Alcorn went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
This is certainly not the time to take exception to the religious sentiments in her announcement. Except…
Scott Aaronson is clearly afflicted with the plight of the male nerd. He’s written a heartfelt comment about his misery as a young man.
Scalzi has made an announcement and revision.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece on my personal feminism, in which I noted that while I can be considered a feminist on the fundamental level of “women are entitled to the same rights and privileges as men, with everything that implies in terms of access to education, economic opportunity and personal liberty,” I usually didn’t call myself one, for various and what I thought at the time were perfectly reasonable reasons.
Then 2014 happened, and those reasonable reasons now kind of feel like careful, rationalizing bullshit to me.
So, as an update to my thoughts on my personal feminism:
Hell yes, I’m a feminist.
I teach both human physiology and developmental biology — it would be entirely appropriate to ask my students to draw pictures of reproductive anatomy on an exam. Here’s a sample test in which a group of men were asked to demonstrate their knowledge of female anatomy with art work.
They basically failed.
