Butterflies and Wheels update
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
Iraqi women face court-ordered virginity tests
Because a woman is required to be a virgin at marriage, and if she's not her male relatives might kill her.
Filed: July 2, 2012
Kenya: 15 people killed in attacks on churches
Witnesses told AFP that bodies lay scattered in the blood-spattered churches as scores of wounded were rushed to hospital.
Filed: July 2, 2012
Iran: programmer sentenced to death for random reason
He was sentenced after one of his web programs was used to post pornographic images without his knowledge.
Filed: July 2, 2012
More on the bad science of Ireland’s ‘Youth Defence’
There are hundreds of young Irish people outraged at Youth defence, from all walks of life, making their voices heard. There is hope for Ireland.
Filed: July 2, 2012
Ireland: student newspaper examines Youth Defence
Many have questioned how Youth Defence, an organisation that purports to be funded by Irish supporters, can afford to fund large-scale publicity campaigns.
Filed: July 3, 2012
The barmaid gave up on reading the Koran
Mo says she can't tell how crappy it is until she's read the whole thing.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Pakistan: mob burns a man alive for burning a Koran
They poured petrol on him and set him on fire.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Pakistan: man beaten by mob two days ago
He was accused of "blasphemy" so a rage-mob beat him up.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Report on women’s rights in Indonesia
A report on the implementation of CEDAW in Indonesia, 2007- 2011.
Filed: July 4, 2012
PNG: women still held back by traditional attitudes
It's not a level playing field.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Vatican and USCCB get more reactionary every day
In April the Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious of "radical feminism." Strange bedfellows.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Jezebel on “guy on the internet”
If you tell Guy On The Internet you've got a cool party going, he's totally on board. He's a tool like that. That is what we're seeing with these newest waves of misogynist mumbling.
Filed: July 4, 2012
Protests at South Korea’s plan to hunt whales
The World Wildlife Fund said there was no evidence for claims by South Korean fishermen that whales were depleting coastal fish stocks.
Filed: July 5, 2012
Helen Lewis on online harassment of women
There is for instance the interactive "game" inviting players to "beat up Anita Sarkeesian." As you click the screen, her face is turned to pulp.
Filed: July 6, 2012
Pakistan lynching a reminder of danger in blasphemy laws
Amnesty International today demanded that members of a mob who lynched a man accused of breaching Pakistan's blasphemy laws be brought to justice as a matter of urgency.
Filed: July 6, 2012
Ohio Supreme Court agrees to hear creationist appeal
A teacher was fired for teaching creationism in science class, has appealed on First Amendment grounds.
Filed: July 6, 2012
Texas Republicans say No to critical thinking in schools
"Higher Order Thinking Skills focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."
Filed: July 7, 2012
Taliban shoots woman in the head for “adultery”
A blue bundle huddles in the dirt, a man shoots her five times at close range with an automatic rifle, to cheers of jubilation from the 150 or so men watching.
Filed: July 8, 2012
Shoot-the-woman porn
The video shows the woman being riddled with bullets at close range, in front of a cheering crowd of men. Cheering.
Filed: July 8, 2012
Saudi woman seeks asylum in UK
The daughter of King Saud doesn't want to live in Saudi Arabia.
Filed: July 8, 2012
Brian Cox on the Higgs boson and science funding
"We've spent more money in one year on bailing out the banks than we've spent on science in Britain since Jesus."
Filed: July 8, 2012
Being a freethought parent
The religion bit is easy. It is far harder to teach children that everyone is equal when all that they see around them is a very unjust world.
Filed: July 9, 2012
FLDS patriarch tortures a kitten to death, sheriff laughs
The live kitten, trapped up to the shoulders in concrete, was found on the property of Isaac Wyler; it died shortly after being rescued. Warning: picture.
Filed: July 10, 2012
The religious Right, the bible, and slavery
The religious right doesn’t ignore Bible passages about slavery altogether; it uses them to support anti-worker, anti-union policies.
Filed: July 10, 2012
Jakarta Globe on intolerance in Indonesia
“They have secular views on human rights, which of course will always be different from ours,” said Indonesian Council of Ulema deputy chairman.
Filed: July 10, 2012
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- Nazis and Stasi and bears, oh my
Filed: July 2, 2012 - How to oppose the use of any kind of name-calling
Filed: July 2, 2012 - The Oppressed Sisters and their Approved Male Chorus
Filed: July 2, 2012 - The tide of history advances only when people make themselves fully visible
Filed: July 2, 2012 - On not buying into the LULZer playbook
Filed: July 3, 2012 - Kate Donovan does another transcript
Filed: July 3, 2012 - I made something trend on Twitter
Filed: July 3, 2012 - The petty cash
Filed: July 3, 2012 - Feds to people: we not hiding the mermaidz
Filed: July 3, 2012 - A life of meaning and purpose
Filed: July 4, 2012 - A custody fight
Filed: July 4, 2012 - In which I make a prediction
Filed: July 4, 2012 - Delhi police attempt to arrest Sanal Edamaruku
Filed: July 4, 2012 - The second half of the transcript, by Kate Donovan
Filed: July 5, 2012 - Looking on in puzzled surprise
Filed: July 5, 2012 - WiS 2
Filed: July 5, 2012 - Real online bullying
Filed: July 6, 2012 - Leeds Skeptics in the Pub reach out to women
Filed: July 7, 2012 - Meet Steve Moxon
Filed: July 7, 2012 - Unthinking capitulation to the hegemonic oppressive politics of PC-fascism
Filed: July 7, 2012 - Drilling down through all the layers
Filed: July 7, 2012 -
When Steve met Tom
Filed: July 7, 2012 - Another illustration of how privileged women are
Filed: July 8, 2012 - How can we trust any of the claims enough to debate them?
Filed: July 8, 2012 - Lone star state v thinking
Filed: July 8, 2012 - One way to think of the children
Filed: July 8, 2012 - How something can be a given
Filed: July 9, 2012 - We need educated feeling
Filed: July 9, 2012 - The unapproved chorus
Filed: July 9, 2012 - Here’s something for skeptics to debate
Filed: July 10, 2012 - Suck up the pain of unjust suffering
Filed: July 10, 2012 - Knowing you can
Filed: July 10, 2012 - Other way around
Filed: July 10, 2012
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
Indonesia Supreme Court chief tells Merkel atheists are free
And everyone has a good laugh.
Filed: July 11, 2012
A new documentary on the world of “purity balls”
The women who take virginity pledges and go to purity balls are promising that their bodies aren’t their own, but instead belong to their fathers and future husbands.
Filed: July 11, 2012
Pakistan: activist for tribal women murdered
Farida Afridi broke all barriers and relentlessly worked for women’s development. So naturally guys on motorcycles shot her.
Filed: July 11, 2012
Why do women MPs in Pakistan oppose women’s rights?
"I want a woman MP who understands my multiple marginalisations as a woman in the Pakistani society."
Filed: July 11, 2012
One Law for All letter to Trevor Phillips
Sharia family law has been described as “wholly incompatible” with human rights and democratic principles by the House of Lords.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Pakistan: prominent university lecturer shot
Two prominent educationists, who are also human rights activists and feminists, came under attack when they returned to Pakistan from the US.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Why are most policy experts male?
In a society that values women more for their bodies than their brains, female underrepresentation in the smarty-pants professions is the entirely predictable result.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Catholic church’s fading influence in Poland
The giant Jesus statue didn't stem the tide after all.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Outrage over destruction of Timbuktu shrines
Islamists destroyed two more tombs in northern Mali this week. "This is an assault not just on Mali but on the heritage of all Africans," said US State Department.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Tosh and the rape joke
Threatening women with rape, making light of rape, and suggesting that women who speak up be raped is not edgy or controversial. It’s the norm.
Filed: July 12, 2012
Afghan women protest public murder of women
The protest on July 11 follows the public execution murder of a young married Afghan woman in Parwan Province who was accused of adultery.
Filed: July 13, 2012
Prominent female Afghan politician killed
Hanifa Safi died after a bomb attached to her car exploded as she left her home in Laghman province. Her husband and daughter were injured.
Filed: July 13, 2012
Uttar Pradesh village orders women to stay home
Council leaders in Asara village have reportedly barred women under 40 from shopping alone and from using mobile phones outside.
Filed: July 13, 2012
Germany rushes to protect right to mutilate infant penises
"It is clear this cannot be put on the back burner. Freedom to practise religion is a cherished legal principle," Merkel's spokesman said.
Filed: July 13, 2012
Alex Aan sends a message from prison
He thanks his supporters around the world, saying he would feel alone without our support and love. Atheist Alliance International will forward messages to him.
Filed: July 14, 2012
Ethiopian blogger Eskinder Nega jailed for 18 years
Eskinder was arrested after publishing an article questioning arrests under anti-terrorism legislation, especially that of government critic Debebe Eshetu.
Filed: July 14, 2012
Imam sexually assaulted two children
An Imam from Wellingborough has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two children while he was employed to teach them about the Koran.
Filed: July 14, 2012
China censors Michelangelo
They pixelated Apollo's pee-pee.
Filed: July 14, 2012
Higgs boson physicist shunned in Pakistan
The name of Pakistan's only Nobel laureate is removed from textbooks because he was an Ahmadi.
Filed: July 14, 2012
Movies: girls can be brave, but women get punished
The only time self-actualized young women can earn more applause than anxiety is when they occupy a truly alternate universe.
Filed: July 15, 2012
Most bishops’ conferences miss deadline on abuse guidelines
But hey, if you drop out a whole large continent, almost half were on time.
Filed: July 15, 2012
Bishop on riots and “structural sin”
“Christian beliefs about sin prevent them from dividing the world between good and evil in ways which ignore the complexity of moral contexts.” lolwut
Filed: July 15, 2012
Creationist footprints in the Giant’s Causeway visitor centre
Young Earth creationism is dispiriting. It's not just that it's wrong, but that it needs such a mountain of futile effort to maintain even the shadow of plausibility.
Filed: July 15, 2012
Another wild attack on secularism
"The Freedom From Religion Foundation is, itself, a religion of self-exaltation and secularism, and a very aggressive one at that."
Filed: July 16, 2012
Pall of uncertainty over NGO’s work after Afridi murder
The murder of rights activist Farida Afridi in Khyber Agency has driven the already dwindling number of female social workers towards more uncertainty.
Filed: July 16, 2012
Wearing hijab is the most liberating experience ever
"My experience working as a Faiths Act Fellow for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and dealing with interfaith action brought me more appreciation of various faiths."
Filed: July 16, 2012
Stereotypes about women in science
Useful? Helpful? The way to get women into science? No.
Filed: July 16, 2012
Toronto street imam wants law to force women to “cover up”
Convert to Islam says rapes "are continuously happening because of Canadian laws, which give too much freedom to women" in how they dress.
Filed: July 17, 2012
Talking about rape jokes
The bro-code reaction speaks to uncomfortable fault lines around gender politics and unexamined power that comedians rarely like to acknowledge.
Filed: July 17, 2012
Afghanistan: are reported poisonings mass psychogenic illness?
“Patient Zero” turned out to be a girl suffering from epilepsy. She apparently experienced a seizure while fetching water from the school’s well, which triggered mass panic.
Filed: July 17, 2012
The hijab is not a symbol of freedom
For far too many women the hijab is an obligatory article of indenturement that permits no choice; to them, it is a symbol of systematic oppression.
Filed: July 17, 2012
54% of Americans would vote for an atheist as president
Which is an improvement, but atheists still win the "would not vote for" poll at 43%, edging out Muslims at 40%.
Filed: July 18, 2012
Ghaffar Hussain talks to Alom Shaha
Many of us find it impossible to believe in god and it can be liberating and life-enhancing to fully embrace this lack of belief and live our lives without religion.
Filed: July 18, 2012
German pharmaceuticals pay journo to smear Ernst
A newspaper accuses the companies of funding the journalist to denigrate critics of homeopathy, especially Edzard Ernst.
Filed: July 18, 2012
Giles Fraser stands up for coercion
Liberals think informed choice is a basic right, therefore Fraser regards "the liberal mindset as a diminished form of the moral imagination."
Filed: July 18, 2012
Will the Catholic church be forced to take responsibility?
A landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.
Filed: July 19, 2012
Lack of evidence that popular sports products work
A team at Oxford examined 431 claims in 104 sport product adverts and found a "worrying" lack of high-quality research, calling for better studies to help inform consumers.
Filed: July 19, 2012
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- This is not that
Filed: July 11, 2012 - The Louis CK of Indonesia
Filed: July 11, 2012 - Practicing being more assertive
Filed: July 11, 2012 - Farida broke all barriers
Filed: July 11, 2012 - Hello sailor
Filed: July 11, 2012 - A charisma deficit
Filed: July 12, 2012 - Boy am I glad I’m not in Las Vegas
Filed: July 12, 2012 - Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped…
Filed: July 12, 2012 - Personal attacks on prominent female skeptics for discussing harassment
Filed: July 12, 2012 - Murder is murder
Filed: July 13, 2012 - Quick, before they escape
Filed: July 13, 2012 - Hanifa Safi killed by a bomb attached to her car
Filed: July 13, 2012 - Eschaton
Filed: July 13, 2012 - Talk to Alex
Filed: July 14, 2012 - De gustibus
Filed: July 14, 2012 - Better taste
Filed: July 14, 2012 - Another Alex speaks up
Filed: July 14, 2012 - Bishops marked tardy
Filed: July 15, 2012 - What Pamela Gay said
Filed: July 15, 2012 - Hamlet
Filed: July 15, 2012 - A few yards of cloth
Filed: July 16, 2012 - Dividing bridges
Filed: July 16, 2012 - In your face
Filed: July 16, 2012 - Acid in the face
Filed: July 16, 2012 - Proportions
Filed: July 16, 2012 - The ministry of truth
Filed: July 17, 2012 - Another woman in the crowd
Filed: July 17, 2012 - Liberating and life-enhancing
Filed: July 18, 2012 - Giles Fraser versus the liberal mindset
Filed: July 18, 2012 - Simply strange ones
Filed: July 18, 2012 - The sacred and the profane
Filed: July 19, 2012 - Value for money
Filed: July 19, 2012 - Your Hit Parade
Filed: July 19, 2012 - Monitoring what she is saying
Filed: July 19, 2012 - Lady Catherine
Filed: July 19, 2012 - A new friend
Filed: July 19, 2012