The Intersection of Non-Theism and Feminism June 7, 2012

The Intersection of Non-Theism and Feminism

By Hemant Mehta
June 7, 2012

At the Center for Inquiry’s 2012 Women in Secularism Conference, FFRF’s Annie Laurie Gaylor moderated a panel discussion on “The Intersection of Non-Theism and Feminism” featuring Sikivu Hutchinson, Rebecca Watson, Ophelia Benson, and Jennifer McCreight.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the full discussion yet, but if any particular parts stand out for you, leave the timestamp and a summary in the comments!

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  • anon101

    I’m actually quite thankful for this video because now I have another
    source to quote. We have been told this fairy tale that skepticism
    and feminism are so closely related and yet you have Ophelia Benson
    sitting there admitting that half of feminist academics are anything
    but skeptical.

  • dantresomi

    thanks for this..

  • AxeGrrl

    We have been told this fairy tale that skepticismand feminism are so closely related

    We have?  atheism and feminism perhaps (give the frequent religion/misogyny connection), but i’m drawing a blank on those asserting a close connection between skepticism and feminism in particular……..who would you say is/are the chief proponents of that specific pairing, anon?

  • OmniZ

    Is this the talk that blew up the Internet a couple weeks ago! Oh man, I’m so excited to watch it when I get home from work.

  • Silentbob

    I think anon101 is correct. I can’t provide links off the top of my head, but I swear I have many times heard it claimed that Feminism is a branch of skepticism because it questions the validity of traditional gender roles, just as atheism questions the validity of traditional theological ideas. I have often heard it said that if one is a skeptic, one must also be a feminist (although not necessarily the other way around). I think most people at skepchick.org, for example, hold this view.

  •  Oh, neat. No one has yet given a coherent definition of “skepticism” with which anyone can agree, but apparently there is a distinction between it and atheism. Tell me, is a “skeptic” a person who ‘questions’ things? Does that make atheists skeptics? PZ has already admitted that nothing could convince him of the existence of God, so I guess he’s out. And what about people who don’t think global warming is happening? Aren’t they skeptics?

    methinks “skeptic” is just a word people use so they sound more open-minded than they are; it’s a way to grab the high ground without actually making any argument.

  • Silentbob

    You are mistaken. Skepticism is not a nebulous or poorly defined term. It simply means not jumping to conclusions, but drawing conclusions from solid reasoning and evidence.

    Atheism is often associated with skepticism because there is no evidence for the existence of gods, and no convincing rational argument for the existence of gods has ever been put forth.

    By contrast, evidence for global warming is so convincing that there is near unanimous acceptance of its existence by climate scientists.

  • Okay, now try and apply that term to anything. See how that works out for you.

  • Pseudonym

    No, not even atheism and feminism, if history is anything to go by.