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I am Heidi Anderson, a foxy feminist atheist skeptic fat chick, wife, and mom with a hard-core science fetish!
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Thanks to the incredible generosity of SO many donors, I only have So, if you want to help get Will and his family to DragonCon in Atlanta THIS Labor Day for his birthday, PLEASE help me by donating below! Click on the photo to be taken to Paypal :)
However, when the disagreements are between women, certain people like to paint them as “catfights”, which lessens the seriousness of ALL involved (full disclosure – I, Heidi Anderson, am certain people). Women are not a monolithic group, and although many of us call ourselves skeptics AND feminists, we often can not agree on whether skepticism needs feminism, or feminism needs skepticism. Others shun the term feminist completely. Some disagree with sexy behavior at cons, and others think it is good light-hearted fun that brings in people who may normally think skeptics are stodgy old white dudes. Or ONLY stodgy old white dudes. We have disagreements on sexuality, pornography, prostitution, and even things that do not specifically involve women at all (imagine that!) We are labeled too confrontational or too gentle depending on our methods of outreach. And you know what? None of that matters. While we are busy using our freedom to prove ourselves different from our allies on the side of reason, a 42 year old mother of two in Iran is facing a death sentence resulting from a forced confession of adultery. She will be buried up to her chest, and stoned to death. Small stones will be used, so as to slow down her death and cause her more pain. And her “confession”? According to a human rights attorney, it was only gained after 99 lashes. So, as TAM8 approaches, and friends gather, and we have panels on women in skepticism, and skepticism and feminism, and all sorts of things that we as Westerners have the luxury of thinking about, is it too much to ask the skeptical community and blogosphere to investigate this story, and see what REAL DIFFERENCES we can make? Can we step outside, as my friend Will Phillips said, “our tiny little mind boxes” and remember that as we wage these petty wars on each other, a war against reason continues to rage across the globe, with a 42 year old mother of two poised to become the next victim. With all the controversy going on between “accommodationists” and “asses”, a new friend I met this weekend at the Center for Inquiry, Randy Pelton, sent me a message with one piece of the puzzle we are ALL missing. He says it beautifully, and has given me permission to share. “Hello Heidi. We met and spoke very briefly this weekend at the CFI conference in Amherst. Randy Pelton is the name. I was the one who spoke to you about the ethical and moral dimension of the snark in the skepticism movement. Greatly enjoyed your talk and allow me to reiterate my agreement with your main thesis that the snarkiness needs to end. But I think it needs to end less because of the image problem it presents and more so because it demeans real humans. It is easy to dismiss a person via electrons when you have never met the person, never seen them face-to-face, never had to actually confront their humanness. We all, regardless of what label we place upon ourselves (atheist, skeptic, freethinker, humanist, materialist, naturalist, etc.) need to approach every human and conversation with them from an ethical posture. Every person needs to be accorded a modicum of respect and dignity. I am a humanist and this conviction threads deep into my emotional, rational, and intellectual marrow.” Thank you Randy, for this. People like you inspire me to be a better person.
Ladies Who Do Skepticism is a group aimed at broadening our skeptical community, bringing balance to skeptical events and discussing the pseudoscience specifically targeted at women! It was the brainchild of UK scientist Janis Benion. Ladies Who Do Skepticism was founded in April 2010, with the aim of bringing together women who want to chat openly about their own critical thoughts without being afraid to ‘spoil the fun’ for those who don’t enjoy such a strong link to rationality… We hope to have branches all over. If you don’t have one in your area and you’d like one, let us know (see ‘Contact’ page). In the meantime, you can hear two Ladies Who Do Skepticism from the Manchester and Liverpool groups discussing their thoughts about the group on the Righteous Indignation Podcast Episode 50, BBC Radio Manchester AND the Guardian Newspaper! Janis has also been interviewed by Kylie Sturgess for the SkepticZone podcast that should publish on June 18, 2010. In a Madonna/Gwynethesque effort to cash in on the coolness of all things British, SheThought.com is bringing the UK sensation stateside!! At The Amazing Meeting 8 we will be reserving a group of tables specifically for a women’s mixer at the Friday lunch. White gloves and pearls are optional, but critical thinking is not! We hope to see you there. Every year in July, a nerd herd of epic proportions descends upon the sleepy little town of Las Vegas, Nevada. Why? The answer may amaze you! The Amazing Meeting is an annual gathering of skeptics, atheists, secular humanists, debunkers, jugglers, magicians, curmudgeons, and beardy white men with glasses. Usually, James Randi wins the beard contest hands down, but the possible appearance of champion punter and Adidas spokesmodel Aubrey de Grey at the meeting may finally end Randi’s hirsute reign of terror.
When: Thursday July 8, 2010 at 9:30pm Where: Suite Level at the South Point Hotel and Casino RSVP here or on the FB event page. Seating will be limited. *your definition of celebrity may differ from ours I have nice boobs. Very, very nice boobs in fact. I also like to show my nice boobs and I like it when people look at them. Generally, my goal with showing my boobs is two-fold: 1) everyone in the world will fall madly in love with me and my boobs and 2) I will not look like an apple on sticks. So surely this means I am whipping those sweater puppies out today for Boobquake right? No. Boobquake bothers me. And not for the reasons many people think. First, I hate empty protests. You can only raise awareness so much before you need to act. And raising awareness with people who are already aware is just preaching to the choir.
Social justice movements are not fun. I wonder how fun it was for Rosa Parks to sit in the front of that bus, without even an iPod to block out the people screaming at her? I wonder if Malcolm X was just tempted to wear a t-shirt with a witty saying instead of standing up in front of people who wanted to kill him? Maybe Martin Luther King would have accomplished just as much with an Equality Ho Down in Alabama? Or maybe instead of collaborating with Theo Van Gogh on the film Submission (for which he was ultimately murdered) Ayan Hirsi Ali could have just gone to Cabo for Spring Break and convinced some of the Girls Gone Wild crew to help her write Koran verses on naked young white women? Not so powerful, is it? Aside from the fact that it could be considered not only EXTREMELY culturally insensitive for American women to shove our freedom in the face of Iranian women, how many of the women who participated in Boobquake normally dress modestly? Based on comments, not many. Many of the women just seemed so excited to have a day to “show off the girls!” And therein lies my second point. EVERY DAY should be a day when you feel comfortable expressing your sexuality and seeking sexual attention. Why has this event taken off like it did? Could it be that there is STILL shame in women expressing their sexuality? Of course there is! But you don’t need a fake protest, catcalls from supportive men, alcohol, or the approval of your friends to be sexual. If you dress in a sexual manner, some people will think you are slutty. If you dress in a modest manner, some people will not give you the time of day. But the way we use Halloween, Girl’s Night Out, and now Boobquake as holidays in which “good girls” are given permission to be sexual pisses me off. You don’t NEED permission. You just need courage, and the willingness to take responsibility for your decisions. Part of that responsibility means being willing to give up the labels of good girls and bad girls, and just be. Sexuality is a part of each of us, and people should feel comfortable expressing that in ways they find comfortable. Just don’t hide your need for sexual expression under the guise of the greater good. Because when you do so, you imply that sexual expression for its own sake is invalid. And to me, the greatest reason to be sexual is the pleasure of sexuality itself.
Every day, while working, blogging, or rousing rabble on the Internet, I sit on the most precious resource on Planet Earth. Not only is it beautiful to look at, tasty to snack on, and delightful to touch, but it can birth babies, bleed for days without injury, serve as a food storage unit in the winter, and lead men to fake results on psychic challenges! On the April 3, 2010 Skepticblog, Mark Edward bravely tries to warn gullible male skeptics of the danger of psychic vagina. Psychic vagina is like normal vagina, THAT KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE THINKING! A pussy with x-ray eyes, if you will. It is a weapon of mass distraction, and can lead otherwise capable skeptical investigators away from their mission of proving that Bigfoot does not indeed exist. Perhaps Big Crypto is a woman.
Men have been powerless against vagina for years. Just last night, I asked my husband to do the dishes. When he said no, I unleashed the vagina, and he helplessly began cleaning (you’re soaking in it!) the ENTIRE house! Vaginal power is the reason that women earn more than men, have better access to healthcare, and are treated with dignity and respect throughout the world. I hate to think of a world where my vagina would be held in such esteem. In order to bring more attention to this problem, I offer my own magical vagina up for testing by the JREF. Preliminary tests could be conducted with the JREF President DJ Grothe, but once I achieve vaginal victory over him, I expect to be offered the chance to go up against Randi himself. I can already smell the money! My own response to Mark Edward:
First things first. In writing about an argument between women in my previous post, I gave the post just about the worst possible title I could have. I apologize for calling it a catfight. It demeans the women involved and was the result of a creative fail, not an attempt to be snarky. Now the title to THIS post?? Mildly snarky, and if you have seen the movie, could be possibly construed as homophobic. See?? Not me. While the majority of the response to my previous post has been positive, I have received a few very impassioned responses on both sides. One side is upset that I have said these things (?) about Skepchick considering some of them are my friends, that I even dare to talk about this considering how much I write and talk about sex, and that I am allowing a supposed personal vendetta against the Skepchicks to get new life. The OTHER side is hoping I will create the anti-Skepchick, fight Rebecca in Las Vegas, and expose her as the supposed downfall to feminism that she is. Uh, no. To both sides. Continue reading I Am Not Spartacus My blog is called the Fat One in the Middle. I have been fat ever since I remember, and even when I was skinny for me, I was still fat. Once when looking through old pictures of myself I noticed that I put myself in the middle of the all the pictures when I was with people. It made me laugh, and that is how I got the blog name. At first I thought it was because I was trying to hide my fat, and now I know it probably has more to do with me being an attention whore. This comes in later, I promise.  See??? My sister and best friend, Wyndi Anderson When I first got involved with skepticism, I noticed that it was a total sausage fest. Except for one prominent group of women, the Skepchicks, the attention paid to women in the skeptical movement was slim. And how did I feel about the Skepchicks? A little jealous honestly. Not because they were smarter or funnier or sexier than me (they may or may not be all of those things),but because they got all of the attention. Why did they get the attention? Well, because they are smart, funny, and sexy. Duh. Skepchick was also groundbreaking in being the first site to specifically encourage women to get involved in skepticism. Now whenever I notice myself feeling threatened, I look to see if a lion is about to eat me. When I surmise that there is no lion, I try to find out WHY I am feeling threatened. When it is because someone is getting more attention than me, I do what I learned to do when I felt threatened by my sister, who is ungodlyhot. I remember that there is not a finite amount of attention in the world, and that if I want attention, I can get it. Side note. We ALL want and need attention. Everyone likes to feel validated and appreciated for who they are, and to think that people want to be around them. Some of us also like to receive attention for our sexuality, while others prefer that not be up for public debate. It is ok to want attention, but it helps to know what kind you want and the best way to get it. That way you don’t end up funding your senior year of college doing a Tijuana donkey show just for the screams of your adoring fans. Trust me, not pretty. Continue reading Skeptic Catfight – Can’t We All Just Get Along? This past Sunday, my son Hollis and I, and eventually the youngest Max, joined Derek and Swoopy on Skepticality to talk about Santa. Hilarity ensues.
SO I was called a concern troll and a spammer for posting my opinions about the sexism/anti-vaxxer/skeptic brouhaha on Respectful Insolence yesterday. I had to look up what those meant, as I have not studied the rule book on internet posting as deeply as many others have. Why do I get the idea that much of the internet is composed of old D&D people who love their rule books? Anyway, I was called a spammer because I posted on more than one site at once about the same thing. I am apparently the world’s laziest spammer. Today two sites, tomorrow THREE! Before you know it, the all of Al Gore’s creation will be MINE!!!A concern troll is someone who derails an argument with concern for the other side. Actually, I was trying to put the pro-vaccination movement BACK on track to what it needs to be about, science and vaccines. So here is my last comment, because I seem to be a masochist and had to get back in it. Which is kind of weird, because submissive yes, masochistic no and those . . . Never mind, we are not talking about sex, we are talking about vaccines! Orac, you are right. It did look like I said you specifically called her Chris, I did read the blog entry, and all the comments. And you and I The reason I posted on this site, as well as Skepchick (you said there When people who are neither skeptics nor anti-vaxx search for I am confused as to why I would be labeled a spammer or concern troll, And when ANYONE, anti-vaxxer or skeptic, uses sexist and misogynistic My mistake is clearly that I have chosen the wrong forum to discuss But please, do not discount my sincerity at wanting to increase the Yesterday on Skepchick, Rebecca Watson brought up the horrible misogynistic crap directed at a female journalist who interviewed Paul Offit. It involved talk of rape, whoredom, and the general stuff that gets thrown at women. It also featured a gross depiction of pro-vaccination people eating dead babies. This is disgusting. Very much so. However, skeptics need to clean their own house of the same type of behavior. In less than one hour and five searches, I was able to pull up equally disturbing imagery and comments directed at Jenny McCarthy. I have also heard skeptics refer to Jenny and Oprah as evil on more than one occasion, and refer to Oprah as fat and insinuate she is unfuckable. Continue reading Sluts are Stupid!!!
I love me some Ali A. Rivzi. I am not sure why I had not read this earlier. I am going to smoke my snorting cocaine off of my neighbor's husband's ass. That should burn LOTS of calories! |
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I had this argument with people about the “green screens for Iran” and the debate about calling for the arrest of the Pope. Talking about things all day long is great and can make you feel good and smart. But to accomplish anything in this world, you have to do work. And do you know why its called work? BECAUSE IT IS WORK!
