We Apologise for the Inconvenience

It was meant as a light hearted nod towards US blogger PZ Myers and wasn’t meant to alienate anybody, but when The Skeptic Mag temporarily removed Susan Blackmore from their banner and replaced her with PZ Myers, it left me feeling quite uncomfortable and sad.

I do have a problem with the way in which women are under represented throughout skepticism – I created SheTalks to try and help remedy the problem (and according to the feedback the register is working despite still being in its early days). To see a reputable publication like The Skeptic Mag take the only woman on their banner down - even just for a moment, as a nod to comments made on twitter earlier that day, seems so dismissive and needless. I’m not sure what led to them doing so, or why PZ Myers highlighted earlier in the day via Twitter that he wasn’t there.

…

Hey you!

Yes. You.

Are you a woman?

Living in the UK?

Now is the chance for you to give something back.

Nadine Dorries is obsessed with your uterus.  Seriously she hasn’t shut up about it for years.  So why don’t you do the poor woman a favour and write to her about it.  Tell her it’s likes and dislikes; Describe in detail what it gets up to on a daily basis, perhaps it has been abroad lately and been explored new cultures and traditions; the more details the better

Do it soon, before she has to resort to passing legislation just to feel involved in your uterus’s existence.

At some point over the weekened that I missed but I was wondering what other peoples take on it is. 

Do you think Richard Dawkins missed something important when commenting on what happened to Rebecca Watson? 

Do you think that too much has been made of it?

Any other opinions?

Either way I think people should chech out the Bad Astonomers take on the situation.

This is probably more contentious in the U.S and among certain religious communities than here in the U.K but I have to say I think genital mutilation is genital mutilation whether it is on a girl or a boy and should be classified as a form of child abuse.