It had to be said.
My newest column on the Guardian is titled “Richard Dawkins has lost it: ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name“. It’s about Richard Dawkins’ indefensible regression to gross and ignorant sexism, after a brief period in which it seemed he was flirting with enlightenment regarding the treatment of women in society generally and the atheist community specifically. I used to consider him a hero and an exemplar, but no more. Here’s an excerpt:
The atheist movement – a loosely-knit community of conference-goers, advocacy organizations, writers and activists – has been wracked by infighting the last few years over its persistent gender imbalance and the causes of it. Many female atheists have explained that they don’t get more involved because of the casual sexism endemic to the movement: parts of it see nothing problematic about hosting conferences with all-male speakers or having all-male leadership – and that’s before you get to the vitriolic and dangerous sexual harassment, online and off, that’s designed to intimidate women into silence.
Richard Dawkins has involved himself in some of these controversies, and rarely for the better…
Continue reading on the Guardian.
Note: My article originally went up with the title “Richard Dawkins has lost it: he’s now a sexist pig giving atheists a bad name”. That was changed shortly after posting. Just in case anyone doesn’t know this, the Guardian editors choose the titles of published articles, not me.