Quickies

Skepchick Quickies, 5.23

Jen

Jen is a writer and web designer/developer in Columbus, Ohio. She spends too much time on Twitter at @antiheroine.

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12 Comments

  1. I was drawn into a discussion about the DSK issue on a German board. The amount of commenters spewing variations of “Everyone must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, which means this woman is probably a lying bitch and a prostitute” is mind-boggling. There are some decent and level-headed guys around, though, and as a silver lining, the one guy who claimed that “short-skirted women are asking for it” got shot down by absolutely EVERYONE.

  2. There you go, ladies – problem solved. All you need to do is carry a spare psyche and a spare vagina in your purse, so that when yours are torn up by a rapist, you can plug in the spares and go merrily on your way. Oh, and maybe a spare uterus too, in case of unwelcome inhabitants.
    (Is anyone selling “my representative is a worthless pile of shit” insurance?)

  3. I’ll just carry a spare life in my pocket too, in case someone decides to murder me. I hope I don’t get arrested for carrying around spotted mushrooms though.

  4. I’m tired of the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ cliche. It’s just not how the legal system works.

    Found a good quote dealing with that:

    ‘Once a person has been charged with having committed a crime, there is no mechanism by which that individual can prove his innocence. Yes, the law provides that the person is innocent unless proven guilty, but that is a legalism. It is not, nor could it be, a factual statement. The person, in fact, did or did not commit an offense.’ — http://www.oregoncriminalattorney.com/Innocent-v-Not-Guilty.shtml

    1. By that I mean, let’s go with a defendant is ‘presumed not proven to be guilty’…which doesn’t then immediately cast the accuser of being a ‘liar until proven right’.

  5. I understand this is antidotal, but I recently had an experience that speaks to the math gender steriotype. I was visiting a university and was talking to someone in the physics department about finishing my education at their institution, a big ten school. I have recently taken calculus one thru three at good engineering university. I had completed finite mathematics while completing a previous degree a few years ago. The physics professor told me that my calc I and II would be good, but I should consider retaking calc III as they do ‘science calculus’ at their university. Then he explained to me that the finite math they do uses matrices…REALLY…so was the finite math that I had learned. He told me if I could understand the math, then I could do the physics there. He actually commented that they have biology programs they had at their university. No, I have no interest in life science and yes I was visiting the physics department at the time. Well I do understand the math. I received an award for my efforts after completing my first calculus course and was asked if I would consider a career in mathematics. I did great in my courses. I was able to turn things around by the end of our talk. Honestly, the face of physics will change for this guy, weather he is ready for it or not.

  6. It’s shameful Pete DeGraaf made the statements he did about rape insurance and spare tires but the lack of mainstream public outcry over his comments are even more disconcerting. I find his level of mysogyny to be nearly psychopathic!

  7. From the French feminists article: “Journalist Jean-Franois Kahn, no relation, denied rape had taken place and dismissed the affair as “troussage de domestique,” a phrase that evokes a master having non-consensual sex with a servant.”

    Wow. Just, wow. I’m speechless.

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