Recommended Reading

[Trigger warning for sexual harassment, assault, violence, and rape culture.]

For background on "the Elevator Incident," which has precipitated all sorts of discussion about misogyny and rape culture within the atheist, skeptic, and/or scientific community/ies, go here.

First, read Jennifer Ouellette's "Is It Cold in Here?"

Then, read Zuska's "What Constitutes Blatant Sexism of the Most Egregious Sort?"

Finally, read Eric Michael Johnson's "The Science of Sexism: Primate Behavior and the Culture of Sexual Coercion." Shaker Erica passed on this last one, and she notes that the author "doesn't just make the comparison (apes use coersive sexual behavior and so do humans, surprise!) and leave it at that—he goes on to not only emphasize that 'biology is not destiny' but also to make case studies of primate societies that don't display that behavior (yay for bonobos, once again!). ... And he ends the whole thing with a call for societal change that left me embarrassingly teary-eyed at work. In particular, he stresses that, 'While specific policies that protect women from coercion and exploitation remain important, what we're ultimately after is social change'." It is a remarkable piece.