An Open Letter to People Who Defended Richard Dawkins for Many Years and Are Now Distancing Themselves from Him with Maximum Haste

[Content Note: Threats; misogyny.]

Dear People Who Defended Richard Dawkins for Many Years and Are Now Distancing Themselves from Him with Maximum Haste:

First of all, I want to say that I'm sorry. It stinks when someone you respect and admire, someone from whom you learned and helped you grow, disappoints you.

Secondly, I want to tell you that if you were among the many, many people who have, over the years, responded to feminist critics of Dawkins by reflexively screaming at us that we're overwrought, hysterical, opportunistic cunts who deserve to be raped and killed, then please let me offer you a massive treasure chest full of fuck yous.

For years, feminists (and others) have been highlighting Dawkins' misogyny, gender essentialism, rape apologia, racism, and disablism (just for a start), and, for years, we have been widely met with derisive dismissals.

Which is my polite euphemism for: Angry emails and tweets riddled with rank misogyny; garbage comments; harassment; name-calling; photoshopped imagery of our public photos; mocking and/or misrepresentative blog posts; mendacious attempts to discredit us; professional attacks; and/or threats of violence.

All because we saw, and called out, the reprehensible attitudes Dawkins has now made so manifest that you cannot possibly continue to ignore it.

And for the iniquity of being right about your hero, before you were ready to see it, you harmed us.

You owe us an apology.

More importantly, you owe us this: Next time there appear feminist critics of an Important Man, instead of reflexively screaming at us that we're overwrought, hysterical, opportunistic cunts who deserve to be raped and killed, or even engaging in the "more civil" variation of invoking classic misogynist silencing tropes or sniffing "I don't see it" from behind a gilded balustrade of claimed objectivity, you could take a moment to consider that maybe we're more sensitive to the red flags of misogyny than you are.

That maybe, just maybe, there's an outside possibility that we're right.

Warmest regards,
Liss