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Rebecca Watson
Cropped image of Watson on a convention panelWatson in 2014
BornRebecca Watson
(1980-10-18) October 18, 1980 (age 44)
United States
Alma materBoston University
Years active2005–present
Known forScience communication, atheism, feminism
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2006–present
Subscribers163 thousand
Total views27.7 million
Last updated: September 26, 2024
Websiteskepchick.org

Rebecca Watson (born October 18, 1980) is an American atheist blogger and YouTuber. She is the founder of the blog Skepchick and former co-host of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast.

Early life and education

Born in 1980, Rebecca Watson grew up in New Jersey. She graduated from Boston University in 2002, where she majored in communications. She worked her way through college as a magician. Watson says she had little interest in science before meeting other skeptics, including magician James Randi, while at university.

Career

Watson blogs about atheism and feminist politics, and has been particularly active in critiquing the modern atheist movement (sometimes called "New Atheism") from within, especially regarding the lack of attention given to the role of women in the movement. Primarily active online, she was described by BuzzFeed as "the first major atheist whose rise has occurred on the web".

Skepchick

After attending James Randi's skeptic conference The Amaz!ng Meeting, Watson produced a pin-up calendar to support the cost for other women to attend the conference. She founded the website Skepchick in 2005 as a place to distribute the calendars. New editions of the calendar featuring scientists and skeptics were produced each year until 2007.

The website originally consisted of a forum and a monthly e-zine, Skepchick Magazine, launched in 2006. The same year, Watson created a blog that would eventually replace the magazine. Skepchick's stated goal is to "discuss women's issues from a skeptical standpoint". The site has a focus on science and skepticism in general rather than atheism in particular. Watson has also contributed articles on skepticism to the blog Bostonist.

In 2010, Skepchick partnered with the Women Thinking Free Foundation to host a vaccination drive with the help of the "Hug Me!" campaign at the Dragon*Con convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Public health staff provided Tdap vaccinations free of charge, as well as educational literature promoting immunization. In 2011, Skepchick, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and the Women Thinking Free Foundation partnered to offer a similar vaccination clinic at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9 in Las Vegas.

Skepchick won an Ockham Award in 2012 for Best Skeptic Blog. In 2017, the site consisted of a network of over 20 bloggers from around the world. In 2023, Watson formally closed the blog network after most writers had moved on to other projects.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

Watson regularly appeared on the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, co-hosting the podcast for nine years. Her first appearance was on episode 33 in March 2006, where she was interviewed about her work on Skepchick. She returned for episode 36 as a regular member of the panel. In December 2014, she announced that she had recorded her final show prior to leaving the organization.

Public Radio Talent Quest

In May 2007, Watson entered the Public Radio Talent Quest, a contest aimed to find new public radio hosts. Watson's entries won the popular vote in every round, and she was selected along with two other winners to produce a pilot episode for presentation to executives of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Watson's pilot, Curiosity, Aroused, was an hour-long program focused on science and skepticism. It featured interviews with Richard Saunders of Australian Skeptics and Mystery Investigators, and Richard Wiseman, author of the book Quirkology and Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. She also investigated claims of poisonous amounts of lead in lipstick, went on a ghost tour in Boston and visited a Psychic Fair. Her show was the only one among the three winners not to be awarded funds for production of a year-long radio program.

"Elevatorgate"

Watson speaking at NECSS 2011

The controversy that came to be known as "Elevatorgate" originated with a video Watson made criticizing sexism within the atheist movement after being sexually propositioned in an elevator by a male fellow conference-goer. The incident occurred after Watson spoke on a panel at the 2011 World Atheist Convention about many women's feelings of sexual objectification at atheist conferences. In a brief part of a longer video about other topics, Watson described socializing with other attendees at a hotel bar until 4:00 a.m., then announcing she was tired and going to bed. After this, a man from the group followed her into an elevator and invited her to his room for coffee, which she declined. Watson drew a parallel between the incident and of her conference talk on sexual objectification, saying, "Guys, don't do that". She went on to say:

I was a single woman, in a foreign country, at 4 a.m., in a hotel elevator with you—just you—and don't invite me back to your hotel room, right after I have finished talking about how it creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable when men sexualize me in that manner.

Watson further commented that fears of sexual harassment might be keeping women away from atheist meetings. Reactions to the video varied, with some supporting Watson's desire for privacy and others accusing Watson of exaggerating the problem and scaring women away from conferences. However, she was supported by many bloggers on the FreethoughtBlogs network founded by writer and biologist PZ Myers, who wrote a supportive post about the incident on his blog Pharyngula.

The controversy attracted mainstream media attention when biologist Richard Dawkins joined the discussion on Myers's blog, sarcastically comparing Watson's experience to that of an imaginary Muslim woman. Although Watson had not mentioned sexism against women in Islam, Dawkins' comment mocked the supposed indifference of Western feminists to the plight of oppressed women in Muslim-majority countries, telling "Muslima" to "stop whining" in the face of female genital mutilation, intimate partner violence, and the threat of death by stoning and to "grow up, or at least grow a thicker skin".

The result of this exchange led to an extended internet flame war nicknamed "Elevatorgate" that has been the subject of Internet memes. A negative response by the online atheist community to Watson's account of the incident soon spread across several websites, including Reddit, and became highly polarized and heated. The debate steadily grew to include the overall status of women within the secular movement, with most of the movements's prominent figures offering their opinion on whether the elevator incident constituted sexual harassment. The discussion spurred a continued backlash, with commenters online labeling women who spoke up on the subject as "feminazis" and other misogynistic slurs. Watson experienced a campaign of misogynistic harassment including threats of rape and murder, with one man publishing a website threatening to kill her.

Dawkins' comments led him to be accused of misogyny and Islamophobia. He later explained that he thought Watson had not had any reason to feel threatened, comparing Watson's experience to riding in an elevator with someone chewing gum. Several commentators argued that the incident showed Dawkins' insensitivity to gender-related issues such as sexual violence. Religious scholar Stephen LeDrew writes that "For the first time since the New Atheism had risen to prominence, found himself under attack by many of those who had viewed him as a respected leader". David Allen Green criticized Dawkins for dismissing lesser wrongs because bigger wrongs exist. Watson stated that she would no longer buy or endorse Dawkins' books, saying, "to have my concerns—and more so the concerns of other women who have survived rape and sexual assault—dismissed thanks to a rich white man comparing them to the plight of women who have been mutilated, is insulting to all of us".

Religious studies scholars Steven Tomlins and Lori G. Beaman argue that the incident highlights a schism over the role of feminism in the atheist movement, with some saying it should take a prominent place in the movement and others calling it divisive. In the wake of this and an incident at a Center for Inquiry-sponsored event, where female atheists reported gender bias and inappropriate behavior, organizations including the Richard Dawkins Foundation have reviewed their policies regarding sexual harassment and non-discrimination. Dawkins later apologized, stating, "There should be no rivalry in victimhood, and I'm sorry I once said something similar to American women complaining of harassment, inviting them to contemplate the suffering of Muslim women by comparison". Watson tweeted in response, "Richard Dawkins just did the blog-equivalent of coughing into his hand while mumbling 'sorry' to me. Eh, I'll take it."

Personal life

Watson married Sid Rodrigues in a surprise ceremony during The Amaz!ng Meeting in July 2009. In April 2011, she announced that she and Rodrigues were separated and seeking a divorce. She later remarried.

Honors

An outer main-belt asteroid discovered by David H. Healy on March 22, 2001, was named 153289 Rebeccawatson in her honor.

See also

References

  1. ^ Watson, Rebecca (October 19, 2018). "yesterday I turned 38 and I'm not into the idea of plastic surgery so feeling pretty blessed to live in the same time period as the iphone X camera" (Tweet). Retrieved June 23, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "About Rebecca Watson". YouTube.
  3. ^ Scheidt, Hannah K. (2021). "Autonomy or Authority? Ideology, Charisma, and Patriarchy". Practicing Atheism: Culture, Media, and Ritual in the Contemporary Atheist Network. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 90–91. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197536940.003.0004. ISBN 978-0-19-753696-4.
  4. ^ Hess, Amanda (2015). "Women Aren't Welcome Here". In Holt, Sid (ed.). The Best American Magazine Writing 2015. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 57. doi:10.7312/asme16959. ISBN 978-0-231-54071-1. JSTOR 10.7312/asme16959.6.
  5. Brewster, Melanie Elyse; Motulsky, Wei; Chan, Andy (2021). "Intersectional Atheisms: Race, Gender, and Sexuality". In Bullivant, Stephen; Ruse, Michael (eds.). The Cambridge History of Atheism. Cambridge University Press. p. 1070. doi:10.1017/9781108562324.058. ISBN 978-1-0090-4021-1. After atheist blogger Rebecca Watson experienced unwanted advances from a man in an elevator at an atheist conference, Richard Dawkins told her to 'stop whining'
  6. ^ Isomaa, Robin (2022). "YouTube Drama in an Atheist Public: A Case Study". Secularism and Nonreligion. 11 (3): 1–13. doi:10.5334/snr.146. ISSN 2053-6712.
  7. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2012). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 1271. ISBN 978-3-642-29718-2.
  8. ^ Potash, Larry (March 31, 2006). "Be skeptical or be an April fool". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  9. ^ Simpson, Neal (September 27, 2007). "Blogger looks to take her war on pseudoscience to the airwaves". Wicked Local. Brookline TAB. Framingham, Mass. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  10. ^ Cohen, Georgiana (March 19, 2009). "Not-so-sure guys". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  11. Watson, Rebecca (September 29, 2011). "Mom, don't read this". Skepchick. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  12. ^ Meagher, Richard J. (2018). "'The Friendly Atheist': Organizing Online to Offline". Atheists in American Politics: Social Movement Organizing from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-1-4985-5858-7.
  13. Plait, Phil (September 19, 2005). "Skepchicks". Bad Astronomy. Discover. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012.
  14. ^ Watson, Rebecca (January 20, 2023). "The Skepchick Network is Dead and I Killed It". Skepchick. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  15. Huff, Peter A. (2021). Atheism and Agnosticism: Exploring the Issues. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p. xxxi. ISBN 978-1-4408-7083-5.
  16. Johnstone-Louis, Mary (2013). "No Gods. No Masters?: The 'New Atheist' Movement and the Commercialization of Unbelief". In Rinallo, Diego; Scott, Linda M.; Maclaran, Pauline (eds.). Consumption and Spirituality. New York: Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-415-88911-7.
  17. Watson, Rebecca (September 24, 2012). "Please Stop Making Calendars". Skepchick. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  18. Plait, Phil (June 15, 2006). "The new SkepChick magazine is up". Bad Astronomy. Slate. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  19. "About Us (and You)". Skepchick. n.d. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  20. Saunders, Richard; Dunlop, Rachael; Atkinson, Bill (September 10, 2010). "The Skeptic Zone #99 - 10.Sep.2010". The Skeptic Zone (Podcast). No. 99. Event occurs at 0:30:20. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  21. ^ "News archives". Hug Me! I'm Vaccinated!. Women Thinking Free Foundation. July 2011. Archived from the original on September 19, 2013.
  22. "The Ockhams 2012". The Skeptic. June 27, 2017. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019.
  23. ^ Reagle, Joseph (2015). "Alienated: You Fail It! Your Skill Is Not Enough!". Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. p. 114. doi:10.7551/mitpress/10116.003.0006. ISBN 978-0-262-32887-6. JSTOR j.ctt17kkb2f.8.
  24. Novella, Steven (2018). "Acknowledgements". The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake. New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5387-6051-2.
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  26. Watson, Rebecca (December 27, 2014). "Why I've Left SGU". Skepchick. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  27. Watson, Rebecca (May 15, 2007). "A very special audio blog posting. Vote for me!". Skepchick.
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  29. ^ Simon, Clea (January 11, 2008). "Showing a talent for radio". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 30, 2008.
  30. Watson, Rebecca (December 16, 2007). "Curiosity, Aroused: The Pilot". Retrieved November 6, 2008 – via WordPress.
  31. "Big News from PRX and CPB" (Press release). Public Radio Exchange. June 26, 2008. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012.
  32. Simon, Clea (July 2008). "At WCRB, it's a grand old tradition". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 30, 2008.
  33. ^ Guenther, Katja M. (2019). "Secular sexism: The persistence of gender inequality in the US New Atheist Movement". Women's Studies International Forum. 72: 53–54. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2018.11.007. ISSN 1879-243X.
  34. ^ Carian, Emily K. (2024). "Introduction: Men Gender Activists in the Stalled Revolution". Good Guys, Bad Guys: The Perils of Men's Gender Activism. New York University Press. p. 3. doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479820979.003.0003. ISBN 978-1-4798-2100-6.
  35. Stone, Peter (2022). "Russell Blackford: The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism". Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. 25 (2): 389–391. doi:10.1007/s10677-022-10284-x. ISSN 1572-8447.
  36. ^ Schnabel, Landon; Facciani, Matthew; Sincoff-Yedid, Ariel; Fazzino, Lori (2016). "Gender and Atheism: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and an Agenda for Future Research". In Cipriani, Roberto; Garelli, Franco (eds.). Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion. Volume 7 (2016): Sociology of Atheism. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. pp. 75–97. doi:10.1163/9789004319301_006. ISBN 978-90-04-31930-1.
  37. ^ Huff, Peter A. (2021). "Dawkins, Richard". Atheism and Agnosticism: Exploring the Issues. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4408-7083-5.
  38. ^ Meagher (2018), pp. 100–101.
  39. ^ LeDrew, Stephen (2016). "The Atheist Right". The Evolution of Atheism: The Politics of a Modern Movement. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 198–199. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190225179.003.0008. ISBN 978-0-19-022517-9.
  40. Klug, Petra (2022). "America Versus the Atheist". Anti-Atheist Nation: Religion and Secularism in the United States. New York: Routledge. Endnote 47. ISBN 978-1-000-80442-3.
  41. Scheidt (2021), pp. 91–92.
  42. Hussein, Shakira (2019). From Victims to Suspects: Muslim Women Since 9/11. Yale University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-300-23042-0.
  43. ^ Marcotte, Amanda (May–June 2018). "#WeToo?". The Humanist. Vol. 78, no. 3. pp. 12–15. ISSN 0018-7399.
  44. Mantilla, Karla (2013). "Gendertrolling: Misogyny Adapts to New Media". Feminist Studies. 39 (2): 563–570. doi:10.1353/fem.2013.0039. ISSN 2153-3873.
  45. Rousseau, Jacques (July 14, 2011). "Elevatorgate and the power of words". Synapses.
  46. Band, Emily (July 24, 2011). "Richard Dawkins, check the evidence on the 'chilly climate' for women". The Guardian. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  47. ^ Miller, Ashley F. (June 2013). "The non-religious patriarchy: why losing religion HAS NOT meant losing white male dominance". CrossCurrents. 63 (2): 211–226. doi:10.1111/cros.12025. S2CID 170686171.
  48. Winston, Kimberly (September 15, 2011). "Atheists address sexism issues". USA Today. Religion News Service. Archived from the original on October 31, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  49. ^ LeDrew (2016), pp. 199–200.
  50. ^ McAnulla, Stuart; Kettell, Steven; Schulzke, Marcus (2018). The Politics of New Atheism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-19833-8.
  51. Green, David Allen (July 6, 2011). "Sharing a lift with Richard Dawkins". New Statesman. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  52. Tomlins, Steven; Beaman, Lori G. (2015). "Introduction". In Beaman, L. G.; Tomlins, S. (eds.). Atheist Identities – Spaces and Social Contexts. Cham: Springer. p. 6. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09602-5_1. ISBN 978-3-319-09602-5.
  53. Dawkins, Richard (August 6, 2014). "Who is 'belittling' what?". Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science; Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  54. Watson, Rebecca (August 6, 2014). "Richard Dawkins just did the blog-equivalent of coughing into his hand while mumbling 'sorry' to me. Eh I'll take it. http://ow.ly/A2aVW" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  55. Bug_girl (July 11, 2009). "Congrats Becca and Sid". Skepchick.
  56. Watson, Rebecca (April 8, 2011). "A Note About My Personal Life". Skepchick.
  57. Watson, Rebecca (May 26, 2023). "Why Losers Like Steven Crowder Hate No-Fault Divorce". Skepchick. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  58. "News and Comment | Asteroids Named for Skeptics, Authors, Science Educators" (PDF). Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 32, no. 6. November 2008. p. 9. ISSN 0194-6730.

Further reading

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