One episode of the TV show Seinfeld had the character Cosmo Kramer suffering the effects of “The Kavorka” which is “the lure of the animal.” Despite his being a “hipster doofus,” women could not help but be drawn to, attracted to him.
“Elevatorgate” is a label that has been put upon a fracas within the atheist community. In short, a female atheist presented a talk at an atheist gathering about the:
…problem of sexism among atheists, and the rape threats she had received from men in the community who don’t agree with her…
Afterward, she went to the hotel bar with conference-goers until 4 a.m., when she told everyone that she was tired and wanted to go to bed. A male attendee followed her out of the bar and into the elevator, where he said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I find you very interesting and I would like to talk more. Would you like to come to my hotel room for coffee?” This is what she had to say about the encounter:
Um, just a word to wise here, guys, uh, don’t do that. You know, I don’t really know how else to explain how this makes me incredibly uncomfortable, but I’ll just sort of lay it out that I was a single woman, you know, in a foreign country, at 4:00 am, in a hotel elevator, with you, just you, and — don’t invite me back to your hotel room right after I finish talking about how it creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable when men sexualize me in that manner.[1]
Moreover:
Many women told of receiving unwanted sexual advances at freethinker gatherings. Some men, meanwhile, ridiculed Watson as overly sensitive or worse — or threatened her with rape, mutilation and murder…
freethinkers are assessing its meaning. Many acknowledge they have a “woman problem” — men outnumber women at atheist gatherings, both at the podium and in the audiences.
Yet many, including Watson, say Elevatorgate is less a calamity and more an opportunity to welcome women and other minorities into a community that’s long been dominated by white men…[2]
The anti-Christian atheist activist PZ Myers noted that this presents:
…an interesting problem for us…What we would really like to do is educate these men to be a little more sensitive…
To PZ Myers’ post, the New Atheist cenobite himself, Richard Dawkins, wrote:
Stop whining, will you. Yes, yes, I know you had your genitals mutilated with a razor blade, and … yawn … don’t tell me yet again, I know you aren’t allowed to drive a car, and you can’t leave the house without a male relative, and your husband is allowed to beat you, and you’ll be stoned to death if you commit adultery. But stop whining, will you. Think of the suffering your poor American sisters have to put up with.
Only this week I heard of one, she calls herself Skep”chick”, and do you know what happened to her? A man in a hotel elevator invited her back to his room for coffee. I am not exaggerating. He really did. He invited her back to his room for coffee. Of course she said no, and of course he didn’t lay a finger on her, but even so [ellipses in original]
In the aftermath, the female atheist speaker posted a video wherein she noted the occurrence and noted:
Guys, don’t do that.
She later wrote:
The biggest lesson I have learned over the years is that it is not a safe space and we have a lot of growing to do.
Well, this has sparked a myriad of discussions, put down, threats, etc. from atheists far and wide.
But, pray tell, what did the female atheist speaker expect?
I can feel no sense of measure
No illusions as we take
Refuge in young man’s pleasure
Breaking down the dreams we make, real
—lyrics from the band Yes’ song “Leave it”
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[1] Tracy Clark-Flory, “Richard Dawkins: Skeptic of women?,” Salon, Jul 8, 2011 AD
[2] Kimberly Winston, “Atheists address sexism issues,” USA Today, Sep 15, 2011 AD
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