Orac is the nom de blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. (Continued 
...Isis shows us why by calling out the anti-vaccine movement in general and J.B. Handley in particular, for sexist attacks on Amy Wallace, who wrote the excellent article for WIRED about how the anti-vaccine movement endangers public health.
True, I did e-mail her for advice in letting feminist bloggers know about this nastiness, being interested in how so many women in the movement could tolerate such behavior from its male members, but Isis took it from there. (Warning, part of the post may be NSFW.)
Also calling out J.B. Handley and other members of the anti-vaccine movement for their misogyny was blog bud Abel Pharmboy. It's only fair to point out that he blogged this story before I did.
Medicine & Health
Comments
You're very sweet, Orac. Thank you for letting me know about this.
Posted by: Isis the Scientist | November 2, 2009 1:16 PM
I don't know about NSFW, but it's definitely not safe for lunch. But then, when is anything dealing with Handley safe for work, lunch, or logic and reason for that matter? Love how the "Not" was dark font on dark background.
Posted by: Vindaloo | November 2, 2009 1:29 PM
Misogyny comes in all kinds of varieties. Orac you once wrote :
"Well, the stupid has landed. And how. An interview with Jenny has just been published on the TIME Magazine website in which she "surpasses" herself. In fact, so dense is the stupid emanating from what passes for a "brain" in that empty head of hers that words fail me".
The childish hurling of insults between the pro and anti vaccine camps is as hilarious as a debate about Healthcare between Joe (You lie!) Wilson (R-SC) and Alan (Die quickly) Grayson (D-FL_.
Posted by: RAJ | November 2, 2009 5:53 PM
How is Orac's quote about Jenny McCarthy explicitly misogyny?
Posted by: Katharine | November 2, 2009 6:08 PM
@RAJ, Note that what Orac wrote about Jenny could equally apply to Jim Carrey. I see no misogyny there, sorry.
Posted by: The Perky Skeptic | November 2, 2009 6:22 PM
Crash and burn, RAJ. The only question is: do you have the integrity to admit that you were unequivocally wrong? My guess is no, but I'll apologize in advance if I'm wrong.
Posted by: bob | November 2, 2009 7:33 PM
Nice try, RAJ, but I can't put my feminist stamp of goatfucker on that one.
Posted by: Isis the Scientist | November 2, 2009 7:48 PM
RAJ, that comment you quoted contains not the slightest taint of sexism or misogyny. Orac merely insulted Jenny McCarthy's intelligence, which is not exclusively either a male or a female characteristic --- and Jenny earned the raspberries fair and square.
~David D.G.
Posted by: David D.G. | November 2, 2009 7:59 PM
RAJ seems to have a strange definition of misogyny. To steal Orac's latest favourite quote...
Posted by: mariane | November 2, 2009 8:58 PM
I won't touche RAJ's idiotic claim that Orac's Jenny McStupid comments were mysogynistic since others have already weighed in on that. Instead, I want to talk about his final point:
1. The anti-vaxxers' insults aren't backed up by the facts and the evidence; they're empty insults. The insults from the science based community on the other hand, are colorful flourishes added to substantive arguments.
2. As for the two congressmen mentioned, what leadership has Joe Wilson shown? Has he proposed anything constructive? Was his insult a part of a larger point he was making? (Answers: none, no, no) In fact, his famous (or perhaps infamous) outburst was not only isolated from substance, it was also demonstrably false as well as a clear breach of protocol. Alan Grayson, on the other hand is actually offering substance. Whether you agree with him or not, it's hard to deny that there's more to him than just hyperbolic language. For one, he's created a website listing names and stories of people who've died because of lack of insurance. That sounds a lot (to me, at least) like he's backing up his rhetoric with real data.
3. Now that I think about it, it seems that RAJ's analogy was right on the mark after all!
4. Apologies for wasting all your time responding to a troll.
Posted by: The Science Pundit | November 2, 2009 9:20 PM
PS: Part of my post was not safe for work? PART? I showed a picture of a dude having intercourse with a horse. I think that makes all of SB unsafe for work.
OK. I'm done here. I am on the verge of becoming a troll myself.
Posted by: Isis the Scientist | November 2, 2009 9:24 PM
Evidently Orac's employer has a rather liberal Internet usage policy. ;-)
Posted by: Calli Arcale | November 2, 2009 10:47 PM
Orac gets the internets as a direct feed into his blinky lights. ;)
Posted by: The Perky Skeptic | November 3, 2009 7:49 AM