Pharyngula

The crafty Taisha McFall, creator of the Ray Comfort Tampon Case, is having a birthday tomorrow. What she’d like for her birthday is that women everywhere be free of fear and able to live their lives in some security, but barring that, you could make her happy by donating to Women for Women, an organization that works to help women survivors of war.

Donate online. It’s a nice present for Ms McFall and even nicer for women who’ve been raped, who’ve lost their homes, or worse, lost their children.

Comments

#1 Cain
January 30, 2010

I would love to help “women who’ve been raped, who’ve lost their homes, or worse, lost their children” but I have a penis…apparently I’m not welcome in this organization.
#2 'Tis Himself, OM
January 30, 2010

Cain, that’s a pretty stupid comment.

Happy birthday Taisha. I’ve made a donation to Women for Women.
#3 Keelyn
January 30, 2010

Just donate anonymously, Cain. It would be very appreciated and no one would be the wiser.
#4 negentropyeater
January 30, 2010

Cain,

it’s not because it’s an organisation of women that a man can’t donate to them.
#5 MAJeff, OM
January 30, 2010

Women for Women do great work. They were my Christmas donation for my sister a couple years ago (we exchange donations every year). I’ll drop a few more in their bucket today.

And, Cain. Thanks for reminding me how rough it is being a guy.
#6 OurDeadSelves
January 30, 2010

Oh for crap’s sake, Cain, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve read all morning.

I’ve donated what I can. I’ll definitely be stopping back after payday.
#7 chgo_liz
January 30, 2010

Apparently Cain is not Abel to show compassion or sympathy. It’s all about him.
#8 Kompani
January 30, 2010

Contributed via the UK site. A very good cause.
#9 negentropyeater
January 30, 2010

#7
From what I’ve read over the last few days, there seems to be quite a few men commenting on Pharyngula who are having a hard time showing compassion or sympathy for women.
Could we at least have a thread where those men think twice before hitting the submit button?
#10 Acronym Jim
January 30, 2010

I can see it now negentropyeater. A dialogue box opens up with the prompt “That’s a very stupid statement. Are you sure you want to post it?”
#11 Rorschach
January 30, 2010

From what I’ve read over the last few days, there seems to be quite a few men commenting on Pharyngula who are having a hard time showing compassion or sympathy for women.

Someone tell me what the fuck happened in the last few days.
#12 SC OM
January 30, 2010

I can see it now negentropyeater. A dialogue box opens up with the prompt “That’s a very stupid statement. Are you sure you want to post it?”

And my day is already made.

(Sometimes I wish my email had that function….)
#13 Rorschach
January 30, 2010

Come to think of it, in various threads recently, lack of quality of discourse, blown fuses, dumb trolls making the same old retarded arguments again and again, and just general stupidity shown makes Pharyngula a bit hard to digest and enjoy at the moment.
I don’t remember it ever being like that.
#14 negentropyeater
January 30, 2010

#10,

the dialogue box should normally open up naturally in your head when you read for the second time before hitting the submit button.

If it doesn’t, or if you fail to answer those questions correctly or hit the submit button inadvertedly, there’s always something called an apology.

If you still fail with the apology, don’t be surprised if someone calls you a stupid misogynistic pig or a variation thereof.

And, please, before digging further, go and drink a glass of milk.
#15 chgo_liz
January 30, 2010

While I agree with you in general, negentropyeater, my comment was meant to be droll. My bad, for making a religious joke here. I just figured, we atheists know biblical references better than most fundies (while recognizing that they’re not factual).

Too dry? Too dumb? I haven’t had my first cup of tea yet, and I’ve been up for 4 hours. That’s my excuse.
#16 Acronym Jim
January 30, 2010

Thanks SC. As for e-mail problems, I learned to move my “forward” and “reply to all” buttons away from each other and the “reply” button.

Back on topic, the direct link to the Ray Comfort item PZ is talking about can be found at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23681033 .
#17 SC OM
January 30, 2010

As for e-mail problems, I learned to move my “forward” and “reply to all” buttons away from each other and the “reply” button.

I wish it were that simple. My emails go to the proper recipients; it’s their content that I sometimes later regret.
#18 negentropyeater
January 30, 2010

my comment was meant to be droll

That’s how I understood it

thx, just learned a new english word today. In french we say “dr�le”, didn’t know there was an anglicized version of it.

My comment was meant to be marant (that’s the non existent anglicized version of marrant).
#19 thefenanjug
January 30, 2010

Isn’t an organization to help female victims of war missing the forest for the trees?
#20 SC OM
January 30, 2010

Isn’t an organization to help female victims of war missing the forest for the trees?

No.
#21 Uncephalized
January 30, 2010

@19: So we shouldn’t bother helping the Haitian earthquake victims because that money would be better spent on studying seismology and predicting earthquakes, or what? What is your point, exactly?
#22 Rorschach
January 30, 2010

Isn’t an organization to help female victims of war missing the forest for the trees?

WTF is wrong with people here atm ? How can anyone be so fucking stupid to make such a comment ?
#23 FlameEverlasting
January 30, 2010

Isn’t an organization to help female victims of war missing the forest for the trees?

How do you mean?
#24 chgo_liz
January 30, 2010

Negentropyeater: Thanks back to you…marrant is a new French word for me.

Thefenanjug: If and when we each give only to one cause, then it will be appropriate to consider more carefully before making that one crucial decision. Until then, most of us manage to support more than one cause simultaneously. Amazing, huh?
#25 Walton
January 30, 2010

Isn’t an organization to help female victims of war missing the forest for the trees?

Er… what? How? Explain, please.
#26 blf
January 30, 2010

Someone tell me what the fuck happened in the last few days.

Ripples (radiation? (waves? particles?)) from the original starfart?

More seriously, it’s possibly just people being cranky at this time of the year. I’ve no idea if that’s due to Squidmass and all the rubbish that goes with it, the realisation there’s yet another fecking year just starting, or indeed if people really do tend to be more cranky this time of the year.
#27 Aquaria
January 30, 2010

It’s my birthday on Wednesday. Do I get to pick a cause everyone can donate to that day?
#28 Moggie
January 30, 2010

As soon as I saw this post, I knew there’d be a poor, oppressed man whining in the comments, but I didn’t expect it to be the first. fucking. comment. This gets so tiresome.

I’ve just donated, and their website must be faulty or something, because it failed to reject my donation when I entered my male name. They ought to get a man to sort that out for them.
#29 Islander
January 30, 2010

Someone tell me what the fuck happened in the last few days

When the Squid Overlord is away, the trolls will play.
#30 minervasp73
January 30, 2010

Moggie – you hit it right on the noggin…

I wouldn’t have because I throw like a girl.
#31 alex.asolis.net
January 30, 2010

This is an utterly dispicable organization. Any group that seeks to help only a certain group of people based on their sex or race shouldn’t exist. Men deserve to live just as much as women, and humanitarian groups that seek to ONLY help women as a disgrace. I wonder how many groups dedicated to helping only males there are.
#32 alex.asolis.net
January 30, 2010

“As soon as I saw this post, I knew there’d be a poor, oppressed man whining in the comments, but I didn’t expect it to be the first. fucking. comment. This gets so tiresome.”
Moggie, that’s because not everyone is as much as of a fucking sexist piece of shit as you.
#33 OurDeadSelves
January 30, 2010

This is an utterly dispicable organization. Any group that seeks to help only a certain group of people based on their sex or race shouldn’t exist

I’m sorry, but what the fuck? Since when are men an oppressed class?

Oh wait, never mind. You’re in high school. Come back to us when you’ve got some life experience to back up your asinine assertions.
#34 Rorschach
January 30, 2010

Men deserve to live just as much as women, and humanitarian groups that seek to ONLY help women as a disgrace. I wonder how many groups dedicated to helping only males there are.

*facepalm*
#35 Jadehawk, OM
January 30, 2010

is this alex-the-asexual-troll again? you know, the one who thinks not being bisexual (or asexual) is discriminatory and sexist?
#36 Bride of Shrek OM
January 30, 2010

Christ on a fucking stick, what is it with these arsehole comments in the last few days?

alex.asolis.

Grow the fuck up you teenage shitbag. Even at your age you should know better. You haven’t even finished high school so what the would you know about war and oppression?

You have zilch, repeat ZILCH, fucking life experience so go back to where you belong and let the adults talk. Precocious children annoy the shit out of me.
#37 amphiox
January 30, 2010

Alex, when you get a chance to obtain a teensy bit more experience with humanitarian groups and efforts, you will realize that many (MANY!) of them restrict their efforts to some particular group, including groups based on sex and race (and other of a wide range of criteria).

There is nothing sexist or racist (or any other X-ist) about this.

It is simply a matter of allocation of resources, and freedom of choice in the selective targeting of altruism.

It only becomes X-ist if one of these groups is unfairly favored or disfavored over the others.
#38 Bride of Shrek OM
January 30, 2010

As regulars here would know I wouldn’t normally swear at a child but a) he obviously has a foul mouth himself and b) by his own blog he says he’s a senior in high school so I presume he’s 18.
#39 Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM
January 30, 2010

Someone needs to sit alex down with SEF and newfie.
#40 OurDeadSelves
January 30, 2010

As regulars here would know I wouldn’t normally swear at a child but a) he obviously has a foul mouth himself and b) by his own blog he says he’s a senior in high school so I presume he’s 18.

Oh man, I swear at kids all of the time. Especially in movie theaters. :/
#41 Bride of Shrek OM
January 30, 2010

Jadehawk

I’m pretty sure it is the usual Alex troll. Same sort of incorrect use of the term “sexist” in his rant against Moggie.
#42 'Tis Himself, OM
January 30, 2010

One would think that a person with the nom du blog of alex.asshole.net would be more care about making assholish statements. Unless alexis.asshole is just being a sexist troll.
#43 aratina cage of the OM
January 30, 2010

This is an utterly dispicable organization. Any group that seeks to help only a certain group of people based on their sex or race shouldn’t exist.

Assholis, shyaddup! These are not dedicated to helping just any sex or race, these are dedicated to helping minority sexes and races, you know, the ones who are being oppressed by people like you.

that’s because not everyone is as much as of a fucking sexist piece of shit as you.

Who’s the piece of shit? Why, it’s you, Alex!
#44 taishamcgee
January 31, 2010

You have made this my best birthday ever. Thank you so so SO much. I sound so trite because words cannot express how grateful I am to you for your help. I am literally typing this through tears of joy. THANK YOU.
#45 Ichthyic
January 31, 2010

I wonder how many groups dedicated to helping only males there are.

I wonder if you really are as stupid as you portray yourself to be on the internet.
#46 taishamcgee
January 31, 2010

If you would like to donate, and you are a guy, this link shouldn’t give you any lip for having glorious and valuable male genitalia. Thank you for using your penis for good and not evil, and thank you for being so supportive and amazing! http://www.active.com/donate/womenforwomen/TaishaMcFall
#47 thefenanjug
January 31, 2010

Well, in regards to my previous comment, men are the primary victims of war but there are practically no groups whose goal is to help them. Women are almost always indirect victims and women in general don’t suffer nearly as much as men do in war.

Every dollar that goes to help female victims of war is a dollar that is taken away from the male victims. I am not saying that female victims of war do not need help but it is kinda obvious that male victims need it a lot more. And there are far more of them.

I am kind of ashamed that there are so many sexist comments about how men shouldn’t complain about being oppressed.
#48 taishamcgee
January 31, 2010

Wow…thefenanjug…you say really dumb things…

You’ve HEARD of rape-camps, right? I mean…where soldiers go to rape emprisoned women in their spare-time… I’m pretty sure those women would disagree with your dollar-to-dollar assessment.

Oh, also, I assume you know that by “women” we mean “9 year-olds included”. You want to take away a dollar that would save a 9 year old girl from being raped to death and give it to a male soldier, be my guest. Find one of those charities and have your own happy birthday.

Meanwhile, stop peeing on mine.
#49 Moggie
January 31, 2010

#46:

If you would like to donate, and you are a guy, this link shouldn’t give you any lip for having glorious and valuable male genitalia. Thank you for using your penis for good and not evil, and thank you for being so supportive and amazing!

I and my dick donated via womenforwomen.org. I hope that doesn’t look like a snub, but your active.com link appears to insist on a phone number, which will probably drive away some potential donors.
#50 Carlie
January 31, 2010

Women are almost always indirect victims and women in general don’t suffer nearly as much as men do in war.

WRONG.

WRONG.

AND WRONG.

Go read those sites and learn something before you make any more entirely uninformed comments.
#51 Mal Adapted
January 31, 2010

Oh man, I swear at kids all of the time.

Me too. You goddamn kids get the hell off my fucking lawn.

I just donated on the WfW site, and wasn’t asked about my gender.

On a SOMEWHAT RELATED TOPIC*: inspired in part by recent threads on this blog, I’m re-assessing my regular giving. I’m interested in supporting female education in what used to be called** the Third World. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations? The ideal organization would effectively promote secular (or at least not primarily religious), education for women and girls who are otherwise underserved, and would have a wide geographic scope. A cursory google turned up Camfed and the Hidaya Foundation. Their websites look good, but of course looks may deceive. They’re both somewhat limited in their target populations, but might be worthwhile combined with other agencies targeted elsewhere.

Thanks for any input. Greg Laden told me he’d research it, and maybe organize a blogospheric month about the subject; but why wait?

*Sorry for the shouties. I wanted to get your attention.
**Wikipedia reference offered to pre-empt wide disparagement.
#52 Acronym Jim
January 31, 2010

aratina@43:

Who’s the piece of shit? Why, it’s you, Alex!

Since you directed that comment at a troll who apparently has the emotional and intellectual maturity of a five-year old*, the voice in my mind was the same one I use on the new puppy.

“Who’s the piece of shit? Who’s the pretty stinkums piece of shit? Why it’s YOU!!!”

Cue human laughter and frantic wagging of canine tails.

*Yes I know, comparing trolls to five year olds is redundant.
#53 Jadehawk, OM
January 31, 2010

Mal Adapted, you can also always buy one of the two School Kits from Mercy Corps; they’re not a religious organization, and they’re really good at working with local groups.
#54 Mal Adapted
January 31, 2010

Thanks, Jadehawk.
#55 Ichthyic
January 31, 2010

Every dollar that goes to help female victims of war is a dollar that is taken away from the male victims.

false, binary logic.

your thinking is fubar.

…better get someone to help you with that.
#56 Endor
February 1, 2010

I find the best way to counteract idiot misogynistic trolls is to donate to women’s organizations in their names.

Cain, thefenanjug, and alex.asolis.net: Women for Women thanks you for your generous donations to their organization.
#57 taishamcgee
February 1, 2010

Endor is my hero.
#58 alex.asolis.net
April 22, 2010

@Endor, I would prefer you donated to People for People or something like that. Ending all forms of gender-discrimination is what I want. “[A]n organization that works to help women survivors of war” is a vile organization. There is no reason why they should aim to only help women when plenty of men, boys, and girls suffer too. Or maybe they help girls as well, just not anyone who has a penis.