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→Post-Elevatorgate commentary about sexually related activities and atheist events
For more information, please see: [[Atheist hypocrisy]]
For more information, please see: [[Atheist hypocrisy]]
== Post-Elevatorgate commentary about sexually related activities and atheist events ==
== Post-Elevatorgate commentary about sexually related activities at atheist events ==
=== Commentary by Richard Carrier ===
The atheist [[Richard Carrier]], who divorced his wife after committing adultery multiple times and now advocates [[polyamory]], wrote in a 2013 blog post entitled ''Our Mythical Campaign against Sex'':
{{cquote|Polyamory and swinging and even the attending of orgies requires more ethical behavior and more careful attention to boundaries and consent than traditional sexual relationships do. And people who are ethical enough to be accepted in those communities are the very people who get [[Atheism plus|Atheism+]] and why it is needed.
The bottom line is, we are already enthusiastically in favor of people pursuing all kinds of sexual activities, even at atheist events. Many of our most avid supports are wholeheartedly doing this. The only thing we are concerned about is that people do this ethically, that people don’t use their sex drives as an excuse to harass, harm, or cross boundaries.<ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/4405 Our Mythical Campaign against Sex], Richard Carrier, </ref>}}
=== Commentary by PZ Myers ===
[[File:PzMyers2.jpg|thumbnail|251px|right|[[PZ Myers]]
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<small>(photo obtained from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/reuvenim/4426093513/ Flickr], see [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en license agreement])</small> ]]
The atheist [[PZ Myers]] wrote in 2013:
{{cquote|Except…I was really surprised the first time a woman at a conference offered me her hotel key. I know I’m not personally attractive or otherwise appealing in any physical way, and it was simply that eroticism of intellectual stimulation, as you mentioned, and the impulse to indulge in a fleeting crush. You know speakers get a little edge from that position when I’m getting sexual opportunities!
It felt like cheating, didn’t actually represent my ideal (all of my physical relationships have also been serious emotional relationships), and just generally seemed like something we might all regret when the first brief flush of enthusiasm wore off. So I’ve always gently turned down those offers.
I don’t want to give the impression that I turn them down, so everybody else ought to, too. I’m really just saying that there’s some weird primate psychology going on, and we ought to be wary of it.<ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2013/08/the-eros-of-the-podium/#comment-612602 The eros of the podium - see comment section below the blog post], PZ Myers, comment section, August 17, 2013 at 5:42 pm</ref>}}
Myers further writes:
{{cquote|As for numbers, it doesn’t happen at every conference, it’s probably happened to me 8? 10? times? Thereabouts. A couple of times a year.
I suspect it’s much more common for younger, handsomer speakers who aren’t geeky bearded weirdos. And I would imagine most of them would also turn down the offers, but I don’t know — maybe I’m a horrible weirdo in another way too.<ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2013/08/the-eros-of-the-podium/#comment-612602 The eros of the podium - see comment section below the blog post], PZ Myers, comment section, August 17, 2013 at 5:42 pm</ref>}}
== Disharmony, factionalism and global decline of atheism ==
== Disharmony, factionalism and global decline of atheism ==