Don't Judge An Argument By Its Conclusion: The Case Of Rebecca Watson

Rebecca Watson’s talk at Skepticon recently was called, “How girls evolved to shop and other ways to insult women with ‘science.’" Watson ridicules evolutionary psychology pertaining to sex differences, such as differing tastes between men and women in shopping, sexual preferences, and for purportedly favoring the color pink. Her aim was to show evolutionary psychology isn’t science and that its conclusions stereotype and oppress women. However, Ed Clint, who obviously knows something about evolutionary psychology, utterly destroys Watson's presentation which was applauded by the skeptics in attendance. Read his response titled, Science denialism at a skeptic conference. It's really a shame this was allowed at a skeptic conference. No one should accept any argument just because they agree with its conclusion, as I have warned Christians about. I am appalled that simply because she is an internet celebrity for other reasons she is accepted as an expert on anything else. Do we not have credentialed experts who can give talks like these? Right now I'm ashamed of my own community. I can only expect better in the future, and I do.

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