--- title: "Ophelia Benson" description: "Ophelia Benson edits the long-running skeptic site Butterflies and Wheels and co-wrote Does God Hate Women? — a sharp examination of how the world's major religions treat half of humanity." canonical: https://opendoubt.com/people/ophelia-benson source: html --- # Ophelia Benson > Ophelia Benson edits the long-running skeptic site Butterflies and Wheels and co-wrote Does God Hate Women? — a sharp examination of how the world's major religions treat half of humanity. Notable figure # Ophelia Benson Writer & Editor · Butterflies and Wheels Ophelia Benson edits [_Butterflies and Wheels_](https://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/), one of the longest-running and most consistently sharp atheist-feminist websites on the internet. Founded in 2002, the site takes its name from an Alexander Pope line about rhetorical overkill — and the editorial sensibility has stayed close to that source ever since. It is interested in arguments that fail, evasions that have become respectable, and the specific ways religion and ideology mistreat the people they claim to be protecting. With philosopher Jeremy Stangroom, Benson has co-authored several books — including _Why Truth Matters_ and the most directly relevant to this site, _Does God Hate Women?_(2009). That book examines, religion by religion and country by country, the documented effects of clerical authority on women’s lives: legalized rape inside marriage, FGM, honor killings, restrictions on movement and dress, the bartering of girls in religious courts. It is unsparing but careful, and it is one of the most useful single sources for the empirical case that religion’s treatment of women is not a matter of bad apples but of system design. Core positions Religion is not exempt from criticism Benson's editorial project at Butterflies and Wheels — and the through-line of her books — is the argument that religion has no special right to be shielded from the same skeptical scrutiny applied to every other claim about how reality works. Women's rights are universal In Does God Hate Women? she examines, religion by religion, how scripture and clerical authority have been used to justify the legal and social subordination of women. The argument: cultural relativism that excuses these practices abandons the women living under them. Truth matters, even when it is inconvenient Benson is one of the sharpest popular critics of the relativist position that 'truth' is just a power claim. Her case: if there is no truth, there is no argument — only assertion, and the loudest assertion wins. That outcome does not favor the powerless. Free speech is non-negotiable She has consistently defended the right to criticize religion — including Islam — against blasphemy laws, fatwas, and the soft censorship of social pressure. Her position: silencing critics protects authority, not believers. > It is too easy to talk about religion as if women were a footnote — a special-interest concern to be raised after the real philosophical work is done. They are not a footnote. The status of women is the central practical question every religion answers, and most answer it badly. ## Butterflies and Wheels The site has been online continuously for more than two decades and now lives on the Freethought Blogs network. Its archives are one of the most useful resources available for anyone tracking the intersection of skepticism, feminism, and the long argument over how to criticize religion without becoming bigoted, and how to defend tolerance without making it a synonym for silence. ## Essential books [Does God Hate Women?2009Co-written with Jeremy Stangroom — a cross-religion examination of how faith traditions structure women's subordination](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5752734-does-god-hate-women)[Why Truth Matters2006Co-written with Jeremy Stangroom — on the political consequences of postmodern relativism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195671.Why_Truth_Matters)[The Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense2004An A-to-Z field guide to the cant of academic and political evasion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2078875.The_Dictionary_of_Fashionable_Nonsense) ## Best quotes > “Religion is the last big bastion of irrationalism that still gets a free pass in polite society. We need to stop giving it that pass.” > “It is not 'Islamophobic' to point out that women are stoned to death under sharia. It is reporting.” > “When God hates women, He always seems to use men to do the hating for Him.” > “Truth is not a Western value, a male value, or a colonial value. It is what makes argument possible at all.” > “Multiculturalism that tolerates the abuse of women is not multiculturalism. It is the abandonment of women.” ## Follow her work Find Ophelia Benson [Butterflies and Wheels](https://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/)[Original archive](https://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/) Related thinkers [ Women & Atheism Female voices in freethought ](/women-and-atheism)[ Greta Christina Atheist Feminist Writer ](/people/greta-christina)[ Taslima Nasrin Exiled writer & activist ](/people/taslima-nasrin) Continue exploring [ Women and atheism Female freethinkers and the gender stakes of organized religion. ](/women-and-atheism)[ Religion and societal harm The empirical record of organized religion's costs. ](/arguments/religion-and-societal-harm)[ Quotes & criticisms More sharp critiques of religion from across the spectrum. ](/criticisms)[ Secular humanism The positive ethical framework Benson defends. ](/secular-humanism) ## Sources cited - https://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/ - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5752734-does-god-hate-women - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195671.Why_Truth_Matters - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2078875.The_Dictionary_of_Fashionable_Nonsense - https://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/ --- _Canonical HTML version: https://opendoubt.com/people/ophelia-benson_