Outrage over scientist’s rape tweets

London: Scientist Richard Dawkins said he suffered a “tsunami of hate” after he tried to make a point by describing some instances of rape as worse than others on Tuesday. The prominent atheist and author provoked angry responses on the social media site after a series of tweets comparing assaults.

“Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of date rape, go away and learn how to think,” the biologist tweeted.

“Mild pedophilia is bad. Violent pedophilia is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of mild pedophilia, go away and learn how to think.” “Mild date rape is bad. Violent date rape is worse,” he later said.

The examples were intended to demonstrate the point that saying “X is bad. Y is worse” is not an “endorsement of X”.

The postings were widely criticised. “If you want to make a point about logical fallacy, why use rape as an example? For survivors, this is not an academic game,” said feminist writer Laurie Penny.