Women and Humanism

Women & Humanism 09 January 2016Saturday 9th January 2016 - 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

with Former Chair of the National Sex Education Forum Jo Adams

All of us deserve the opportunity to be educated, to work, to be healthy and to participate in all aspects of public life.

Yet throughout history, women have been denied many of these rights and religion has played a major part in this oppression and discrimination. So what role does Humanism have to play in advancing gender equality, and what part do women play in modern Humanism?

Jo Adams will examine these issues and discuss ways in which women can be equally represented in a truly egalitarian Humanist movement..

Jo Adams is a member of the Women's Equality Party, and was formerly chair of the National Sex Education Forum and an Adviser to the Department of Health on Sexual Health and Teenage Pregnancy. She is also the author of a number of books relating to self-esteem and positive sexual health.

Join us to hear a compelling case for actively supporting and promoting worldwide gender equality.

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Inside Alcoholics Anonymous: Can a Non-Existent God Really Cure Alcoholism?

Inside AA 12 December 2015Saturday 12th December 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Jon Stewart, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History at BIMM Institute

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has become a widely accepted and media-approved treatment for problem drinkers. Yet while AA’s social worth is rarely challenged, its efficacy rate, estimated to be as little as 5%, appears comparable to that of spontaneous remission.

Can an imaginary "Higher Power" really offer meaningful solutions to the debilitating and frequently fatal condition of alcoholism? If so, what happens to all those alcoholic atheists and skeptics? How did AA become the go-to treatment for one of the great social health scourges of our age, and is this really the best we have to offer in the twenty first century? Jon will be sharing his experiences of the rock’n’roll lifestyle, alcoholism and recovery, as he answers these questions and more in this fascinating and entertaining presentation.

Jon Stewart was co-founder, guitarist and co-songwriter for platinum-selling Britpop band Sleeper, with whom he enjoyed three UK Top 10 albums and eight UK Top 40 singles.  He subsequently played on albums by K D Lang and Mel C, and contributed to feature film and documentary soundtracks including Trainspotting and Telstar: The True Story of Joe Meek.  Jon currently lectures in cultural history at BIMM Institute, Brighton, and is also a PhD researcher at University of Southampton.  Author of a long-running column in Guitarist magazine, Jon has published a wide range of research in peer reviewed journals and collections of academic essays.  An active and sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 14 years, Jon quit the fellowship in early 2014. His blog "Leaving AA, Staying Sober" is at http://jonsleeper.wordpress.com

“Join us to hear Jon Stewart reveal the reality of Alcoholics Anonymous, along with some entertaining tales of life in a platinum-selling rock band”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

November Bulletin

DWOur distinguished evening speaker in October was Pavan Dhaliwal who is Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns at the British Humanist Association(BHA) and Vice President of the European Humanist Federation. Pavan provided us with a fascinating insight into how the BHA is attempting to change the law by bringing strategic cases to the courts, including the Supreme Court. A report of her talk is included this month's Bulletin

Also this month, we include the launch of our 2015 Jane Bannister Winter Appeal, a report on our first ever 'Happiness Course' and an introduction to the new Women's Equality Party. We've got some excellent events coming soon including Jo Adams, cofounder of the Women's Equality Party speaking on Women and Humanism, and we look forward to seeing you there.

http://dorset.humanist.org.uk/dorset/DH-Bulletin-November-2015.pdf

David Warden
Chair, Dorset Humanists