Former SASH Board members duped into writing email

With the help of sympathetic colleagues, Dr. Nicole Prause indirectly recruited former SASH Board members to write a letter making false claims about Gary Wilson and others. Then, she publicized it in a long rant, which she filed (without leave of court) as part of her Motion to Dismiss in a defamation suit naming her as defendant.

On November 26, 2019, her Motion to Dismiss in that case was denied. Now, she is publishing her baseless rant as if it has merit.

Here’s a letter to the duped former Board members.

Email from Gary Wilson to former SASH board members (9/25/19)

From: gary wilson <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2019 8:57 PM
To: ___________
Cc:_________________________________________________
Subject: RE: Letter of concern to SASH Board

Dear __________________

Marnia tells me that SASH’s President has already sent you a response endorsed by the SASH Board. However, it appears from your letter that you may be unaware of the larger context in which your letter is playing a role. As the related matters are not yet at an end, I feel it would be wise to bring you up to speed.

First let me say that I am fully aware that we live in an era of fake news. It is very easy to be manipulated by smear campaigns that play on fears and prejudices. I believe this is what has happened in the case of your letter. It is regrettable, but all too common.

Defamation lawsuit

I first learned of your letter when I read it in a pleading filed a couple of weeks ago by Dr. Nicole Prause in a defamation lawsuit where she is the defendant. Briefly, she has claimed that former SASH Board member Don Hilton MD “sexually harassed” her, even though she admits he never touched, flirted with, or contacted her. Hilton felt he had no choice but to file a defamation suit, as his professional reputation was at risk. As part of Hilton’s suit, 9 others including myself have filed affidavits recounting similar malicious reporting incidents.

Dr. Prause initially filed her complaint with the University of Texas, where Hilton is adjunct faculty at the medical school in San Antonio. When the university explained that he is not an employee and that Title 9 was therefore irrelevant, she complained unsuccessfully to two journals where Hilton had published refereed articles, stating that he had “faked” his credentials (on the theory that he was not an employee, even though he is, and was, officially adjunct faculty at UT). Then she filed a complaint with Hilton’s medical board (since dismissed). You can read more about the suit here, including the 9 affidavits mentioned above: Donald Hilton defamation lawsuit against Nicole Prause.

Trademark squatting and infringement

Earlier this year, Dr. Prause filed a trademark application for both my website’s URL “yourbrainonporn.com” and “your brain on porn” (the title of my book and the name of my decade-old website). I am opposing this application in a lengthy, costly proceeding.

A few months later, Dr. Prause’s colleague created a website (managed by Dr. Prause) called “ScienceOfArousal.com.” Almost immediately, it changed its name and URL to infringe upon my common law marks as Realyourbrainonporn.com. I am on the point of filing a lawsuit for trademark infringement, as Dr. Prause has thus far refused to return to her original, non-infringing URL.

We expect to see your letter, which has no relevance whatsoever to trademark law, show up again, in Dr. Prause’s pleadings related to her trademark squatting and infringement efforts.

“White supremacist” smear campaign

For several years, Dr. Prause and her colleague Dr. Ley have been endeavoring to create an internet meme that I am a fascist and white supremacist, etc. I am not the only person she is targeting in this way. For example, they have also endeavored to paint the NoFap community (and anyone who abstains from digital porn use) as fascists, misogynists, would-be rapists, and stalkers. The following links go to sections of a page I created to shed sunlight on Dr. Prause’s malicious activities. These specifically address the “fascist, white supremacist” efforts.

Dr. Prause’s sole “evidence” of my supposed “fascism” is that, years ago, I did a podcast (about pornography use, not politics) with a Canadian who later said something impolitic about research on IQ and ethnic groups. You can see the podcast and my remarks about it here: Stefan Molyneux interviews Gary Wilson. Someone, perhaps Dr. Prause herself, then posted it to a fascist newsfeed (from which it is long gone) and took a screenshot. I have never had any relationship with any hate group. Nor have I promoted my work to any such group. I cannot control who posts my material.The fact is, both Alex Rhodes and I are far left liberal atheists. Alex is extremely tough on hate speech in his forums. My views can easily be ascertained by a quick visit to my “About us” page, or by listening to this interview (done months ago), which is linked to there. I describe my leanings beginning at minute 28. As a nurse I cared for dying AIDS patients in San Francisco (1980’s), members of my family are married to African Americans. I was raised in liberal Seattle by atheists. My mother was an occupational therapist and my father was even a sex ed teacher at one point. I think that if you investigate you will agree that I am anything but a “white supremacist.”

Imagine, if you can, my distress upon reading your letter in a public document, after receiving a SASH media award for my book only a few years ago. Given the timing of your letter, following almost 6 years of service by my (equally left-leaning) wife, one has to ask if Dr. Prause orchestrated the entire letter incident.

Further corrections to your letter

To complete the picture, I want to correct some of the mistakes in your letter.

  • I have never been a member of SASH, addressed the Board, presented at a SASH conference (despite invitations to do so), or made any effort to influence the SASH Board. I have never assisted in preparing any trainings for SASH, declining to help even when asked.
  • In addition to a brief appearance to receive a media award (nominated by Cara Tripodi and bestowed by an affirmative vote of the Board – with Marnia abstaining), I have attended only two SASH conferences. I went to Austin to see Todd Love and Gabe Deem speak, and to Salt Lake to see Marc Potenza speak.
  • I have, in fact published two peer-reviewed papers, which have not been retracted despite Dr. Prause’s herculean efforts to have one of them retracted – and to misrepresent it on Wikipedia:
  • I have never misrepresented my credentials, although journalists have occasionally assigned me credentials that I don’t have, despite my giving them accurate information (when they bothered to interview me). As I explain on my website’s “About Us” page, I am “a retired anatomy, physiology & pathology teacher.” For details on how the sleight-of-hand “evidence” was produced, see Prause falsely claims that Wilson has misrepresented his credentials.

I don’t know if any of you can do anything to correct the record here, but I wanted you to know the facts. Thank you for your attention to this clarification.

Sincerely,

Gary Wilson

cc: _______________________________________________