Atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women

Studies indicate that women in the Western World tend to be more religious than men.

Women are less likely to be atheists according to surveys performed around the world and other data (See: Atheism and women). In addition, studies indicate that women in the Western World tend to be more religious than men.

In the early part of the 21st century, atheists were very active on the internet. However, by 2008 there began a marked decline in internet atheism (See: Internet atheism web traffic volume and Large list of atheist websites that have lost web traffic - with supporting data).

One of the reasons why some atheist participate in internet atheism is that offline participation in the atheist community is often difficult.

In an essay entitled How the Atheist Movement Failed Me, an atheist woman noted that participation in the atheist community is often expensive due to the cost of attending atheist conferences and even local atheist meetings in restaurants and bars challenged her modest budget. As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists.

Monica Shores Ms. Magazine article titled Will “New Atheism” Make Room For Women? was one of the first articles criticizing the New Atheism movement for being sexist. She also cited Conservapedia in her article and indicated: "The lack of lady presence is so visible that Conservapedia commented on it by noting that Dawkins’ website overwhelmingly attracts male visitors." According to the website tracking firm SimilarWeb.com, women frequent the website of richarddawkins.net significantly less than men.

Demographics of web visitors to RationalWiki website. Majority of its website visitors are men.

See also: Demographics of web visitors to RationalWiki website

RationalWiki.org is a politically left-leaning website that skews towards atheism/agnosticism in terms of its worldview. RationalWiki has a small fraction of the web traffic it had before October 2019 (see: RationalWiki and web traffic).

According to the leading web marketing website SimilarWeb.com, in January of 2023, RationalWiki's audience skewed heavily male.

In January of 2023, according to SimilarWeb.com, 67.54% of RationalWiki's web visitors were male. This represented a slight increase in its male viewership from May of 2022 according to SimilarWeb.com. In May of 2022, according to SimilarWeb.com, 66.36% of RationalWiki's web visitors were male (See: RationalWiki's lack of appeal to a women audience).

In 2022, RationalWiki contributors failed to launch a major initiative to recruit more women editors nor was there a major increase in RationalWiki content related to women's issues. Wikipedia has an article entitled Gender bias on Wikipedia. RationalWiki does not have an article entitled "Gender bias at RationalWiki".

RationalWiki.org, feminism and web visitor interest in pornography

See also: RationalWiki and web visitor interest in pornography and Atheism and child pornography

RationalWiki.org is a politically left leaning website that skews towards atheism/agnosticism in terms of its worldview.

RationalWiki tries to portray itself as a thinking person's wiki where the editors carefully analyze various matters. But SimilarWeb.com data shows a significant portion of RationalWiki's web audience is interested in "adult" material as can be seen by the "adult" audience interests in the above graphic.

Atheists have played a significant role in both the production and consumption of pornographic material (See: Atheism and pornography and Atheism and child pornography).

Many feminists contend that pornography exploits women. RationalWiki is a pro-feminism website.

For more information, please see: RationalWiki and web visitor interest in pornography

Trustworthiness of websites linking to RationalWiki

According to the leading search engine optimization website Search Engine Land: "Citation Flow is a number of predicting how influential a URL might be based on how many sites link to it. Trust Flow is a number predicting how trustworthy a page is based on how trustworthy sites tend to link to trustworthy neighbors."

As far as a website's domain, high authority and trustworthy websites commonly have their trustflow metric higher than their citation flow metric. As can been above, RationalWiki has the exact opposite. Perhaps its web visitors who visit adult websites link to RationalWiki from low quality websites that are untrusted.

Demographic makeup of web visitors to the Freedom From Religion Foundation website. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographic makeup of web visitors to the Freedom From Religion Foundation website

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American atheist/humanist organization in Madison, Wisconsin. The FFRF was co-founded in 1976 by Anne Nicol Gaylor and her daughter, Annie Laurie Gaylor. It was incorporated nationally on April 15, 1978.

According to SimilarWeb.com, the Freedom From Religion Foundation website receives a majority of its web traffic from men.

Leadership of the Freedom From Religion Foundation

The atheist Dan Barker and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor serve as co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Gaynor's complaint about speaking engagement invitations

See also: Atheism and sexism

Writing on the sexism within the atheist community, atheist Victoria Bekiempis wrote in a Guardian article entitled Why the New Atheism is a boys' club: "Annie Laurie Gaylor, who founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation with her mother, Anne Nicol Gaylor, in 1978, sums it up succinctly: “One word — sexism.” Gaylor’s husband, Dan Barker, who helms the organization along with her, is usually the one invited to speaking engagements, despite her longer tenure as the organization’s leader and her numerous books on atheism."

Annie Laurie Gaylor is an atheist feminist. She is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Gaylor’s husband, Dan Barker, who heads the organization along with her, is usually the person invited to speaking engagements, despite her longer tenure as the organization’s leader and her many books on atheism. See also: Atheism and sexism

Demographic makeup of web visitors to the American Atheists website. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographic makeup of web visitors to the American Atheists website

American Atheists is an American militant atheist group founded in 1963 by Madalyn Murray O'Hair (see also: American atheism).

According to SimilarWeb.com, the American Atheists website receives a majority of its web traffic from men.

Demographics of web visitors to the Center for Inquiry website. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographics of web visitors to the Center for Inquiry website and Center for Inquiry

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a nonprofit organization. Its main mission is to foster a secular society based on secular humanist values. CFI has headquarters in Amhurst, New York and Washington, DC, and also has number of locations around the world.

The Center for Inquiry was founded in 1991 by Paul Kurtz and was formed by the combining of two similarly focused organizations. Namely, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism.

According to SimilarWeb.com, the Center for Inquiry website receives a majority of its web traffic from men.

Demographics of web visitors to Sam Harris' website. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographics of web visitors to the website of Sam Harris

Sam Harris is an American author and atheist. Harris is one of the founders of the New Atheism movement which is a type of dogmatic, militant atheism in terms of its rhetoric (see: New Atheism, dogmatism and Jonathon Haidt's study).

According to SimilarWeb.com, the website of Sam Harris receives a majority of its web traffic from men.

Demographics of the web visitors to the National Secular Society website. Majority of web visitors are men.

The National Secular Society is a British campaign group that seeks to end the influence of organised religion in British public life. See also: British atheism

See also: Demographics of the web visitors to the National Secular Society website

According to the web traffic tracking company SimilarWeb, the majority of web visitors to the National Secular Society's website are men.

Demographic makeup of web visitors to the website Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographic makeup of web visitors to the website Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and Richard Dawkins and women

Richard Dawkins is a British author, biologist, evolutionist, agnostic and leftist/liberal (See also: Richard Dawkins and agnosticism).

He is often referred to as the "world's most famous atheist" and was one of the principle founders of the New Atheism movement (See also: Celebrity atheists). But when interviewed, he claimed that, on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is perfect faith in God and 7 is perfect confidence in atheism, he is a 6.9. In recent years, Dawkins' popularity has waned (See: Richard Dawkins' loss of influence).

As noted above, prior to the Elevatorgate controversy, Monica Shores' Ms. Magazine article titled Will “New Atheism” Make Room For Women? criticized the News Atheism movement for being sexist. She also cited Conservapedia in her article and indicated: "The lack of lady presence is so visible that Conservapedia commented on it by noting that Dawkins’ website overwhelmingly attracts male visitors." See also: Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science website

Demographic makeup of web visitors to the website Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science according to SimilarWeb.com

According to the web tracking company SimilarWeb, the maority of website visitors to Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science website are men.

Demographic makeup of web visitors to the website Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science according to Alexa.com

According to the website tracking firms Alexa, women frequent the website of richarddawkins.net significantly less than men.

Demographics of the web visitors to Freethought Blogs. Majority of web visitors are men.

See also: Demographics of the web visitors to Freethought Blogs and Freethought Blogs

Freethought Blogs is an atheist/agnostic blogging community. It was founded by atheists Ed Brayton and PZ Myers.

The website Freethought Blogs has significantly less women visiting their website than men according to the web traffic tracking company SimilarWeb.com.

Demographics of The Satanic Temple website visitors. The majority of its website visitors are men.

See also: Demographics of The Satanic Temple website visitors

The Satanic Temple (TST) is a nontheistic, political activist group which is based in Salem, Massachusetts. The TST uses Satanic imagery.

The Satanic Temple organization is pro-choice and engages in abortion rights activism.

According to the website tracking company SimilarWeb, the majority of web visitors to The Satanic Temple website are males.

Nontheist Jex Blackmore on The Satanic Temple and allegation of sexual harassment

See also: Atheism and sexism and Atheism and rape and Atheism and women

The nontheist Jex Blackmore, who had been a national spokesperson for TST, wrote about The Satanic Temple and sexual harassment:

“

As one of the few visible and prominent female voices in TST, I endured countless threats, harassment, and violations... Over the years, members and chapter heads have requested and proposed the implementation of a gender, sexual, and racial diversity policy to ensure equity within TST leadership and alignment to the mission. The demand was not simply ignored but completely dismissed. The demand was not hollow; there was a clear and pressing need for this policy. While I was part of the organization, I witnessed male members of the organization exploit their position and influence to behave inappropriately and disrespectfully towards women. I myself experienced harassment and abuse from members who have now left the organization. I was not supported by leadership during these times, but was asked to let it all “blow over.”

”

Atheist feminism related online schism

See also: Atheist factions and Atheists and antisocial behavior

Rebecca Watson

Elevatorgate is a term commonly used to describe a 2011 controversy involving New Atheist Richard Dawkins' comments made to atheist Rebecca Watson which are perceived to have been inappropriate by a sizable portion of the atheist community and to the public at large. Watson is a feminist.

The forerunner of the feminist Atheism plus movement was the online Elevatorgate controversy.

The Guardian wrote about Atheism plus and the reaction of many atheists on the internet:

“

In the passionate world of American atheism, the venom usually directed at believers has now been turned against the wrong kind of atheists... It took 700 years from Constantine renaming Byzantium in his own honour to papal legates circulating letters of anathema that split the Roman and Orthodox churches. Atheism, in its public, online life, has started exchanging internet anathemas – perhaps we should call them inathemas – in little more than a decade.

”

Post Elevatorgate and Atheism plus, the conflict between atheist feminism and anti-feminism atheists continues. Two of the most anti-feminism atheists are YouTube atheists Thunderf00t and TheAmazingAtheist.

See also

• Internet atheism
• Atheism and sexism
• Atheism and rape
• Atheist feminism
• Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world