Difference between revisions of "Atheism and sexism"
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Companies need not bother with subtlety in job advertisements. A maker of security cameras seeks sales managers: No women need apply. A company that sells box cutters is looking for a human resources manager: male, age 25 to 35.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/21/world/asia/china-women-lag-in-work-force-especially-in-top-jobs.html?_r=0 In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push Against Women] by DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW and MICHAEL FORSYTHE, ''New York Times'', FEB. 20, 2015</ref>}} | Companies need not bother with subtlety in job advertisements. A maker of security cameras seeks sales managers: No women need apply. A company that sells box cutters is looking for a human resources manager: male, age 25 to 35.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/21/world/asia/china-women-lag-in-work-force-especially-in-top-jobs.html?_r=0 In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push Against Women] by DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW and MICHAEL FORSYTHE, ''New York Times'', FEB. 20, 2015</ref>}} | ||
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+ | == Atheist feminism == | ||
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+ | See: [[Atheist feminism]] | ||
== See also == | == See also == |
Revision as of 02:02, June 4, 2016
The atheist population is skewed towards having more men than women (see: Atheism and women). In addition, racial minorities in the Western World are underrepresented within the atheist population (see: Western atheism and race).
Atheist women currently experience a considerable amount of sexism and harassment from atheist men. For example, in 2014, the prominent atheist PZ Myers said of fellow New Atheist Richard Dawkins' attitude towards women: "At a time when our movement needs to expand its reach, it’s a tragedy that our most eminent spokesman has so enthusiastically expressed such a regressive attitude.”[1] In 2014, the prominent New Atheist Sam Harris said that atheist activism lacks an “estrogen vibe” and was “to some degree intrinsically male”.[2]
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.[3] | ” |
Katie Engelhart in her July 21, 2013 Salon article Atheism Has a Women Problem wrote:
“ | Around the time that the Dawkins-Hitchens-Harris tripartite published its big wave of Atheist critique, historian Jennifer Michael Hecht published “ Doubt” and journalist Susan Jacoby published “ Freethinkers“—both critically acclaimed. And yet, these women, and many others, failed to emerge as public figures, household names. “Nobody talked about [Doubt] as a ‘phenomenon,’” Hecht has noted. “They just talked about the book.” What gives?
The lady Atheist has a troubled history....[4] |
” |
Contents
- 1 Melody Hensley and harassment from atheist men
- 2 Rebecca Watson and harassment from atheist men post Elevatorgate
- 3 Sam Harris and charges of misogny
- 4 Atheism and the sexual exploitation of women and children
- 5 Godless China and gender discrimination
- 6 Atheist feminism
- 7 See also
- 8 External links
- 9 Notes
Melody Hensley and harassment from atheist men
On May 15, 2014, the Washington Post reported that Melody Hensley, executive director of the Washington branch of the Center For Inquiry, was "diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after a vicious flood of online and social media attacks that included threats of rape, murder and photographs of dismembered women. Many of her harassers, she believes, are men in the secular community."[5]
Rebecca Watson and harassment from atheist men post Elevatorgate
Post Elevatorgate controversy, at an atheist convention, Rebecca Watson claimed:
“ | Hundreds of atheists have informed me that either they wanted to rape me, someone should rape me so that I will loosen up or that no one would ever rape me because I am so ugly".[6] | ” |
In July of 2012, Watson declared: "It get regular rape threats. I get regular rape and murder threats".[7] Furthermore, in August of 2013, Rebecca Watson said that post Elevatorgate she received a flood of rape threats and she continues to receive rape threats (see: Atheism and rape).[8]
Additional information
For more information please see:
Sam Harris and charges of misogny
Like his fellow new atheist Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris has raised the ire of feminists.[9][10][11]
In 2014, Harris said that atheist activism lacks an “estrogen vibe” and was “to some degree intrinsically male”.[12]
On October 3, 2014, Salon magazine published an online article titled, Atheism’s shocking woman problem: What’s behind the misogyny of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris?[13] On September 20 2014, the feminist blogger Libby Anne wrote an article entitled Is Sam Harris Sexist?[14] Atheist Sam Fincke wrote a piece entitled On Sam Harris’s Reply to Feminist Critics.[15]
In his defense, Harris published an article on his website titled, “I’m Not the Sexist Pig You’re Looking For”[16]
Atheism and the sexual exploitation of women and children
The infamous pornographers Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt are both atheists.[19] [20][21]
In 2003, Arena magazine magazine listed Flynt as #1 on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list.[22] Flynt is paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained from a 1978 assassination attempt by the serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.[23][24]
For more information, please see: Atheism and pornography
Barna Group study
The Barna Group found that atheists and agnostics in America were more likely, than theists in America, to look upon the following behaviors as morally acceptable: pornography; obscene sexual behavior; illegal drug use; excessive drinking; sexual relationships outside of marriage; abortion; cohabitating with someone of opposite sex outside of marriage and obscene language.[25]
For more information, please see: Atheism and pornography
Atheism and child pornography
See also: Atheism and child pornography
Historically, atheistic societies/individuals have played a significant role in the production and usage of child pornography (See: Atheism and child pornography).
Godless China and gender discrimination
See also: China, atheism and gender discrimination
China has the world's largest atheist population.[27][28]
The current atheist population mostly resides in East Asia (particularly China) and in secular Europe/Australia primarily among whites.[29] See: Western atheism and race
The New York Times reported:
“ | Chinese women are losing ground in the work force compared with men, their representation falling steadily with each rung up the professional ladder. Women make up 44.7 percent of the work force, but just 25.1 percent of people with positions of “responsibility,” according to China’s 2010 census.
At the very top, their share falls still further. According to corporate records examined by The New York Times, fewer than 1 in 10 board members of China’s top 300 companies are women. That measure, significantly smaller than the proportion of women on corporate boards in the United States... “Chinese law doesn’t define gender discrimination, so how do you even argue a case?” he asked. “It’s very, very difficult to get one into court.” Companies need not bother with subtlety in job advertisements. A maker of security cameras seeks sales managers: No women need apply. A company that sells box cutters is looking for a human resources manager: male, age 25 to 35.[30] |
” |
Atheist feminism
See: Atheist feminism
See also
External links
- Will Misogyny Bring Down The Atheist Movement? by Mark Oppenheimer
- Do atheists have a sexism problem?
- Militant atheism, organized skepticism and immorality: misogyny and sexism
- Elevatorgate and atheist sexism
- Sexism and the New Atheism
- Of sexism and atheism: Richard Dawkins gets in trouble with feminists
Notes
- ↑ Richard Dawkins has lost it: ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name by Adam Lee, The Guardian, September 18, 2014
- ↑ Richard Dawkins has lost it: ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name by Adam Lee, The Guardian, September 18, 2014
- ↑ Why the New Atheism is a boys' club
- ↑ Katie Engelhart, July 21, 2013 - Salon article Atheism Has a Women Problem
- ↑ Women in secularism: Got a problem with that?
- ↑ PZ Myers and the Art of Shameless Dishonesty
- ↑ FreeThoughtBlogs and PZ Myers
- ↑ Sikivu, Ophelia, and Rebecca — who says atheism lacks women stars?
- ↑ Atheism’s shocking woman problem: What’s behind the misogyny of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris? by Amanda Marcotte, Salon magazine, October 3, 2014
- ↑ Is Sam Harris Sexist? by Libby Anne at the blog Love, Joy, Feminism, September 20, 2014
- ↑ Atheist writer Sam Harris faces backlash over 'estrogen vibe' comments by Heather Tomlinson, Christianity Today, September 17, 2014
- ↑ Atheist writer Sam Harris faces backlash over 'estrogen vibe' comments by Heather Tomlinson, Christianity Today, September 17, 2014
- ↑ Atheism’s shocking woman problem: What’s behind the misogyny of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris? by Amanda Marcotte, Salon magazine, October 3, 2014
- ↑ Is Sam Harris Sexist? by Libby Anne at the blog Love, Joy, Feminism, September 20, 2014
- ↑ On Sam Harris’s Reply to Feminist Critics by Daniel Fincke, September 16, 2014
- ↑ “I’m Not the Sexist Pig You’re Looking For” by Sam Harris, September 15, 2014
- ↑ Flynt writes, "I have left my religious conversion behind and settled into a comfortable state of atheism": see the epilogue of Flynt and Ross
- ↑ "I am not saying he don't believe in God. I am just saying I don't believe in God. That puts me at odds with him." Larry King Live, January 10, 1996
- ↑ 10 celebs you didn't know were atheists, Salon 2-23-2010
- ↑ Flynt writes, "I have left my religious conversion behind and settled into a comfortable state of atheism": see the epilogue of Flynt and Ross
- ↑ "I am not saying he don't believe in God. I am just saying I don't believe in God. That puts me at odds with him." Larry King Live, January 10, 1996
- ↑ [http://www.onenewspage.us/people/ms9j0/Larry-Flynt.htm Larry Flynt - One News Page
- ↑ Flynt and Ross, pp. 170–171.
- ↑ [http://www.onenewspage.us/people/ms9j0/Larry-Flynt.htm Larry Flynt - One News Page
- ↑ http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/58-practical-outcomes-replace-biblical-principles-as-the-moral-standard
- ↑ In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push Against Women by DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW and MICHAEL FORSYTHE, New York Times, FEB. 20, 2015
- ↑ Top 50 Countries With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics (Zuckerman, 2005)
- ↑ A surprising map of where the world’s atheists live, Washington Post By Max Fisher and Caitlin Dewey May 23, 2013
- ↑ A surprising map of where the world’s atheists live, By Max Fisher and Caitlin Dewey, Washington Post, May 23, 2013
- ↑ In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push Against Women by DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW and MICHAEL FORSYTHE, New York Times, FEB. 20, 2015