Battle of the Sexes

I guess I’ve written on this in the past tangentially, but over on Atheist Revolution, he’s handled it a couple of times and I thought that I ought to step in and examine it more in depth.  The question is, why are there more male atheists than female atheists and are female atheists being “abused” because they are female?

Whether people like it or not, the modern atheism “club” is very male dominated.  I’m sure there are a lot of variables at play, but philosophical activism has traditionally been a very male-dominated activity.  It may have something to do with traditional gender roles casting women as more emotional and less critical thinking, which is why religion tends to be more female dominated.  Lots of women don’t like to be very confrontational, which organized atheism tends to be.  Yes, I know I’m generalizing, but I think these are a few elements which contribute to the disparity.  Whatever the reason, this is the reality of the modern atheist movement.

Some atheist women though, just don’t like it.  They claim they’re unhappy with being ignored and hit on, etc.  They claim there is sexism inherent in the atheist movement.  I just don’t see it though.  What there is isn’t sexism, it’s reality.  Women, like it or not, are hit on every day in normal life.  They might not like it, they might be offended by it, but why they think that hanging out with a particular group of people ought to offer them a haven from it is beyond me.  Atheists only have a single thing in common, a lack of belief in god(s).  It doesn’t make them any more socially conscious.  It doesn’t make them inherently better people.  Why pretend otherwise?

This seems to be primarily about what happens at atheist conventions and meetings and I don’t think most atheists really understand convention culture.  Conventions, and it doesn’t matter what kind of convention it is, tend to bring out the worst in some people.  Conventions are a place people go to relax and have fun and let their inhibitions down.  There is a certain percentage of people, especially males, who go specifically to try to get laid.  This is true at business conventions, science fiction conventions and yes, atheist conventions.  I’m sure it happens at religious conventions as well.  While a lot of us might argue that’s pretty pathetic, it’s also the case and there probably isn’t anything anyone can do to stop it.  One con I went to back in the 80s had such a problem that they had to print guidelines in their convention guide about how not to rape someone.  Seriously.

I don’t think that female atheists are being particularly abused though.  Sure, some of them might be uncomfortable with how they are treated and frankly, I can’t say I blame them, but when you are a part of a highly male dominated group, this kind of thing will happen.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s a good thing or ought to be acceptable, I’m saying that’s how it is and it’s certainly not restricted to atheism.

The other issue that I saw is that “prominent female atheists are not getting the same level of respect and/or attention as prominent male atheists”.  Um… okay.  Seems like serious ego-stroking material there.  Who is to say what “prominent” means?  Is Greta Christina as prominent as Richard Dawkins?  Or P.Z. Myers?  I don’t think so.  Complaining that she doesn’t get as much attention, or as big an audience, as the other two seems a bit silly.  That’s not to say she isn’t prominent or popular, just not as prominent or popular as others.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that female atheists can’t be just as interesting as male atheists, or that they may not have an important message to convey, but who has written all the influential books?  Men.  Who are the important scientists and philosophers of the atheist movement?  Men.  Is it fair to ask that women, simply because of their gender, get equal interest with people who have actually produced much more for the atheist movement?  I don’t think so.  Come on back when you have a bestselling female author of atheist books and we’ll see how much interest she generates.  I’m sure it will be comparable.

You have to keep in mind that this isn’t just a male thing.  In many female-dominated activities, the same thing happens when a male tries to get involved.  I’ve gone to a few stitching shows with my wife over the years and, to be honest, I was one of the few men in the place.  I don’t think I was ever leered at or anything like that, but it certainly wasn’t a comfortable feeling.  I’m sure that the relatively few men who get into cross-stitching and quilting feel like outsiders because of their gender too.

Another difference that’s been brought up in the past is the lack of black atheists.  It tends to be a white boy’s club.  Does that make atheism racist?  Of course not.  Nobody is stopping black atheists or asian atheists or hispanic atheists from taking part, any more than anyone is stopping female atheists from jumping on the bandwagon, it’s just a difference in culture that stops most of them from joining up.  The idea that somehow atheism has failed because certain groups are not more involved seems silly.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that a lot of atheist bloggers who are making a big deal of this seem to think that atheists just have to be better than everyone else in everything they do.  That’s just not realistic.  Atheism is the answer to a single question, nothing more.  Atheists don’t have to agree on anything else, they don’t have to be social paragons of virtue, they don’t have to be socially conscious, they don’t have to be anything but non-believers.  So why are atheists being held to a higher standard?  Why don’t we accept that atheists are just people and that people act like people act?  Leave it at that.  If people feel uncomfortable, they need to decide if their comfort is more important to them than being a part of the community.  If it is, leave.  Start your own community.  Don’t run around whining about how unfair it is.  Nobody said life was fair.  You can’t expect the atheist  community to be any different than the world at large.  Until the world at large becomes entirely non-sexist, and that’s a great goal BTW, then stop pretending atheists are magically  going to be better.

We’re just people.  Deal.