atheism

I do not see atheism as a male-dominated viewpoint from my anecdotal experience and personal contacts. Draven the Respectful Atheist http://dravenwriter.blogspot.com

I'm a female atheist myself. Predominantly, most of my male friends are atheists as well. The possibilities of females not engaging into such a controversial minority is because throughout history there were gender barriers between males and their counterparts. Todays society still does not fully accept female rights and other issues like atheism etc. to be both of those is really asking for the gallows. Plus I think males are just more expressive regarding issues like that.

The board I visit most, when I'm not on mylot, is an atheist parents' board. There are about 60-80 mothers who post there regularly and 2 fathers. So in my anecdotal experience it's the opposite. I realize that anecdotal evidence doesn't count for much, but atheist women are not such a rarity. Most of my close friends in the real world are female and atheist too.

I think that atheism used to be a "male" thing, but it is part of the past. I think that it is originated from the education that women received and was, until some time ago, far inferior and preconceptuous than men. It makes no one better or worse because of it.

I understand the question about who's an atheist and why... It's what research is all about, and it helps us form connections about the world, possible solutions to social issues or just satisfy curiosity, etc. I do not understand the "better or worse" part of the question. Why is there a need to label the different genders "better" or "worse"? That would be like saying, "In my experience, there are more white atheists than black atheists. Why are African Americans, in general, more religious?" --These are decent questions up to here, but there is no reason to then jump to -- "So who's better, whites or blacks?" Or, "Who's worse?" Hopefully most people in this day and age can agree that races are not better or worse than each other, and I don't see why the question of a better or worse gender should come up either. I'm not saying that there isn't a difference... I think there probably is. But we should be more interested in the reasons why, not trying to prove one group is better or worse than another group.

I don't know if it is just a male thing. I have an acquaintance in New York that is an atheist, and that person is female. We have a loud mouthed Atheist here in Illinois that causes all sorts of problems with the areas around here. He forced the town of Zion, Illnois to change the city emblem to something that didn't involve the belief in God. I think if one is an atheist, just as if one is Christian, Muslim, Jewish....etc., one should not try to enforce his/her beliefs or lack of beliefs on others. As far as what causes one to become an atheist, it could be several things. Perhaps something bad happened to the person and they thought God had forsaken them and thought that if there were a God, God wouldn't have let the bad thing happen. Or perhaps they were raised and taught the non-existence of God or a Higher Power. Males better than Females? Society has thought males deserve better pay for the same job for years. But, what does society really know anyway??

I'm usually pretty loathe to say that anything is a "male" or a "female" thing, because I know way too many people that are atypical for their gender, myself included. However, technically I have known more males than females who are atheist, and I think part of it is simply that fact that more females are afraid of not belonging to a community. Faith creates a community, and it can be scary not to be a part of that. Moreover, even people who aren't particularly religious themselves usually claim to believe something even if they don't actively participate in a religion, and are intolerant of atheists. I don't believe that differences between gender make anyone better or worse. Of course, neither do I believe that religion or lack thereof does so. The fact that I have religious beliefs doesn't mean that I can't be friends with people who don't, or people whose beliefs are different that mine. Nor does the fact that I am technically female guarantee anything about my personality or beliefs.