‘Atheism is not the problem. The problem is being a woman’. Atheist women and reasonable feminism

Trzebiatowska, Marta

doi:10.1080/09589236.2018.1523053

Cited by 75 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…One can explain this gender imbalance by the fact that the women were stronger, and even militant, in their statements because Catholicism as a gender-traditional religion essentializes differences between men and women and promotes submission of the latter (Trzebiatowska 2019). Also, the presented results confirm what social surveys show: young women in Poland are generally more progressive than young men (see Pacewicz 2019).…”

Section: Against Hypocrisy and Conformismsupporting

confidence: 75%

In Search of Authenticity: Humanist Weddings in the Polish Context

Rejowska

2022

Religions

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The post-1989 transformation in Poland entailed not only institutional change, but also an ideational shift. Among other things, this ideational shift gave rise to a growing emphasis on individual autonomy, expressive values, and secularization, which has had an impact on the means of symbolic communication (e.g., rituals) and prepared the ground for the emergence of humanist marriage ceremonies in Poland. The secularization process has gradually undermined the taken-for-granted character of some religious practices, such as rites of passage. Additionally, with the increased focus on authenticity rather than on accuracy in the usage of some pre-stipulated scripts, social actors often tend to replace “ossified” meanings that are communicated through rituals with new meanings, which are perceived as more relevant. This paper sheds light on the issue of authenticity, which is an important category in studies of symbolic, ritual-like actions. Perceptions of authenticity were recurring themes during interviews conducted with couples who decided on a humanist wedding ceremony in Poland. Interviewees often asserted that they rejected the dominant Catholic rite because they perceived it as inauthentic.

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Section: Against Hypocrisy and Conformismsupporting

confidence: 75%

In Search of Authenticity: Humanist Weddings in the Polish Context

Rejowska

2022

Religions

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“…Anti-Atheist Discrimination and Atheist Identity Among Women. Like atheists in Smith's (2011) study of atheist identity formation and atheist women in Trzebiatowska's (2019) interviews, women in the present study found liberation in their atheism, in a general sense and with regard to gendered limitations of patriarchal, Christian hegemony.…”

Section: Atheism As a Concealable Stigmatized Identity Among Womensupporting

confidence: 46%

“…Indeed, Frost et al (2022) found women were more likely to conceal their atheism as compared to men. In a cross-national study of feminist, atheist women, participants described methods of making their atheism and feminism palatable to others, thus avoiding aggression and balancing femininity (Trzebiatowska, 2019).…”

Section: Anti-atheist Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study of Atheist Women in the United States

Abbott

Anaya

2022

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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Using a critical, grounded theory approach, we interviewed 31 atheist-identified women to ascertain the ways in which women develop and navigate an atheist identity and how their experience is influenced by patriarchal, hegemonic Christianity in the United States using a concealable stigmatized identity framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in six core categories: (1) Embracing Atheism as Liberation, (2) Escaping Christian Patriarchy, Challenging Atheist Patriarchy, (3) Low Identity Salience Provides Protection from Anti-Atheist Discrimination, (4) Expectations to Conform to Christian Norms, (5) Disclosure Requires Thoughtfulness and Purpose, and (6) Connecting with Other Atheists is Valuable and Elusive. Although atheist women experienced sexism within atheist communities that made connecting with other atheists challenging, participants viewed atheism as liberating them from religious patriarchy. Anti-atheist discrimination was common early in women’s atheist identity development, but not as frequent or salient over time. Rather, Christian hegemony and the expectation to adapt to Christian norms were more distressing than individual acts of anti-atheist discrimination. Therefore, concealment and disclosure were used to reduce personal discomfort and protect others’ feelings, rather than to avoid overt anti-atheist stigma. Integration with previous concealable stigmatized identity and atheism literature is discussed. In the interest of more equitable and healthy atheist communities for women atheists, community members and leaders are encouraged to dismantle patriarchy within secular organizations and center women’s voices and experiences. Clinicians and researchers can increase awareness of how hegemonic, patriarchal Christianity influences their professional work and the women they serve and eradicate such bias from their methods.

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“…Everything Dawkins considers anti-science and not conforming to the Truth is in his list of enemies. Both he and Dennett represent a new intellectual type and activ-3 There are many others who have analysed in detail the difficult relationship between the New Atheists and feminism (Beattie 2007;Brandt 2019;Stinson et al 2013;Trzebiatowska 2018) and those who analyse more generally the idea that Muslim women need saving by the West (Abu-Lughod 2013). 4 As Aaron Hughes notes, however, essentializing is not far from the commentators who emphasize that 'true Islam' is something other than the distorted militant hijacking of Islam that is practically 'synonymous with feminism, ecology, gender equality, LGBTQ2S rights, and the like' (Hughes 2021, 13).…”

Section: World Politics Human Rights and Islam's Perceived Problem Wi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

New Atheism and the Criticism of Islam

Taira

2024

Temenos

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One of the ideas in the debates concerning anti-Islamic activities is that atheists, especially prominent celebrity atheists – commonly known as ‘New Atheists’ – have provided support and justification for anti-Islamic attitudes and activities. Given that Sam Harris, one of the so-called New Atheists, stated that he started writing his first book, The End of Faith (2004), immediately after the 9/11 attacks, criticism of Islam is expected to be prevalent among some atheists. The more interesting questions, however, concern what kind of criticism there is, how to make sense of its reasons and motivations, whether it dominates the New Atheist agenda (as some argue), and whether the criticism has been somehow influential in various localities. In examining New Atheist publications and their possible presence at the local level, particularly in Finland, this article suggests that an exceptionally pronounced anti-Islamic approach applies mainly to Harris rather than to New Atheism as a whole. Instead, several other significant aspects come into play, highlighted by other New Atheists, and this is largely true of local atheist activism too. Thus, while a weak link between New Atheists and anti-Islamic activities can be made because of their promotion of strong criticism of religion, New Atheism is not the key to understanding such activities, at least in the Finnish context.

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‘Atheism is not the problem. The problem is being a woman’. Atheist women and reasonable feminism

Cited by 75 publications

References 33 publications

In Search of Authenticity: Humanist Weddings in the Polish Context

In Search of Authenticity: Humanist Weddings in the Polish Context

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study of Atheist Women in the United States

New Atheism and the Criticism of Islam

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