Where Are All the Women Atheists? 6 Places You Can Find Them

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4. LGBT/sex-positivity. The world of people trying to promote a more holistic, inclusive, pleasure-centered view of human sexuality also happens to produce a bunch of non-believers. Little wonder, when the religious right is the most powerful force in the country trying to force anti-sex, anti-gay, anti-trans views on the public, often through legislation. For those who read freethinking blogs, then, there’s a world of wonderful writing about embracing sexuality and human diversity. Examples:  Greta Christina, Zinnia Jones, Heina Dadabhoy.

5. Progressive powerhouses. These are women who take it all on, all the time: Sexism, racism, economic inequality, foreign policy, you name it. They view religious oppression as part of a larger constellation of oppressive forces, as do many activists, but they often put more of a priority on speaking out against religion than do many other similarly constituted activists. To read their work is to take in a wide-ranging scope of topics, but a skeptical eye toward religion is never far from the surface. These women should be considered leaders for their clear-headed view of how secular values fit into a larger progressive agenda:  Jamila Bey, Maryam Namazie, Sikivu Hutchinson.

6. Philosophical sorts. Since atheism and secularism are rooted in asking questions and being skeptical, it should be no surprise that many of the women who write and speak about it are big-picture thinkers, who like to incorporate history and philosophy into their work. Indeed, while the atheists who get the most media attention for their big books of atheist thought are men, some of the most important people detailing the history of secularism and working out the implications of free thought in their work are women:  Ophelia Benson, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Susan Jacoby.  

Atheists are commonly accused of being “just like” fundamentalists, by which critics presumably mean singularly focused on non-belief in the same way fundamentalists structure their lives around religion. Actually engaging with outspoken atheists and secular activists, however, tells a different story. Most of them see themselves as atheists plus something else: Atheists plus historians, scientists, feminists, progressive activists, LGBT activist, public educators. In fact, most of the women on this list fall into multiple categories, and even the above categories are limiting. You have feminists who are also science educators, scientists who are also progressive activists, progressive activists who are also philosophers, and philosophers who are also feminists.

Unfortunately, for some reason, all these categories tend to obscure that fact that these women are secularists, atheists and humanist leaders in their own right and should be treated as such. So if you want to find out where the female atheist leaders are, just look for the ladies organizing gay pride events while writing articles about popular science and promoting the history of freethought. They’re there, once you start looking for them.