That said, there are always problems with being a lone female in a large group of men. Men tune women out. It’s next to impossible to get a word in edgewise in a group of males.
Or in a group of geek males–they stammer a lot.

This is a pretty good illustration of the problem:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071201883.html

I think its quite simple and staring us in the face why more women arent Atheists. Most of us go through and have to find a way out of, the indoctrination process. This process is designed towards the subservience of women, it is considered highly unseemly to have a dsifferent opinion, especially within Church dominated communities as we are the holders of much of the responsibility for the nurturing of children to perpetuate the dogma.

Woman is assigned the role of nurturer from a young age and to defy the precepts of whichever religion in this matter, elicits much disaprobation within said communities. The whole thing, right from the Adam and Eve story, is designed to keep women in their place and has been most effective for quite a long time.

Generations of women have lived in subservient fear and Atheism is one of the biggest taboos, or rather, fears, of organised religion. If they lose this stranglehold on women then how else are they to continue the process of indoctrination from the cradle onwards? especially since the improvements in the education systems whereby bias is becoming increasingly removed.

The cheif weapon, as I see it, of the fundamentalists, are us women, they keep us cosseted and on pedastals for the most part, and this, in the guise of ‘protection’ and ‘for our own good’ and ‘there there, dont worry your pretty little head about it’ or ‘dont let the neighbours hear you saying that, the priest/pastor/vicar/mullah/rabbi – et al, will throw us out of the congregation’.

Something which has been so painstaking inbred for centuries isnt going to be overcome overnight. I am heartened to hear that there so many men getting involved because as sure as night follows day, the women will be making their way over – it is the human condition (as opposed to conditioning haha).

Keep up the good fight people and simply – Thank You………………

in the past i have affiliated myself with libertarian party get togethers but have decided that there’s an unpleasant amount of whining and bickering and in-your-face-ism going on there over every little detail; and the guys all seem to think (except for the religious ones – and they’re a whole different story!) that if a woman wants to have a child, that’s her problem, she should feel lucky if a guy is willing to give her a *** once in a while.

My daughter got herself a mildly religious guy, and I’m inclined to think it (at the present time) not a bad deal. I have actually developed some sympathy for that that bumper sticker i’ve seen on the freeway: “Real mean love jesus” (not just their wallets or their obnoxious self images).

Hey, let me know if you are aware of any ag- to a-theistic people in the seattle area who are interested in discussing books and movies and just having fun, etc. thx – kay

_____

PS – my younger sister Ke, who is an emotional mess, says that when our mother – lo these many years ago, declared herself an agnostic, Ke figured it gave her the freedom to do whatever she felt like doing.

My own experience with accepting my a-orientation (first agnosticism, and then atheism – after having grown up in the methodist church) was quite different. As maddening as my mother could be, i knew that i loved her, she loved me, and i loved my sisters, and not believing in god didn’t change that. But i have found that a lot of atheists do in fact believe and behave in ways that indicate a-morality as well; and of course the christian/religious view is how can people possibly behave morally without big old great-grandpa in the sky waving his stick, ready to spank and with explicit text explaining exactly how you should and should not behave.

i’m willing to look further than Ayn Rand for descriptions of how atheists accomplish morality; but have a strong feeling that a large part of it is parents teaching their kids that they (both parents and kids) arent the center of the universe, and that you can’t expect other people to treat you any better than you treat them (or to paraphrase the book title – we learn most of what we need to know about morality by the time we enter kindergarten). Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.

But all this tells me is that male atheists can be as silly as any other kind. Of male, I mean.

And, okay, I’ll admit, we females can be just as bad. I admit to panting in my own blog over the likes of Penn Jillette. ;-P

Nica Lalli

Found your blog today, was glad I did.

I’d guess married women with kids are less likely to have the time to attend something like the convention. Not that married men are more likely to be working and have kids but they seem more apt to take time for themselves.

This is a major factor in the gender ratio at Christian conferences too. That’s why the ministry conference I’m planning for this summer (which Hemant will be speaking at) will offer free babysitting for families. We want to encourage more moms to attend.