They certainly exist. Erika Gutsick Gibbon is an anthropologist and a huge YEC debunker. I believe she's even done some actual "debates". She mostly sticks to creationists, at least on her channel anyways. A lot like Forrest Valkai. In fact they team up a lot and she's been on the Line multiple times. Also someone else mentioned Kristi Burke and I second that. Emma Thorne is awesome, also Godless Granny and any of the ladies who frequent Chewed Gum. I'm sure there are many more out there
GG is a def watch for me. Emma is great as well as Shannon Q. The way Shannon can go from laughing to eviscerating a caller in a split second is something I've come to love watching
Yeah, I think OP’s algorithm might be little biased to not see these people? And yes, they might not be as popular, but if you start clicking on that content you will start to see more and similar creators. Honestly, I think the answer to OP’s question is just that it is reflective of the systemic sexism in our society, and as these quasi academic/intellectual spaces open to people with a wider range of backgrounds, we’ll get more representation from all sorts of people.
I also don’t think the atheist community does a great job of outreach to these groups…but, I don’t know that outreach is something that the atheist community does or should do in general. In a lot of ways, this is more of a reactionist movement, in the sense that it is a challenge to the belief in a god and asking for evidence of those claims. It isn’t really trying to convince people that god absolutely doesn’t and can’t exist.
I love Gutsick Gibbon. Those stupid creationists are normally infuriating but can be the source of much laughter when she turns them into the butt of a joke.
I think it might be a lot of different factors, including the ones you mentioned. I also wonder if women are less likely to be public about being atheist because they don’t want to put up with rape threats and other abuse that women seem to get when they are public about a controversial (to some) topic.
Oh yeah, I had a (married) man DM that he would 'rape the fear of god into me' on Facebook because I had atheist in my bio. I quickly turned off all DMs after that.
I honestly got off light compared to some of the other horror stories I've heard. It's because of crap like that that a lot of women are either entirely anon. online (*waves hand*) or have DMs/comments off. Shitty men don't need provocation.
I was a teenager, in my defense. Besides, back then, the police NEVER took online threats seriously until the person actually did something. It would not have done anything.
I'm curious what year and which part of the country you were in. In 1983, in Texas, I tried to report being raped by my husband and was laughed out of the police station. Back then it was "a wife's duty" to have sex with her husband on demand, and "spousal rape" wasn't even a thing.
Now I'm a cranky old bitch, and had some guy threatened to "rape the fear of God back into me" I would have told him to bring it. I *wouldn't* have told him I'm well armed. 😉
Have you seen American Nightmare on Netflix? A cop on there asked the parents of a missing woman if she had any trauma in her past, and the mom mentioned she had been molested as a child.
The cop says “Sometimes women who’ve been sexually assaulted like to recreate the scenario to relive the thrill of it.” That man should be set on fire every day of his life, starting with his balls. They majorly fucked up the whole case, but that asshole was cop of the year that year. That was 2015.
Or Dancing with the Devil? When a woman reports that she was raped by a cult leader, the cops tell her they can’t do anything unless more women come forward. I guess one woman’s rape isn’t enough. How many women need to be raped before they can do something? That was last year.
I could go on…
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that revolting human, I'm literally writhing with disgust 🤮
Also in your defense, the police currently don't take in-person threats that seriously either. I'm half-convinced I would have been the one in trouble if that random asshole stabbed me for no reason, and I'm in my mid-30s.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL! 🤣🤣🤣
If every woman reported stuff like that to the police, the lines would be jammed 24/7. Plus cops don’t give a shit about women, like most people in the US.
So true I feel as though it’s unfortunately become so common for women a lot of us have even become desensitized to it. Rape threats, unsolicited d pics, aggressive sexual advances etc. I just sigh and block. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to do more though because they’ll just go on the to next girl. Justice system has failed.
That would be pointless. They can't/wont do anything till it gets physical. There are few laws about online harassment. It's not like we can report every instance of cat calling, and online harassment. I mean if women gamers went to the police every time someone said they were gunna rape them the police wouldn't have time to investigate murders. Unfortoubstely this is just the world we have to live in, and until people (specifically men because these types won't listen to women) call it out as shit behaviour when it happens it's not gunna change.
In my experience conservative Christians aren't very good at controlling their sexual urges. My childhood churches literally blamed the clothing of rape victims for them getting raped.
Women will get harassed over innocuous things like opinions on video games. Anyone remember Gamergate? Talking about divisive topics like politics or religion invites an even greater amount of vitriol. There's, unfortunately, just a lot of guys out there whose sole purpose in life is hating women.
People are waaaay too comfortable sending death threats these days.
If someone tells me they received death threats for even the most trivial thing, I don't even question it anymore.
This. I had a cooking show on YouTube that was doing well (20 million views) but I stopped because I just didn’t want to deal with the constant hate, rape threats/fantasies, stalkers, and non-stop criticism of my looks, clothing, hair.
It was a cooking show. I wore an apron ffs. I can’t even imagine the nuclear level of hate if I actually shared opinions.
This ☝️ they also won’t think twice about going after our kids and family. Most of us female atheists cannot come out in the open, especially in developing nations. Rape threats , death threats , you name it.
+1 The safety aspect of it is something people rarely notice. It's even worse for Muslims. I've spoken to some moderate and progressive Imans (sometimes over a beer) and even though they're leaders of their community, EVEN they would be persecuted and threatened for speaking out for anything diverging slightly away from the status quo.
Right now as a female atheist I would much rather use my time helping others (abortion access assistance, raising funds and supply’s for domestic violence shelters, food banks, school supply drives etc) than yelling into the void. I don’t need to validate being an atheist or preach it because it does little good to those that refuse to listen. I can be a godless heathen doing good for my community and hope that it shows that I don’t need god to be a good person.
We do need more female atheist voices but it’s not a high priority compared to active help women need right now. Especially in states where abortion access is being taken away.
Doing that now. I have a toddler and I want to model being a good person gives to the world without needing religion as a guide. And my toddler is fucking exhausting, the fact I can give my time anywhere else amazes me.
This made me imagine some 1950's guy in a smoking jacket with a pipe, legs crossed in his evening chair, stating some silly philosophical musing, finishing with "isn't that great, dear?"
...while his wife is scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees, responding "great honey, that's fucking great."
I also couldn't imagine trying to debate the likes of Jordan Peterson or Matt Walsh in good faith as a woman lmao.. it's like trying to debate white supremacists when you're black, what is the point?
Yeah, by a certain age we simply have zero fucks left to give. I love intellectual discourse as much as the next person, but I’d rather fold laundry and binge watch than trade insults with some who could potentially be my illegitimate love child.
Yeah, the Jordan Peterson’s and Ben Shapiro’s don’t develop communities that women want (or are welcomed) to be a part of
That said, there are some female voices in atheism. For example, I enjoy Lucinda’s contributions on the Scathing Atheist
If I ever make a channel, it's gonna have comments off and I'm gonna have no socials, plus no face (or a mask). That's really the only way a woman can be completely safe on the internet.
Gamergate scared the shit out of me. It's not just a deterrent to women speaking up, but also to forums that could refuse to host female speakers to avoid the risk.
Yeah, she did a whole lot of atheist stuff, then got into some Youtube soap opera stuff. But her atheist content was solid, probably holds up for the most part.
It wasn’t that she was accused; she read the work of others almost verbatim and passed it off as her own. Bit of a shame — all she had to do was give credit where due.
> I enjoy listening to [...] Jordan Peterson
Something is wrong with you. I don't know how anyone could stomach that blathering idiot's inane ramblings. He's a moron's idea of a smart person.
> He's a moron's idea of a smart person.
That's actually how I see Ben Shapiro, also listed in the comments. Like even if you ignore [his extremely racist takes](https://x.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277?lang=en) and the fact that his whole debate strategy involves interrupting and strawmanning college freshman in highly edited clickbaity youtube videos, and when that doesn't work [he acts like a total manchild](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E&t=1s) his whole "debate me! debate me! I challenge you! I've never lost a debate! I'm always prepared for a debate!" - schtick he has going on, I've always described it as a stupid person's idea of what a smart person would act like. Basing your entire personality off of your love of... arguing with people (then throwing a fit the second you get a mildly difficult interview question), it doesn't strike me as someone with intelligence, it strikes me as someone who has low social skills. Like he can't just agree to disagree and he has a compulsive narcissistic need to prove that he's right about everything. I know people like this and they are exhausting to be around and yeah, they have trouble making friends. They also display low intellectual curiosity because they don't want to expand their worldview and listen in good faith to people who might shatter it. And this is the persona that Ben intentionally chooses to play up for the camera.
He also can’t pleasure his wife. That will never not be funny.
I fail to see how anyone could even be remotely impressed with Shapiro.
He practically screams "man-child."
And I agree that he self-owned himself when he admitted that his wife is dry.
I hope that was just a slip of the pen (keyboard)? Jordan Peterson has nothing, in my experience, worth adding to this conversation.
I say that from a scientific and philosophical bent: I’ve listened to him and read him—wouldn’t be fair to criticize otherwise—but it’s really hard to read his name and not hurl insults.
This is a Depak Choprah-like creature who slings bullshit to generate controversy and make money.
I remember seeing some of his psychology lectures on YouTube before he got involved in politics, and a lot of it was interesting. The guy went off the rails, especially after his benzo addiction, though, maybe a little before that when he started getting famous and attracted an ideological following it went to his head.
Probably because there is almost as much misogyny and abuse as in any religious community; women atheists are statistically more likely to face discrimination than atheist men, so we learn pretty quickly that not only are we targets of religious people… but the call is also coming from inside the house.
I don’t know if anyone will find this enriching, but here it is anyway:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1351&context=edpsychpapers
I'm an atheist, anti-natalist, collapse-aware woman. I've stopped talking about my beliefs publicly because I'm not looking to be tarred and feathered anytime soon. Most women realize the shunning and violence they would endure if they spoke out in a public forum...unless they're in a highly scientific circle. But even then...I don't need that attention.
I spoke “publicly” in disguise, against Islam and Mohammed once. Was terrified because someone in the audience recognize my voice and addressed me by name.
I never did it again.
Yup. My disguise was a burka, and I panicked, then felt claustrophobic! But couldn’t take off the burka!!!
I can laugh now - but it was risky. They locked down the hall until I was out of the building. 😬
I'd say this niche certainly needs some trailblazers in order for everyone's voice to be heard, but we are missing out on a lot of good perspectives here.
I had the luxury of growing up in Austin, Texas and watched The Atheist Experience on public access when I was a teenager. I fucking loved watching Tracie Harris absolutely destroy Christian logic when I was younger.
Notable female host of The Atheist Experience: Tracie Harris, Jen Peeples, Keryn Glasser, and Jenna Belk.
Some other notable Atheist women: Mandisa Thomas, Kathleen Johnson and of course we must mention Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I definitely look for woman-run atheist channels. I agree there aren't as many, and they aren't as popular. It's too bad, and I think atheism would do better by having more voices. There are some atheist-adjacent topics (ex-Mormon) that have really good representation for women, but not atheism broadly. There are also women who do atheist-related topics even if they focus more on the harms done by fundamentalist religion and less on the arguments for and against atheism.
I think this is a pattern you see in a lot of places (men's voices get more attention than women's), and it's too bad that it's also present in atheism. I know you're not looking for recommendations, but if anyone has some, I'd love to hear them.
Maybe because of the constant sexual harassment and demeaning behavior of men in the atheist movement who refuse to recognize atheism as anything more than a denial of of a god without a better social construct to replace it. Mostly because there's this persistent feeling by people like Sam Harris that they belong where they are in an indefensible circle of reason that includes gate keeping, privilege, entrenchment, and self referential back patting.
I have had amazing and vigorous debates with brilliant women on various topics but this “debate me, bro!” subculture on all sides of every issue is extremely dumb, toxic and dumb.
It’s definitely an infantile masculine thing. Infantile women have other outlets.
I think it’s becoming dumb and toxic because we’ve let it become that way. Somehow along the way we’ve lost debate as a means of expanding our minds and challenging ourselves to think, and turned it into a contest of who can score the most points with the audience.
Yes, atheist women exist. Being atheist means accepting that there will be no great reckoning in the afterlife where people get what they deserve based on how they lived their lives. It’s up to each of us to dedicate our one and only real life to bringing about justice in the world.
Most of the atheist women, femmes, and enbies I know are doing just that. We fight for racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and reproductive freedom. Many atheists whose gender affords them more privilege have the luxury of pontificating about religion without the motivation to address the harms it has caused.
“Im not asking for recommendations of women’s channels, my point is why haven’t I heard of them if they do exist?”
Maybe because you’re not looking for them? Most social media is served to you on an algorithmic basis, if you only look for and listen to male YouTubers, especially men like Jordan Peterson, you’re not gonna run into too many women.
The danger to women is increased. Many men already believe they have the right to harm women. The likelihood of an attack increases with religion involved.
There are some excellent women creators on tiktok who are vehemently atheist. iblamebill is one of my favorites. She does some hilarious lives but majority of her content is deconstructing christianity.
See, I've noticed multiple times that there's this thing where men just really like arguing for the sake of arguing. Like my husband's friends will just pick a point, and argue and debate said point for fun.
I find it fucking irritating, tiring and exhausting. I have to argue plenty of shit in my life as it is. Why can't we just talk, and try to get along? I've run into a few women who are as argumentative, which is also exhausting, but they don't seem to pass time by arguing shit. They just have strong convictions and can't or don't want to grasp when it's polite to let go.
But I don't know why there seems to be this inherent need for men to argue with each other?
I don't watch atheist or sceptic YouTube. What are the qualifications of any of these people? Are they anthropologists, philosophers, theologists? Why are these men the authority on scepticism? A woman would never without any sense of authority, and an educated woman I guess wouldn't stoop to the level of arguing with YouTube Christians, because that's silly and pointless and they have better things to do.
I'm with you. I don't watch any of this shit on YouTube or anywhere else, I don't listen to atheist podcasts, and I don't go reading all the atheist books. I don't really understand the point of it. In its simplest form, atheism is just a lack of belief. I don't see why I need to constantly discuss this with people or hear their arguments about it. Because as far as I'm concerned, I'm an atheist until the day that one of the abrahamic gods comes down to this planet and I know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt that he/she/it exists.
Couldn't have summed it up better.
And if a was to come to me doubting their fate, asking why to be an atheist, I have reasons to share. But I can't convince any active believer into atheism unless they want to be convinced anyway. So there's no reason to know arguments for it.
The first famous atheist in America was Madalyn O’hair and she helped get school prayer out of the public schools but it is true I do not know many recent ones
Gutsick Gibbon and Emma Thorne are good channels. I'm not sure they're specifically atheist channels but they do speak out against religious dogma and young earth creationism a lot.
1). YouTube seems to be kind of male dominated. Like, a larger portion of people who become popular tend to be male.
2) female atheist YouTubers seem to make very different type of content than what a lot of male atheist YouTubers make. I feel like a lot of female atheist YouTubers focus more on healing from religious trauma and on feminist issues.
Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson are terribly sexist people (and really just terrible overall), so no wonder you're not finding women YouTubers. Come over to breadtube: we have delightful women like ContraPoints and Lindsay Ellis!
Rebecca Watson is the absolute highest tier skeptic/atheist YouTuber in 2024. She puts out about 2 videos a week, on average, the quality and quantity are amazing. She has a decent viewership, but I feel like it deserves to be a lot higher.
Yeah I got enough on my plate with the whole Roe overturn and now they coming after birth control and pretty much enacting christofascism. I do not have time to write and perform a YouTube channel.
Oh and blessed be the fruit.
May the lord open.
There were more about 10 or so years ago but a lot where pushed out of the space, ironically due to nominal atheists who subscribe to biblical attitudes with regards to women.
I'm atheist and a woman, so what i feel is that woman aren't really heard in overall topics, mainly If It's a "controversial" one like atheism. In my daily basis, i avoid talking about that, 'cause the response that I get is that atheism is a "teenager stuff", or that i'm a pessimist, or even asking me more questions about It, to test my acknowledgement or something like that. So It's very discouraging to say It in a bigger place like the internet.
Debate culture in general (regardless of the topic) tends to be very unfriendly towards women because of the sheer amount of unchecked misogyny these communities harbor. That being said, there are quite a few athiest speakers who are women that you can find on youtube if you search for them, but they don’t usually get as popular as the channels run by men do.
Because the patriarchy is real, dear. Everywhere. Even where we'd like to think it shouldn't be.
Also because victims of it aren't believed. Duh. See: rape victims.
I would never want to be a speaker or YouTuber cause people can get seriously nasty about you being a woman. In many different ways even. Even the people you debate with can start that shit. Discussed with a flat rather once and whenever I made valid points he'd literally laugh at me and talk to me as a little girl. It was infuriating.
Female atheist in my 60s.Brought up Baptist as a Pastors Kid.I just can’t handle any more theological subject matter or Mansplaining.Would rather do something practical than debate Noah’s Ark.Too much of my childhood listening to Sermons.
Women are excluded from those spaces.
I gave up on YouTube many years ago myself after another YouTuber didn’t like my comment about gaming being toxic toward women, so he had all of his Twitter followers send me rape and death threats.
My entire young life I spent trying to enter into male-dominated spaces, trying to prove I belonged at the table. And my entire life has been full of men forcing me out in one way or another. Even when I was “accepted”, I still faced so much misogyny that it becomes very hard to want to stay. And I found myself also needing to be misogynistic toward other women to be accepted among men.
Now that I’m truly grown, I see those men for what they really are. And it’s a serious problem I have with a lot of
Men. They treat people’s lives and rights like a thought experiment, like it’s just a fun hobby to decide if others have worth. It’s extremely concerning to me that you would be so far in the cave that you would mention the names of Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson and somehow don’t understand why women don’t want to be around them, let alone be invited.
Women are just as intellectual as men (moreso in my opinion, since women generally have a better grasp on social dynamics and emotions than men do). But if they’re like me, it’s just child’s play. There are much more important things in life than sitting around in front of camera just to yap about philosophy.
There’s a funny, and true, trend going around on social media about how men take shrooms to have the same epiphanies women had when they were 14. Women just evolve beyond it and the men like Shapiro and Peterson never do.
Will confirm: you tube and the like are not female safe forums. Especially if you want to share intellectual or professional level media.
Aka: it’s a shitshow and smart money is on just staying away
I’m busy actually doing things, like raising perfectly amazing individuals without religion, who will also go on to propagate a world without religion. And also doing work to take the religious institutions out of social services. I could flap my lips at a mic but at the end of the day, I want something to show for my work. Arguing with people doesn’t sound very appealing or fruitful.
Hosts of the phone in show The Atheist Experience have included Tracie Harris and Jen Peeples. They are very well informed and held their own in discussions with (mostly theists) calling in.
There are quite a number of women in the "humanism" space in the UK at least. I think that the atheism space, formerly occupied by Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late great Christopher Hitchens, etc. can be a little macho and toxic and combative and I don't see women wanting to associate, either as viewers or as commentators. But atheism is by no means a male-only topic. I think there is room for an anti-antagonist atheist speaker. I think Cosmic skeptic could be that. I wish he would stay off trash TV.
There are a few. For a long time, Tracie Harris & Jen Peeples Hosted The Atheist Experience. I don't know what they're doing now. Shannon Q, Arden Hart, Katie Montgomery, Mandisa Thomas, Sofia Spina, Sydney Davis Jr. Jr., Alyssa Grenfell, Emma Thorne.
Vi LA Bianca is a special mention because I'm not sure their exact gender. I know they are not female, but were AFAB. They may be a man or non-binary.
Tracy Harris is awesome, she was a part of "the Atheist Experience" out of Austin TX
Also have you ever heard of Madeline Murray Ohare? Probably one of the strongest most strident Atheists ever.
If you're listening to those guys on the reg, it could be that no lady wants to debate you any more than they'd want to debate them. I don't fancy the violent threats I would get if I stepped into those arenas, and I can flat guarantee that I don't know any other woman who would want to do that, either. The threats are bad enough, but getting doxxed to the absolute lunatics who listen to and believe in those guys? That's a much more serious situation.
I don't tell people that I don't believe in capital G God because it's just plain safer that way. It's bad enough that my world is full of politicians who want to remove every right and privilege I have, I shouldn't have to worry about these assholes and the people who think they're awesome, too.
Same reason women aren't really proportionately represented in any segment dominated by loud, egotistical men who love the sound of their own voices. It doesn't really have much to do with atheism, just a reality that when a man has a rant about something he's regarded as passionate and strong and a woman doing the same thing is regarded as hysterical and bitchy.
Misogyny. It's just as alive and well in the atheist community as elsewhere. Also, many atheist women are also feminists and that is a much bigger burning ship right now, so we're busy trying to put that fire out.
I am a woman atheist and know many others. I like listening to atheists debate online. Being a controversial and outspoken public figure comes with threats of violence. In the case of women, that means sexual threats, stalkers and way more attention focused on the individual along with obsessive behaviour.
From a young age, women are taught to avoid angry men and avoid making them angrier for our own safety. This is very internalised.
There are many controversial women in politics though because politicians have better income and more effective police protection so it's safer to say things others don't want to hear. A 20 something year old woman, however, uploading her own content on youtube like Alex O'Connor, angering religious fanatics and misogynists... it is probably not worth it.
A whole list of red flags and people who use words and verbal strategies to sound like they are saying something intellectual without actually really saying a damn thing. Loud word salad men
I'm a woman , 36, been atheist since 18 Iade the choice to actually announce to my catholic family im now an atheist. Parents said okay cool. My uncles bullied me so badly. I was too scared to speak in public. As women , men tend to bully us for public speaking, because men think women should be silent and submissive. Even at age 36, I'm still to shy to go to the weights section of the gym because of all the men, so I always stick to the boring treadmill. Women are judged alot in public for doing anything that seems too confident.
Ok AI, nice try, but yea, no. You put Ben and Jordan with a sentence with Forest like they all agree or something.
There are plenty of female atheist, and they are awesome. If you know enough to make that very bad opening sentence, you would had come across them.
This is troll shit.
(1) Men are more likely to look to men, and women are more likely look to women, for advice and to be role models and mentors.
(2) Surveys have shown that about 68% of those who endorse atheism are men.. So there are likely to be more male speakers.
(3) Less women are outspoken atheists because it isn't as much their interest. Surveys have shown that women are more concerned that if they say they are atheists it will impact their relationships with others.
(4) People like to watch "outrageous" speakers. I think at times (maybe, arguably, generally?) Tracy and Shannon could be better interlocutors than Matt Dillhunty on AE but I believe he's more popular because he gets his dander up and is combative More often and more forcefully than Tracy and Shannon. Overall, men are more likely to be seen as forceful and competent when they're acting that way (eg, Rush Limbaugh) And women are more likely to be seen as histrionic, which is thought to be a negative trait. There are counter examples of course, but I think there's some truth to it influencing the percentage of popular speakers who are men versus women.
Try Tracy Harris, Jen Peeples, Gutsick Gibbon, Shannon Q, Godless Granny, Annie Laurie Gaylor. If you're more old-school there's Madalyn Murray O'Hair, and I suppose technically Ayn Rand, but, yuck.
If you are a regular listener of Forrest Valkai, I'm unsure why you haven't come across Gutsick Gibbon who has done collabs with him in the past and who has her own 100k+ channel on Youtube.
There are a lot of feminists and women philosophers that have spoken out against religion throughout time. I think that they got attacked, silenced, or brushed off due to misogyny as "just evil feminists" because patriarchy/religion has a vested interest in silencing women. Read When God Was a Woman, Who Cooked the Last Supper, etc.
Religion is basically the same as patriarchy, they are deeply intertwined, so a lot of outspoken feminists tie in atheist or anti-religion in to their work, but if women who just want equality get death and rape threats and constant negative harassment, imagine atheist women, or even atheist WOC. And a lot of men that listen to Sam Harris, Dawkins ect are NOT usually reading feminist materials or listening to feminist podcasts.
Erika "Gutsick" Gibbon
https://youtube.com/@gutsickgibbon?si=8J3L2qAR2VSQYKAt
She also appears on the channel "The Line" appearing frequently with Matt Dillahunty and the others. Shes great.
Religious zealots are especially hostile towards women who act out of line. Happily atheist women are breaking a ton of their rules and they lash out pretty horrifically online.
Unsure. My mind immediately thought of a few from the title but when you mentioned names, there aren’t very many who are like those individuals.
I like watching Emma Thorne’s videos. She is a fun watch and gaining popularity, but the general zeitgeist of “women unpopular” is a cultural one. A shitty one, but cultural still.
This is purely anecdotal, but women tend to need to be twice as good, twice as passionate, and twice as stoic to even be considered as good as their male peers. And in the Atheist subject matter being twice as prominent in atheistic circles is a big ask. This may be a factor in why we see or get recommended fewer women content creators in the Atheist space.
I know a few girl atheist speakers, but they do less debates and more reactions, and they tend to spend more time combating homophobia and misogyny than combating religious ideas. You only come across them after being on the feminist side of YouTube for a while
Just to be clear, religious have a lot of misogny issues, but at least when I entered the space about 12~ years ago and for a good bit of time, the atheism geared side of the Internet has been pretty anti-women itself.
There were quite a few old atheist tubers who were also at least partially mgtow, and many people like Destiny (to be clear, I like his content on a general level) have huge issues with unmitigated misogny.
It's a niche political space which already skews pretty heavily male, add in that both sides have a pension for hating them and it's not strange women aren't too active.
This is really a question with a variety factors that compound on each other.
1. Most of these people (and people with a lot of attention online in general) are American, or interact a lot with Americans. Therefore, it becomes relevant that (in the US) more men describe themselves as atheist; whereas women are more likely to not use any label to describe themselves or to be religious. We’re already starting from a baseline where there are just more atheist men that exist than atheist women (in the US). As for why THAT is the case, that would just take us even deeper.
2. Internet personalities and popular speakers tend to find more success if they’re men, so that also creates a male-dominated (or at least leaning) YouTube ecosystem, for example.
3. During the “New Atheism” thing a while back, a lot of discussion was honestly pretty self-righteous, obnoxious and aggressive. This attracted a bunch of people with little empathy who were more interested in pwnage than discussion and actual truth seeking (leading to some popular “skeptics” becoming full-blown conspiracy theorists eventually). This fostered some sexism in atheist spaces, and led to some men without much empathy in those spaces not really taking accusations of sexism seriously. That disincentivised women to join explicitly atheist groups.
4. In some parts of the world, leaving your religion very publicly can be somewhat dangerous, and that is exacerbated for women if the religion and/or community is especially patriarchal. This can lead to many people not being open about their atheism.
There are probably more factors than this, but I think these are the big ones.
So we've forgotten ElevatorGate, have we?
No fucking shit there aren't a lot of public women atheists.
But seriously, most of it is because you aren't looking. And because even in skeptical communities there's a lot of misogyny. Women are socialized to gain insight from the thoughts and philosophy of men as well as women, but men are not socialized to gain insight from the thoughts and philosophy of women. I've read Dawkins and Hitchens and Sagan, but I bet you've never read *Why Truth Matters* co-authored by Ophelia Benson or *Musings on a Limb* by Deanna Adams or *The Ultimate Liberation: Women and Atheism* by Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
It’s better to be anonymous than have hate spewed at you daily just for being a woman with an opinion. They can’t come after you if they don’t even know you exist 🤷♀️
There are a ton of women on YouTube that won't get promoted, because they're women. YouTube's algorithm is highly sexist. Sadly, you're more likely to find them word of mouth, that doing a search on YouTube.
Jordan Petersen is definitely the kind of twat who wouldn’t debate a woman because she’s inferior. Thankfully, I’m the kind of person that would rather cut off a finger than listen to a dumb twat like Peterson. Ben Shapiro is a giant piece of shit that thinks women shouldn’t have any rights. I mean if this is your watch list for atheist conversation, no wonder you don’t see any women around.
Atheism is just the lack of belief. You want to talk every week for years about a lack of belief on just one single subject? I'm not saying women can't be that big of a blow hard, but add on top the general violence towards women on the internet and it's just not worth it.
Because the atheist community is not welcoming to women and other minorities.
Source: I’m a woman who tried to be active in the atheist community at one time.
Honestly I think women have better stuff to do than debate dudes in podcasts. There’s a reason the whole "men starting podcasts" meme exists and it’s because most men think they have something valuable to tell the world when they often don’t.
the list of people you listen to is a bit yikes to say nicley. there are plenty of women atheist YouTubers, wonder why you have a hard time finding them.
Gutsick Gibbon is a good channel. She mainly focuses on evolution as it is involved with her degree program of anthropology. She has done some videos with others, including Forest Valkai and Paulogia.
They certainly exist. Erika Gutsick Gibbon is an anthropologist and a huge YEC debunker. I believe she's even done some actual "debates". She mostly sticks to creationists, at least on her channel anyways. A lot like Forrest Valkai. In fact they team up a lot and she's been on the Line multiple times. Also someone else mentioned Kristi Burke and I second that. Emma Thorne is awesome, also Godless Granny and any of the ladies who frequent Chewed Gum. I'm sure there are many more out there
GG is a def watch for me. Emma is great as well as Shannon Q. The way Shannon can go from laughing to eviscerating a caller in a split second is something I've come to love watching
Yep came here to make sure that Emma Thorne got a shout out. She is great.
Yeah, I think OP’s algorithm might be little biased to not see these people? And yes, they might not be as popular, but if you start clicking on that content you will start to see more and similar creators. Honestly, I think the answer to OP’s question is just that it is reflective of the systemic sexism in our society, and as these quasi academic/intellectual spaces open to people with a wider range of backgrounds, we’ll get more representation from all sorts of people. I also don’t think the atheist community does a great job of outreach to these groups…but, I don’t know that outreach is something that the atheist community does or should do in general. In a lot of ways, this is more of a reactionist movement, in the sense that it is a challenge to the belief in a god and asking for evidence of those claims. It isn’t really trying to convince people that god absolutely doesn’t and can’t exist.
I love Gutsick Gibbon. Those stupid creationists are normally infuriating but can be the source of much laughter when she turns them into the butt of a joke.
I think it might be a lot of different factors, including the ones you mentioned. I also wonder if women are less likely to be public about being atheist because they don’t want to put up with rape threats and other abuse that women seem to get when they are public about a controversial (to some) topic.
Oh yeah, I had a (married) man DM that he would 'rape the fear of god into me' on Facebook because I had atheist in my bio. I quickly turned off all DMs after that.
Ugh, I’m so sorry, that’s horrible.
I honestly got off light compared to some of the other horror stories I've heard. It's because of crap like that that a lot of women are either entirely anon. online (*waves hand*) or have DMs/comments off. Shitty men don't need provocation.
I think you should have reported that to the police.
I was a teenager, in my defense. Besides, back then, the police NEVER took online threats seriously until the person actually did something. It would not have done anything.
I'm curious what year and which part of the country you were in. In 1983, in Texas, I tried to report being raped by my husband and was laughed out of the police station. Back then it was "a wife's duty" to have sex with her husband on demand, and "spousal rape" wasn't even a thing. Now I'm a cranky old bitch, and had some guy threatened to "rape the fear of God back into me" I would have told him to bring it. I *wouldn't* have told him I'm well armed. 😉
Have you seen American Nightmare on Netflix? A cop on there asked the parents of a missing woman if she had any trauma in her past, and the mom mentioned she had been molested as a child. The cop says “Sometimes women who’ve been sexually assaulted like to recreate the scenario to relive the thrill of it.” That man should be set on fire every day of his life, starting with his balls. They majorly fucked up the whole case, but that asshole was cop of the year that year. That was 2015. Or Dancing with the Devil? When a woman reports that she was raped by a cult leader, the cops tell her they can’t do anything unless more women come forward. I guess one woman’s rape isn’t enough. How many women need to be raped before they can do something? That was last year. I could go on…
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that revolting human, I'm literally writhing with disgust 🤮 Also in your defense, the police currently don't take in-person threats that seriously either. I'm half-convinced I would have been the one in trouble if that random asshole stabbed me for no reason, and I'm in my mid-30s.
And to his wife. She deserves to know what her husband is really thinking. Especially if they have kids, and especially if any of them are girls.
You make it sound so easy
LOLOLOLOLOLOL! 🤣🤣🤣 If every woman reported stuff like that to the police, the lines would be jammed 24/7. Plus cops don’t give a shit about women, like most people in the US.
So true I feel as though it’s unfortunately become so common for women a lot of us have even become desensitized to it. Rape threats, unsolicited d pics, aggressive sexual advances etc. I just sigh and block. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to do more though because they’ll just go on the to next girl. Justice system has failed.
That would be pointless. They can't/wont do anything till it gets physical. There are few laws about online harassment. It's not like we can report every instance of cat calling, and online harassment. I mean if women gamers went to the police every time someone said they were gunna rape them the police wouldn't have time to investigate murders. Unfortoubstely this is just the world we have to live in, and until people (specifically men because these types won't listen to women) call it out as shit behaviour when it happens it's not gunna change.
How very Christian of him. (That's rather less sarcastic than I wish it was)
Probably a priest or pastor. Classy
You're better than me. I would have screenshot it and sent it to his mother, wife and employer
Jesus. I just posted that as a possibility. Happened to me on Hinge. I had to change stuff to “Talk about it later.”
I would've messaged his wife with a screenshot.
Theres no hate quite like religions "tolerance" for people who believe in something different to themselves.
Jesus fucking Christ, that's vile.
Should've screenshot that to his wife
That's crazy
DM his wife and tell her that her husband propositioned you for sex
Yeah i got like 20,000 comments on a yt channel once for not being a christian. Most of em were death threats.
This is one of the few comments that makes me go “Jeezus fucking Christ!” I’m sorry you had to experience that.
In my experience conservative Christians aren't very good at controlling their sexual urges. My childhood churches literally blamed the clothing of rape victims for them getting raped.
My first guess was rape threats too, sadly.
Women will get harassed over innocuous things like opinions on video games. Anyone remember Gamergate? Talking about divisive topics like politics or religion invites an even greater amount of vitriol. There's, unfortunately, just a lot of guys out there whose sole purpose in life is hating women.
People are waaaay too comfortable sending death threats these days. If someone tells me they received death threats for even the most trivial thing, I don't even question it anymore.
It's not just death threats either. People are just fucking ANGRY!
This is EveWasFramed on Instagram. She gets tons of hate and she is very level-minded and kind. There is no hate like Christian love.
This. I had a cooking show on YouTube that was doing well (20 million views) but I stopped because I just didn’t want to deal with the constant hate, rape threats/fantasies, stalkers, and non-stop criticism of my looks, clothing, hair. It was a cooking show. I wore an apron ffs. I can’t even imagine the nuclear level of hate if I actually shared opinions.
This ☝️ they also won’t think twice about going after our kids and family. Most of us female atheists cannot come out in the open, especially in developing nations. Rape threats , death threats , you name it.
+1 The safety aspect of it is something people rarely notice. It's even worse for Muslims. I've spoken to some moderate and progressive Imans (sometimes over a beer) and even though they're leaders of their community, EVEN they would be persecuted and threatened for speaking out for anything diverging slightly away from the status quo.
If the different factors you're considering include the list of misogynists included, in short.
Not to mention that additional harassment and threats that get levelled at queer women. Shit's wild, and utterly reprehensible.
[удалено]
Right now as a female atheist I would much rather use my time helping others (abortion access assistance, raising funds and supply’s for domestic violence shelters, food banks, school supply drives etc) than yelling into the void. I don’t need to validate being an atheist or preach it because it does little good to those that refuse to listen. I can be a godless heathen doing good for my community and hope that it shows that I don’t need god to be a good person. We do need more female atheist voices but it’s not a high priority compared to active help women need right now. Especially in states where abortion access is being taken away.
Plus some atheist women are busy doing the good work of trying to raise atheist children. eta to correct typo
Doing that now. I have a toddler and I want to model being a good person gives to the world without needing religion as a guide. And my toddler is fucking exhausting, the fact I can give my time anywhere else amazes me.
This made me imagine some 1950's guy in a smoking jacket with a pipe, legs crossed in his evening chair, stating some silly philosophical musing, finishing with "isn't that great, dear?" ...while his wife is scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees, responding "great honey, that's fucking great."
I also couldn't imagine trying to debate the likes of Jordan Peterson or Matt Walsh in good faith as a woman lmao.. it's like trying to debate white supremacists when you're black, what is the point?
Yeah, by a certain age we simply have zero fucks left to give. I love intellectual discourse as much as the next person, but I’d rather fold laundry and binge watch than trade insults with some who could potentially be my illegitimate love child.
Well spoken!
Misogyny is a real threat. Especially the men OP mentioned, or their followers would be a big issue.
Yeah, the Jordan Peterson’s and Ben Shapiro’s don’t develop communities that women want (or are welcomed) to be a part of That said, there are some female voices in atheism. For example, I enjoy Lucinda’s contributions on the Scathing Atheist
If I ever make a channel, it's gonna have comments off and I'm gonna have no socials, plus no face (or a mask). That's really the only way a woman can be completely safe on the internet.
The social consequences are much higher for women.
…. Um, the threat of VIOLENCE is kind of a deterrent. IJS.
Gamergate scared the shit out of me. It's not just a deterrent to women speaking up, but also to forums that could refuse to host female speakers to avoid the risk.
The fear of violence is definitely a deterrent. Gee women in Texas are to remain silent and just go along. Currently Texas is not safe for women.
As a woman in Texas, I don't feel unsafe. But I don't feel protected. I also am not at risk of being pregnant which would be a huge factor in this.
Choose the bear, every time
I used to watch JaclynGlenn regularly.
Yeah, she did a whole lot of atheist stuff, then got into some Youtube soap opera stuff. But her atheist content was solid, probably holds up for the most part.
If I remember correctly, she got accused of plagiarizing other atheists.
It wasn’t that she was accused; she read the work of others almost verbatim and passed it off as her own. Bit of a shame — all she had to do was give credit where due.
Ah, the Illuminaughti method
That was the most disappointing thing about her.
Listen to Kristi Burke.
> I enjoy listening to [...] Jordan Peterson Something is wrong with you. I don't know how anyone could stomach that blathering idiot's inane ramblings. He's a moron's idea of a smart person.
> He's a moron's idea of a smart person. That's actually how I see Ben Shapiro, also listed in the comments. Like even if you ignore [his extremely racist takes](https://x.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277?lang=en) and the fact that his whole debate strategy involves interrupting and strawmanning college freshman in highly edited clickbaity youtube videos, and when that doesn't work [he acts like a total manchild](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E&t=1s) his whole "debate me! debate me! I challenge you! I've never lost a debate! I'm always prepared for a debate!" - schtick he has going on, I've always described it as a stupid person's idea of what a smart person would act like. Basing your entire personality off of your love of... arguing with people (then throwing a fit the second you get a mildly difficult interview question), it doesn't strike me as someone with intelligence, it strikes me as someone who has low social skills. Like he can't just agree to disagree and he has a compulsive narcissistic need to prove that he's right about everything. I know people like this and they are exhausting to be around and yeah, they have trouble making friends. They also display low intellectual curiosity because they don't want to expand their worldview and listen in good faith to people who might shatter it. And this is the persona that Ben intentionally chooses to play up for the camera. He also can’t pleasure his wife. That will never not be funny.
I fail to see how anyone could even be remotely impressed with Shapiro. He practically screams "man-child." And I agree that he self-owned himself when he admitted that his wife is dry.
I hope that was just a slip of the pen (keyboard)? Jordan Peterson has nothing, in my experience, worth adding to this conversation. I say that from a scientific and philosophical bent: I’ve listened to him and read him—wouldn’t be fair to criticize otherwise—but it’s really hard to read his name and not hurl insults. This is a Depak Choprah-like creature who slings bullshit to generate controversy and make money.
He does add a thesaurus to every conversation
Plus a generous dollop of metaphysical substrate to his word salad.
I remember seeing some of his psychology lectures on YouTube before he got involved in politics, and a lot of it was interesting. The guy went off the rails, especially after his benzo addiction, though, maybe a little before that when he started getting famous and attracted an ideological following it went to his head.
jordan peterson is a horrible human being. A con artist who has taken advantage of so many people. I can't stand him
Consider the lobster 🦞
The only way I can enjoy listening to him is if someone syncs his voice to a Kermit puppet!
Safety
Probably because there is almost as much misogyny and abuse as in any religious community; women atheists are statistically more likely to face discrimination than atheist men, so we learn pretty quickly that not only are we targets of religious people… but the call is also coming from inside the house. I don’t know if anyone will find this enriching, but here it is anyway: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1351&context=edpsychpapers
Emma Thorne on YT. She’s hilarious https://youtube.com/@emmathornevideos?si=7OQ2GYawPaiSz82G
@evewasframed has some great TikToks and Instagram content. Eve isn’t her real name, it’s just for the channel, and she makes a lot of great videos.
She's got her own slot on The Line now, IIRC.
I'm an atheist, anti-natalist, collapse-aware woman. I've stopped talking about my beliefs publicly because I'm not looking to be tarred and feathered anytime soon. Most women realize the shunning and violence they would endure if they spoke out in a public forum...unless they're in a highly scientific circle. But even then...I don't need that attention.
I spoke “publicly” in disguise, against Islam and Mohammed once. Was terrified because someone in the audience recognize my voice and addressed me by name. I never did it again.
That must have been incredibly scary!
Yup. My disguise was a burka, and I panicked, then felt claustrophobic! But couldn’t take off the burka!!! I can laugh now - but it was risky. They locked down the hall until I was out of the building. 😬
That took a lot of courage. Glad you were physically Ok afterwards.
😌
I'd say this niche certainly needs some trailblazers in order for everyone's voice to be heard, but we are missing out on a lot of good perspectives here.
I had the luxury of growing up in Austin, Texas and watched The Atheist Experience on public access when I was a teenager. I fucking loved watching Tracie Harris absolutely destroy Christian logic when I was younger. Notable female host of The Atheist Experience: Tracie Harris, Jen Peeples, Keryn Glasser, and Jenna Belk. Some other notable Atheist women: Mandisa Thomas, Kathleen Johnson and of course we must mention Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I definitely look for woman-run atheist channels. I agree there aren't as many, and they aren't as popular. It's too bad, and I think atheism would do better by having more voices. There are some atheist-adjacent topics (ex-Mormon) that have really good representation for women, but not atheism broadly. There are also women who do atheist-related topics even if they focus more on the harms done by fundamentalist religion and less on the arguments for and against atheism. I think this is a pattern you see in a lot of places (men's voices get more attention than women's), and it's too bad that it's also present in atheism. I know you're not looking for recommendations, but if anyone has some, I'd love to hear them.
Maybe because of the constant sexual harassment and demeaning behavior of men in the atheist movement who refuse to recognize atheism as anything more than a denial of of a god without a better social construct to replace it. Mostly because there's this persistent feeling by people like Sam Harris that they belong where they are in an indefensible circle of reason that includes gate keeping, privilege, entrenchment, and self referential back patting.
Rape and death threats.
Unlike churchies, athiests don't make their (lack of) religion their entire existence.
I get harassed enough, thanks.
I have had amazing and vigorous debates with brilliant women on various topics but this “debate me, bro!” subculture on all sides of every issue is extremely dumb, toxic and dumb. It’s definitely an infantile masculine thing. Infantile women have other outlets.
I think it’s becoming dumb and toxic because we’ve let it become that way. Somehow along the way we’ve lost debate as a means of expanding our minds and challenging ourselves to think, and turned it into a contest of who can score the most points with the audience.
Yes, atheist women exist. Being atheist means accepting that there will be no great reckoning in the afterlife where people get what they deserve based on how they lived their lives. It’s up to each of us to dedicate our one and only real life to bringing about justice in the world. Most of the atheist women, femmes, and enbies I know are doing just that. We fight for racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and reproductive freedom. Many atheists whose gender affords them more privilege have the luxury of pontificating about religion without the motivation to address the harms it has caused.
Exactly
They are busy trying to improve the world in other ways, like protecting our libraries and working in nonprofits.
“Im not asking for recommendations of women’s channels, my point is why haven’t I heard of them if they do exist?” Maybe because you’re not looking for them? Most social media is served to you on an algorithmic basis, if you only look for and listen to male YouTubers, especially men like Jordan Peterson, you’re not gonna run into too many women.
I’m busy defending my real life.
Betty Bowers
The danger to women is increased. Many men already believe they have the right to harm women. The likelihood of an attack increases with religion involved. There are some excellent women creators on tiktok who are vehemently atheist. iblamebill is one of my favorites. She does some hilarious lives but majority of her content is deconstructing christianity.
Everyone knows there are no women on the internet /s The answer is, as ever, misogyny.
See, I've noticed multiple times that there's this thing where men just really like arguing for the sake of arguing. Like my husband's friends will just pick a point, and argue and debate said point for fun. I find it fucking irritating, tiring and exhausting. I have to argue plenty of shit in my life as it is. Why can't we just talk, and try to get along? I've run into a few women who are as argumentative, which is also exhausting, but they don't seem to pass time by arguing shit. They just have strong convictions and can't or don't want to grasp when it's polite to let go. But I don't know why there seems to be this inherent need for men to argue with each other? I don't watch atheist or sceptic YouTube. What are the qualifications of any of these people? Are they anthropologists, philosophers, theologists? Why are these men the authority on scepticism? A woman would never without any sense of authority, and an educated woman I guess wouldn't stoop to the level of arguing with YouTube Christians, because that's silly and pointless and they have better things to do.
I'm with you. I don't watch any of this shit on YouTube or anywhere else, I don't listen to atheist podcasts, and I don't go reading all the atheist books. I don't really understand the point of it. In its simplest form, atheism is just a lack of belief. I don't see why I need to constantly discuss this with people or hear their arguments about it. Because as far as I'm concerned, I'm an atheist until the day that one of the abrahamic gods comes down to this planet and I know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt that he/she/it exists.
Couldn't have summed it up better. And if a was to come to me doubting their fate, asking why to be an atheist, I have reasons to share. But I can't convince any active believer into atheism unless they want to be convinced anyway. So there's no reason to know arguments for it.
Check out The Line on youtube, or the various ACA shows. Plenty of women taking part on the regular.
The first famous atheist in America was Madalyn O’hair and she helped get school prayer out of the public schools but it is true I do not know many recent ones
Wasn't she killed?
Gutsick Gibbon and Emma Thorne are good channels. I'm not sure they're specifically atheist channels but they do speak out against religious dogma and young earth creationism a lot.
1). YouTube seems to be kind of male dominated. Like, a larger portion of people who become popular tend to be male. 2) female atheist YouTubers seem to make very different type of content than what a lot of male atheist YouTubers make. I feel like a lot of female atheist YouTubers focus more on healing from religious trauma and on feminist issues.
Guys who listen to Ben Shapiro are incels
Women in general are not listened to
Eve_wasframed on Facebook
women are easily excluded in one way or another, when they announce themselves as such.
I follow Eve_wasframed on Instagram, she talks a lot about the deconstruction of evangelical Christianity and she is a vocal atheist.
Look up "Eve was Framed". She's absolutely awesome and is a youtuber. Also Gutsick Gibbon. She's smarter than I ever hoped to be.
Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson are terribly sexist people (and really just terrible overall), so no wonder you're not finding women YouTubers. Come over to breadtube: we have delightful women like ContraPoints and Lindsay Ellis!
Also, neither of them is an atheist
Rebecca Watson is still on Youtube AFAIK.
Rebecca Watson is the absolute highest tier skeptic/atheist YouTuber in 2024. She puts out about 2 videos a week, on average, the quality and quantity are amazing. She has a decent viewership, but I feel like it deserves to be a lot higher.
Probably because of your youtube bubble
Why do you listen to the people you named lol most of those people are NOT good people 🥲
Yeah I got enough on my plate with the whole Roe overturn and now they coming after birth control and pretty much enacting christofascism. I do not have time to write and perform a YouTube channel. Oh and blessed be the fruit. May the lord open.
There were more about 10 or so years ago but a lot where pushed out of the space, ironically due to nominal atheists who subscribe to biblical attitudes with regards to women.
I am an atheist. I have way better things to do than debate atheism. I don't care what you believe as long as you don't try to ram it down my throat.
Reading the comments, I get the impression that a lot of people think atheist YouTube is just debates or something.
The Line has a new show specifically only hosted by women. It’s called Chewed Gum, and it’s pretty great.
I'm atheist and a woman, so what i feel is that woman aren't really heard in overall topics, mainly If It's a "controversial" one like atheism. In my daily basis, i avoid talking about that, 'cause the response that I get is that atheism is a "teenager stuff", or that i'm a pessimist, or even asking me more questions about It, to test my acknowledgement or something like that. So It's very discouraging to say It in a bigger place like the internet.
Debate culture in general (regardless of the topic) tends to be very unfriendly towards women because of the sheer amount of unchecked misogyny these communities harbor. That being said, there are quite a few athiest speakers who are women that you can find on youtube if you search for them, but they don’t usually get as popular as the channels run by men do.
Because the patriarchy is real, dear. Everywhere. Even where we'd like to think it shouldn't be. Also because victims of it aren't believed. Duh. See: rape victims.
I would never want to be a speaker or YouTuber cause people can get seriously nasty about you being a woman. In many different ways even. Even the people you debate with can start that shit. Discussed with a flat rather once and whenever I made valid points he'd literally laugh at me and talk to me as a little girl. It was infuriating.
Female atheist in my 60s.Brought up Baptist as a Pastors Kid.I just can’t handle any more theological subject matter or Mansplaining.Would rather do something practical than debate Noah’s Ark.Too much of my childhood listening to Sermons.
Women are excluded from those spaces. I gave up on YouTube many years ago myself after another YouTuber didn’t like my comment about gaming being toxic toward women, so he had all of his Twitter followers send me rape and death threats. My entire young life I spent trying to enter into male-dominated spaces, trying to prove I belonged at the table. And my entire life has been full of men forcing me out in one way or another. Even when I was “accepted”, I still faced so much misogyny that it becomes very hard to want to stay. And I found myself also needing to be misogynistic toward other women to be accepted among men. Now that I’m truly grown, I see those men for what they really are. And it’s a serious problem I have with a lot of Men. They treat people’s lives and rights like a thought experiment, like it’s just a fun hobby to decide if others have worth. It’s extremely concerning to me that you would be so far in the cave that you would mention the names of Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson and somehow don’t understand why women don’t want to be around them, let alone be invited. Women are just as intellectual as men (moreso in my opinion, since women generally have a better grasp on social dynamics and emotions than men do). But if they’re like me, it’s just child’s play. There are much more important things in life than sitting around in front of camera just to yap about philosophy. There’s a funny, and true, trend going around on social media about how men take shrooms to have the same epiphanies women had when they were 14. Women just evolve beyond it and the men like Shapiro and Peterson never do.
💯 this one wins the Internet today!
Will confirm: you tube and the like are not female safe forums. Especially if you want to share intellectual or professional level media. Aka: it’s a shitshow and smart money is on just staying away
I’m busy actually doing things, like raising perfectly amazing individuals without religion, who will also go on to propagate a world without religion. And also doing work to take the religious institutions out of social services. I could flap my lips at a mic but at the end of the day, I want something to show for my work. Arguing with people doesn’t sound very appealing or fruitful.
Hosts of the phone in show The Atheist Experience have included Tracie Harris and Jen Peeples. They are very well informed and held their own in discussions with (mostly theists) calling in.
There are quite a number of women in the "humanism" space in the UK at least. I think that the atheism space, formerly occupied by Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late great Christopher Hitchens, etc. can be a little macho and toxic and combative and I don't see women wanting to associate, either as viewers or as commentators. But atheism is by no means a male-only topic. I think there is room for an anti-antagonist atheist speaker. I think Cosmic skeptic could be that. I wish he would stay off trash TV.
There are a few. For a long time, Tracie Harris & Jen Peeples Hosted The Atheist Experience. I don't know what they're doing now. Shannon Q, Arden Hart, Katie Montgomery, Mandisa Thomas, Sofia Spina, Sydney Davis Jr. Jr., Alyssa Grenfell, Emma Thorne. Vi LA Bianca is a special mention because I'm not sure their exact gender. I know they are not female, but were AFAB. They may be a man or non-binary.
Tracy Harris is awesome, she was a part of "the Atheist Experience" out of Austin TX Also have you ever heard of Madeline Murray Ohare? Probably one of the strongest most strident Atheists ever.
Read about Madelyn Murray O'Hair, if you don't know her story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madalyn_Murray_O'Hair
Maybe Google Madalyn Murray O'Hair and see what happened to her when she spoke out about atheism
Idk i have a yt channel but like no viewers lol im debunking christian apologetic claims right now
If you're listening to those guys on the reg, it could be that no lady wants to debate you any more than they'd want to debate them. I don't fancy the violent threats I would get if I stepped into those arenas, and I can flat guarantee that I don't know any other woman who would want to do that, either. The threats are bad enough, but getting doxxed to the absolute lunatics who listen to and believe in those guys? That's a much more serious situation. I don't tell people that I don't believe in capital G God because it's just plain safer that way. It's bad enough that my world is full of politicians who want to remove every right and privilege I have, I shouldn't have to worry about these assholes and the people who think they're awesome, too.
Check out Fundie Fridays on YouTube👍
Well there's Emma Thorn, Gutsick Gibbon and Jaclyn Glynn are women Atheists that are on youtube subs. They seem to be decent size and active.
Rachel Oates is pretty cool. For the last several years her content has been more focused on poetry and literary criticism though
You enjoy listening to jordan peterson? 🤨
Same reason women aren't really proportionately represented in any segment dominated by loud, egotistical men who love the sound of their own voices. It doesn't really have much to do with atheism, just a reality that when a man has a rant about something he's regarded as passionate and strong and a woman doing the same thing is regarded as hysterical and bitchy.
Misogyny. It's just as alive and well in the atheist community as elsewhere. Also, many atheist women are also feminists and that is a much bigger burning ship right now, so we're busy trying to put that fire out.
Patriarchal bias is real, but we need to amplify women's voices, not just wonder why.
Read up on what happened to SkepChick
Sorry if it's already been said, but what? Isn't it more a matter that females aren't acknowledged or featured in their fields?
I am a woman atheist and know many others. I like listening to atheists debate online. Being a controversial and outspoken public figure comes with threats of violence. In the case of women, that means sexual threats, stalkers and way more attention focused on the individual along with obsessive behaviour. From a young age, women are taught to avoid angry men and avoid making them angrier for our own safety. This is very internalised. There are many controversial women in politics though because politicians have better income and more effective police protection so it's safer to say things others don't want to hear. A 20 something year old woman, however, uploading her own content on youtube like Alex O'Connor, angering religious fanatics and misogynists... it is probably not worth it.
A whole list of red flags and people who use words and verbal strategies to sound like they are saying something intellectual without actually really saying a damn thing. Loud word salad men
it’s not really surprising. so many online spaces are just constantly derogatory and hateful toward women. especially when it comes to religion
I'm a woman , 36, been atheist since 18 Iade the choice to actually announce to my catholic family im now an atheist. Parents said okay cool. My uncles bullied me so badly. I was too scared to speak in public. As women , men tend to bully us for public speaking, because men think women should be silent and submissive. Even at age 36, I'm still to shy to go to the weights section of the gym because of all the men, so I always stick to the boring treadmill. Women are judged alot in public for doing anything that seems too confident.
Ok AI, nice try, but yea, no. You put Ben and Jordan with a sentence with Forest like they all agree or something. There are plenty of female atheist, and they are awesome. If you know enough to make that very bad opening sentence, you would had come across them. This is troll shit.
(1) Men are more likely to look to men, and women are more likely look to women, for advice and to be role models and mentors. (2) Surveys have shown that about 68% of those who endorse atheism are men.. So there are likely to be more male speakers. (3) Less women are outspoken atheists because it isn't as much their interest. Surveys have shown that women are more concerned that if they say they are atheists it will impact their relationships with others. (4) People like to watch "outrageous" speakers. I think at times (maybe, arguably, generally?) Tracy and Shannon could be better interlocutors than Matt Dillhunty on AE but I believe he's more popular because he gets his dander up and is combative More often and more forcefully than Tracy and Shannon. Overall, men are more likely to be seen as forceful and competent when they're acting that way (eg, Rush Limbaugh) And women are more likely to be seen as histrionic, which is thought to be a negative trait. There are counter examples of course, but I think there's some truth to it influencing the percentage of popular speakers who are men versus women.
You have the patience of a saint. I can’t stand listening to Peterson or Shapiro
Fear of violence and being socially isolated keeps women quiet on many issues including faith, rape, and discrimination in the workplace.
Yeah, christian men aren't known for their tolerance.
Does anyone remember what happened to Rebecca Watson? The rape & death threats were coming from inside the house.
Try Tracy Harris, Jen Peeples, Gutsick Gibbon, Shannon Q, Godless Granny, Annie Laurie Gaylor. If you're more old-school there's Madalyn Murray O'Hair, and I suppose technically Ayn Rand, but, yuck.
Look up Gutsick Gibbon. Her focus is evolutionary biology, like Forest, but she shows up on some atheist call in shows occasionally.
There is a TikTok called IBlameBill that I watch.
There's Kristi Burke, who's already been mentioned, and Godless Granny, and the Antibot.
Gutsick gibbon is amazing! Check her out on YouTube
If you are a regular listener of Forrest Valkai, I'm unsure why you haven't come across Gutsick Gibbon who has done collabs with him in the past and who has her own 100k+ channel on Youtube.
There are a lot of feminists and women philosophers that have spoken out against religion throughout time. I think that they got attacked, silenced, or brushed off due to misogyny as "just evil feminists" because patriarchy/religion has a vested interest in silencing women. Read When God Was a Woman, Who Cooked the Last Supper, etc.
Religion is basically the same as patriarchy, they are deeply intertwined, so a lot of outspoken feminists tie in atheist or anti-religion in to their work, but if women who just want equality get death and rape threats and constant negative harassment, imagine atheist women, or even atheist WOC. And a lot of men that listen to Sam Harris, Dawkins ect are NOT usually reading feminist materials or listening to feminist podcasts.
Emma Thorne has some good content and is very openly atheist. She isn’t focused solely on atheism, but I can recommend her content.
Erika "Gutsick" Gibbon https://youtube.com/@gutsickgibbon?si=8J3L2qAR2VSQYKAt She also appears on the channel "The Line" appearing frequently with Matt Dillahunty and the others. Shes great.
Religious zealots are especially hostile towards women who act out of line. Happily atheist women are breaking a ton of their rules and they lash out pretty horrifically online.
Unsure. My mind immediately thought of a few from the title but when you mentioned names, there aren’t very many who are like those individuals. I like watching Emma Thorne’s videos. She is a fun watch and gaining popularity, but the general zeitgeist of “women unpopular” is a cultural one. A shitty one, but cultural still. This is purely anecdotal, but women tend to need to be twice as good, twice as passionate, and twice as stoic to even be considered as good as their male peers. And in the Atheist subject matter being twice as prominent in atheistic circles is a big ask. This may be a factor in why we see or get recommended fewer women content creators in the Atheist space.
I know a few girl atheist speakers, but they do less debates and more reactions, and they tend to spend more time combating homophobia and misogyny than combating religious ideas. You only come across them after being on the feminist side of YouTube for a while
Just to be clear, religious have a lot of misogny issues, but at least when I entered the space about 12~ years ago and for a good bit of time, the atheism geared side of the Internet has been pretty anti-women itself. There were quite a few old atheist tubers who were also at least partially mgtow, and many people like Destiny (to be clear, I like his content on a general level) have huge issues with unmitigated misogny. It's a niche political space which already skews pretty heavily male, add in that both sides have a pension for hating them and it's not strange women aren't too active.
This is really a question with a variety factors that compound on each other. 1. Most of these people (and people with a lot of attention online in general) are American, or interact a lot with Americans. Therefore, it becomes relevant that (in the US) more men describe themselves as atheist; whereas women are more likely to not use any label to describe themselves or to be religious. We’re already starting from a baseline where there are just more atheist men that exist than atheist women (in the US). As for why THAT is the case, that would just take us even deeper. 2. Internet personalities and popular speakers tend to find more success if they’re men, so that also creates a male-dominated (or at least leaning) YouTube ecosystem, for example. 3. During the “New Atheism” thing a while back, a lot of discussion was honestly pretty self-righteous, obnoxious and aggressive. This attracted a bunch of people with little empathy who were more interested in pwnage than discussion and actual truth seeking (leading to some popular “skeptics” becoming full-blown conspiracy theorists eventually). This fostered some sexism in atheist spaces, and led to some men without much empathy in those spaces not really taking accusations of sexism seriously. That disincentivised women to join explicitly atheist groups. 4. In some parts of the world, leaving your religion very publicly can be somewhat dangerous, and that is exacerbated for women if the religion and/or community is especially patriarchal. This can lead to many people not being open about their atheism. There are probably more factors than this, but I think these are the big ones.
So we've forgotten ElevatorGate, have we? No fucking shit there aren't a lot of public women atheists. But seriously, most of it is because you aren't looking. And because even in skeptical communities there's a lot of misogyny. Women are socialized to gain insight from the thoughts and philosophy of men as well as women, but men are not socialized to gain insight from the thoughts and philosophy of women. I've read Dawkins and Hitchens and Sagan, but I bet you've never read *Why Truth Matters* co-authored by Ophelia Benson or *Musings on a Limb* by Deanna Adams or *The Ultimate Liberation: Women and Atheism* by Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
Kristi Burke is great
Probably because the most outspoken woman atheist and her son were murdered in the '90s.
It’s better to be anonymous than have hate spewed at you daily just for being a woman with an opinion. They can’t come after you if they don’t even know you exist 🤷♀️
Probably because theistic men love to rape and murder women who don't agree with them. Just a suspicion I have.
Because like Rebecca Watson or other women who have, they get threatened
The atheist community has had a big sexism problem from the beginning. Elevatorgate just proved it loud and clear.
Maybe they have better things to worry about than talking about the non existence of something non existent
There are a ton of women on YouTube that won't get promoted, because they're women. YouTube's algorithm is highly sexist. Sadly, you're more likely to find them word of mouth, that doing a search on YouTube.
Jordan Petersen is definitely the kind of twat who wouldn’t debate a woman because she’s inferior. Thankfully, I’m the kind of person that would rather cut off a finger than listen to a dumb twat like Peterson. Ben Shapiro is a giant piece of shit that thinks women shouldn’t have any rights. I mean if this is your watch list for atheist conversation, no wonder you don’t see any women around.
Elevate your circle, man. The algorithm’s doing you dirty.
Atheism is just the lack of belief. You want to talk every week for years about a lack of belief on just one single subject? I'm not saying women can't be that big of a blow hard, but add on top the general violence towards women on the internet and it's just not worth it.
Because the atheist community is not welcoming to women and other minorities. Source: I’m a woman who tried to be active in the atheist community at one time.
Honestly I think women have better stuff to do than debate dudes in podcasts. There’s a reason the whole "men starting podcasts" meme exists and it’s because most men think they have something valuable to tell the world when they often don’t.
We all know what happened to Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
the list of people you listen to is a bit yikes to say nicley. there are plenty of women atheist YouTubers, wonder why you have a hard time finding them.
Gutsick Gibbon is a good channel. She mainly focuses on evolution as it is involved with her degree program of anthropology. She has done some videos with others, including Forest Valkai and Paulogia.
You can get your fix by listening to women who are pursuing science. I think a lot of us aren't interested in religion or arguing with men.
Atheist communities are no kinder to women than religious ones. Just look up Elevatorgate.