r/atheism and the subject of women's rights.

440 points•431 comments•submitted by tequilabagel to r/atheism

I can't find the post that made me want to write this one, but I recently saw a post where many redditors left comments asking, "What rights are women denied?" or "Since when are women denied rights [in America]?" because of either a part of the title or a statement in the text.

I love r/atheism, but as a woman, it felt like another crushing blow to read that. I, like many of you, have to deal with being ostracized or not trusted because of my atheism. I am a minority for simply not believing in a god. As treatment of minorities typically goes, I am mistreated and not given the same opportunities that other -- religious -- people are, even if there aren't any specific laws on the books that say I can't do something. None of that should be too unfamiliar to the typical atheist.

But imagine, because I assume the people that made those comments were males, that you were also mistreated and looked down upon simply for what's between your legs. You wouldn't tell a black or Latino person that racism doesn't still exist and deny them rights, so please don't say the same to a woman.

I wanted to post this so that r/atheism could see that women are frequently denied a lot of things, both big and small, and often suffer daily from the general population's sexist attitude. At least in America, here are some things that make my heart sink and my blood boil to see a redditor ask such a dumb, ignorant question:

  • We have failed to pass the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to the Constitution many times. No matter how many times we've tried, the government will not add these simple words to the Constitution: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." We have the same for race, why not gender? Here's a recent Huffington article on the ERA.

  • Lilly Ledbetter had to fight 10 years for the Fair Pay Act of 2009, named after her, and the problem is still just as evident as it was before this act. In trying to get it passed, listen to what Jay Townsend had to say.

  • The GOP and religious right are trying to deny us the right to birth control, abortion, and the other services that organizations like Planned Parenthood provide. Rick Santorum has suggested that contraception is bad, because it is "a license to do things in the sexual realm". What about Rush Limbaugh attacking Sandra Fluke, and how nobody in the GOP stood up to his bullshit? We're asking to have access to birth control, and to do it, we have to listen to people call us sluts while totally ignoring our arguments.

  • Congress almost fucking redefined rape. And do I even have to tell you why this is wrong?

  • And what about this?

  • This?

  • And throughout all of this, no matter how hard the GOP thinks they're right about women's bodies and rights, they can't even stand to hear a woman say the word vagina.

There absolutely is a War on Women, r/atheism. I know that many may have asked if women are denied rights simply out of innocent ignorance or curiosity, but I know that many probably did it to challenge the idea that legislated sexism exists. I'm sorry if that makes people uncomfortable to think that they are more privileged than others for having a penis; I am not accusing anyone here of being sexist or trying to harm the women's rights movement, however. I just wanted to make this point and see where things stood for r/atheism.

EDIT: Thanks for all the discussion. I am very happy to see all the interesting things r/atheism thinks. And for r/atheism, it's been pretty damn civil. :P

I am going to remove the information about the wage gap because there has been enough discussion on it, and it seems that the specific statistic I used was incorrect. I will leave in the Lilly Ledbetter information, however, because that lady is a serious champ. The link associated with the legislation will remain, too. (Sad stuff, really.)

EDIT 2: Thank you to everyone who brought something insightful to the conversation. I left reddit for a day, so trying to respond to 250-odd comments feels impossible. I'm trying, but it's not working. :( Please forgive me if I've ignored you!