THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?

It is undoubtedly true that a number of British women turned their back on religion, from the beginning of the period of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and onwards. To what might we attribute these defections and the taking up of a new nonreligious identity?  Was it the change in sexual mores...

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Main Author: Janet Eccles
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan 2017-11-01
Series:Society Register
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/sr/article/view/10422
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author Janet Eccles
author_facet Janet Eccles
author_sort Janet Eccles
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description It is undoubtedly true that a number of British women turned their back on religion, from the beginning of the period of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and onwards. To what might we attribute these defections and the taking up of a new nonreligious identity?  Was it the change in sexual mores and the rise of second wave feminism, the increase in women entering higher education opening up new worldviews to them or increasing affluence? This article examines a variety of factors through the eyes of self-identified women atheists/humanists most of whom have lived through that period. It notes that, while these factors may well be significant to different degrees for different women, the turn to atheism, specifically, results largely from women having been damaged by religion and the deep emotional impact thus left behind. The turn to atheism is not a uniform experience as the women are enmeshed in differing types of ‘emotional regime’ which affects how they respond.
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spelling doaj-art-66798ba374ac449d9afb39387c3aba0e2025-01-03T01:22:46ZengAdam Mickiewicz University, PoznanSociety Register2544-55022017-11-0111516610.14746/sr.2017.1.1.059984THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?Janet Eccles0Lancaster UniversityIt is undoubtedly true that a number of British women turned their back on religion, from the beginning of the period of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and onwards. To what might we attribute these defections and the taking up of a new nonreligious identity?  Was it the change in sexual mores and the rise of second wave feminism, the increase in women entering higher education opening up new worldviews to them or increasing affluence? This article examines a variety of factors through the eyes of self-identified women atheists/humanists most of whom have lived through that period. It notes that, while these factors may well be significant to different degrees for different women, the turn to atheism, specifically, results largely from women having been damaged by religion and the deep emotional impact thus left behind. The turn to atheism is not a uniform experience as the women are enmeshed in differing types of ‘emotional regime’ which affects how they respond.https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/sr/article/view/10422atheist womancultural revolution1968feminism
spellingShingle Janet Eccles
THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
Society Register
atheist woman
cultural revolution
1968
feminism
title THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
title_full THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
title_fullStr THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
title_full_unstemmed THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
title_short THE NEW (ATHEIST) WOMAN: A LEGACY OF THE 1960S CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
title_sort new atheist woman a legacy of the 1960s cultural revolution
topic atheist woman
cultural revolution
1968
feminism
url https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/sr/article/view/10422
work_keys_str_mv AT janeteccles thenewatheistwomanalegacyofthe1960sculturalrevolution
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