This is a secular feminist group for freethinkers - anyone interested in preserving and extending women's autonomy, freedom and equality:
A Freethinker is a person who thinks - free from superstitious beliefs, free from religion; rational thinkers who think and make decisions on the basis of reason and evidence and do not accept the prejudices and discrimination based on thousands of years of patriarchal religion.
Secular means i.e. 'without religion' and include atheists, secularists and anti-theists, who see the harm that has been done to people, particularly women by the patriarchal religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam that treat women as second class citizens.
Based on worship of ‘god the father’ the relationships between men and women, especially marriage, have not been developed as a partnership based on equality and respect, but on the inferiority and obedience of women. These attitudes persist.
Women were traditionally owned & controlled by their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons and were strictly limited in what they could do, excluded from education, the professions, government etc. and we can still see the remnants of these attitudes. Even in Britain today all women are not yet free and equal in many respects, as a group they are still treated unfairly.
Even now women are still expected to take on most of the role of cleaning, caring, catering - the domestic chores of family life, work in the lowest paid jobs and do not have equal pay and pensions.
Though we in Britain have been luck to have seen progress over the last 200 years or so, as the society has become more secular, brought about by a few reformers in every generation, many of them women freethinkers, there are many religious conservatives who try to prevent further progress, and would gladly undo many of those reforms.
We need women able to cut through the traditional preaching and stereotyping of men and women that lead to so much macho violence in society – the abuse of women and coercive sex.
Women must be free to have children or not, get married or not, and have sex with whoever they choose under whatever circumstances they choose. And must be able to avoid unwanted pregnancy, motherhood & STDs - ‘God’s punishments’ for being ‘careless’ or ‘feckless’ or having sex outside of marriage not for the procreation of children. (This is why the religions are against LGBT people and same sex relationships)
Women must have equal representation in government, not to always be dependent upon a husband or father who is supposedly ‘responsible for her upkeep’.
We need to shed the infantalising of women as dependents, and 'junior' partners in society, and persuade women not to collude with sexism for fear of offending conservative opinion, religious beliefs and men.
Sue May 2009
