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much less religious, a little more spiritual: the religious and spiritual views of third-wave feminists in the UK

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Feminist Review

Abstract

How religious or spiritual are feminists today? Filling a gap in the literature on feminism and religion, this article outlines findings from the first survey-based study of feminists’ spiritual attitudes in recent years. Drawing on survey data, this article explores the religious and spiritual views of 1,265 third-wave feminists, most of whom are women in their twenties and thirties. Comparison with surveys of religious adherence in the UK reveals that these feminists are significantly less religious and somewhat more spiritual than the general population. The article goes on to ask why this might be, and suggests three explanations: feminism's alignment with secularism, secularization and feminism's role within it, and feminism's association with alternative spiritualities.

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Notes

  1. The principal researchers were Catherine Redfern, founder of the popular UK-based feminist website The F Word, and me. I am a Christian feminist with an academic background in women's studies and sociology of religion. Rose Holyoak was employed as a part-time research assistant and assisted with survey administration, coding and data input.

  2. Although there are a number of Quakers, who do not consider themselves traditionally religious or who identify with religions such as Buddhism, Quakers were placed in the Christian category because of Quakerism's Christian roots.

  3. Figures are for women rather than the general population because, since 91 per cent of our survey respondents identified as female, using Census figures for women enables a more accurate comparison.

  4. In what follows, I use the words ‘supportive of’ almost interchangeably with ‘involved in’ and avoid terms such as ‘belong to’ or ‘practice’. This is intentional. Because of the way we phrased the question, I do not have information about affiliation to religious or spiritual organizations, or about religious practices (e.g. frequency of prayer). A follow-up qualitative study (currently underway) will provide information on affiliation and practice.

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Aune, K. much less religious, a little more spiritual: the religious and spiritual views of third-wave feminists in the UK. Fem Rev 97, 32–55 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2010.33

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