Whenever the topic comes up, I am always careful to clarify that "I don't believe in God, but I'm not an atheist." Why? Because frankly, atheists tend to be jerks. And the latest incident in the atheist community does little to dispel that impression.
One of the biggest problems the atheist movement has is that Richard Dawkins has become its figurehead. Richard Dawkins is to atheism what Rush Limbaugh is to Republicanism: a guy that everyone hates, but who somehow became the figurehead anyway, largely by virtue of being the guy who shouts the loudest. And unfortunately, Richard Dawkins' support is as damaging to atheism's public face as Rush Limbaugh is to the Republican party's.
One day, a woman named Rebecca Watson spoke on a panel at an atheist convention in Dublin. The topic of her speech was "Misogyny in the Atheist Movement." Later that night, she excused herself from a group of people and said that she was going back to her hotel room for the night.
Some jerk followed her into the elevator (an enclosed space with no escape, no witnesses, no one to help you) and propositioned her. Don't you just love how some guys will ignore every single thing you say, just because he's hoping to "get some"? Up to and including your talk earlier in the day about misogyny and sexual assault.
This would, you might think, be a pretty clear cut case of an illustration of Watson's larger point. Or at the very least, a boorish jerk who should be ashamed of himself.
But you would be wrong! According to the atheists.
A big controversy erupted, and it was mostly a bunch of atheist men saying that Rebecca Watson was wrong, stupid, dressed salaciously, unclear in her words and actions, making it all up, blowing it out of proportion just to get attention - you know, the usual litany.
I love Melissa McEwan's characterization of these jerks as "Men who police feminism and feminists, and judge the worthiness of feminist complaints on a sliding scale." Because when Richard Dawkins stepped up to the plate, he chose to drop a big ol' deuce about how there are worse things in the world to complain about, and Rebecca Watson was wrong to be upset about what happened because THERE ARE CHILDREN STARVING IN AFRICA or whatever.
Way to go, Dawkins and anti-feminist atheists et al! Since your modus operandi seems to be "Make atheism as unappealing as possible," I would call this effort a continuing success.