Women dominated/women only spaces

You see it on here all the time. Men are not excluded from this section due to the nature of MN but the space is definitely female dominated.

I find quite often male posters will tell us what they think we should/should not be discussing, make threads all about them and their personal experiences/world view, make threads about them not being given cookies and treated like heroes because they have thought about feminism for 30 seconds.

I don't know if this is a subconscious attempt to reassert authority due to feeling threatened by a female dominated discussion or if it is just the way these posters are all the time. Certainly it displays a sense of entitlement and a very annoying lack of humility and self awareness. And it's rude.

Welcome out of lurkdom. Not a 101 question at all (and 101 questions are fine when they are asked genuinely).

I think on one level men aren't used to being excluded from things - they benefit as a group from positive discrimination so it feels jolly unfair to them to not be allowed to dominate something.

Some men think women need; to be kept in their place/kept rational/to be told how to do things, etc by men.

Some men don't like the strength and support for each other that women get when they get together.

Some men understand that when women get together to discuss feminism they are going to analyse male privilege and the power structures that privilege men and oppress women. Some men don't like this because they do not want anything to happen that might mean that they have to relinquish some privilege or treat women as fully human.

I'm so joining up for Zumba after reading this:

shakespearessister.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/rooms-of-our-own.html

Honestly, I think some men walk into a space where they are not likely to be (1) amongst other men and thereby automatically treated as 'in the gang' or (2) fawned over by women who think they exist to make men feel good and have a complete existential crisis. If the world doesn't revolve around ME, an insecure man thinks, it can't be working right! PANNIIIIC!

I suspect that for some men, women-dominated spaces are a threat to their perceived sense of entitlement to be the voice that gets heard. And women-only spaces are threatening because, as the oppressing class has always known when they try to restrict the ability of the oppressed class to gather together unmonitored- they must be up to something.

(Hint: We are )