Should feminist discussion groups be women-only spaces?

That should be the same for any group. Right on, always right, refuse to listen people can be annoying in any group :)

Sunshine: Oh, very good idea. And I also think that it should be clearly explained and understood that anyone who pisses off the other members and won't behave can be booted out of the group.

Sunshine - don't see why not, if you're meeting often.

I used to be a part of a women's discussion group, and men were allowed to join as 'supporters' but not members, and pnly attend our 'open' events. There were also a few who regularly joined us in the pub after the actual meetings.

I am in favour of women having women-only groups if they want them just as I think people should be able to set up black-only, or Roma-only, or Chinese-only.... or indeed Sikh-only, Druid-only, cat-owners only (you're not allowed to join if you have dogs as well as cats) chess-players only....

A specific problem which women-only groups sometimes encounter is transgender people and whether or not transwomen are to be allowed to join the group. Frankly an awful lot of time can be wasted on this and otherwise good groups destroyed...

Basically I would only be concerned about an exclusive group if it was a) large and b) depriving other people of some sort of facility or right or convenience that they couldn't get any other way. So, if your local women's group is not just women-only but specifically anti-trans and you don't agree with that, the answer is not to try and shut that group down, but to start your own.

Women-only for all the reasons everyone has given.

If men wanted to be involved that badly they can set up their own group and the two could join together for campaigns, etc.

YY to 'right on dudes' being some of the most entrenched sexists I've ever met...

"My male partner has strong feminist beliefs and could make a positive contribution to local feminist activism - why shouldn't I be allowed to bring him to meetings?"

I guess the answer, for me, would be - set up your own mixed sex meeting then. I would prefer to be discussing feminism in a woman only group, and that would be the sort of group I would join or set up.

There is always a feeling that women only things are somehow "supersexist". I think it is a reflection of society- women are expected to smoothe things over and consider everyone's feelings and make everyone happy. So it is seen as especially outrageous when they do something to please themselves, or exclude anyone.

@Alameda - many support groups allow people indirectly affected to attend. For example, support groups for cancer patients often allow carers and family members to attend. Men are affected by many feminist issues - if I was to lose my job due to discrimination, be denied access to family planning services, or get raped, the effect on my male partner would be significant, and I'd want him right beside me fighting for my rights.

No, but they should be women-positive spaces. i.e. If men turn up and start spouting anti-feminist rhetoric, those individuals should be asked to leave and banned from coming back. They also shouldn't be allowed to dominate the space and distract attention with "what about the menz?" questions.

I would be less likely to attend a women-only group. My male partner has strong feminist beliefs and could make a positive contribution to local feminist activism - why shouldn't I be allowed to bring him to meetings?

I suppose you could look at the purpose of the group. If it's purpose is to discuss issues and effect change, would it be useful to have "supporters" along to help with that? If men are concerned about gender equality and the rights of women in society, would there be harm in having them there as supporters?

For example, I have not had cancer but I would like to get involved in a group fighting for cancer research and the rights of people with cancer. Or what about someone who is not a minority race going to a group fighting for anti-racism?

Of course - if the member of the group causes problems and tries to explain how it must feel, then that is an issue. But what if their presence is genuine? That they want to help and support? Is that an issue - or is it the fact that it is a safe place to discuss issues?

am struggling to think of any other group to which access for those not directly affected by the issues might be sought - anyone?

when my daughter set up a young parents group, nobody said 'but what about parents who are over 25?' and when her youth group got just under £5 million funding from the government nobody said 'you must use that money to also run events for older people'. Nobody said 'what about people with unipolar depression or schizophrenia' when I started a bipolar support group. But I do remember opposition to the women's group, even though it wasn't particularly feminist then or now. Why is that?

I've not been to a feminist group yet. Are your members typical of the local community or are they more full of certain types of women? I suppose what I'm suggesting is that women do experience discrimination within the patriarchy but some women may have no idea about a particular group of women's experiences IYSWIM. For example, a young single mum living in a council house experiences a totally different life and has a totally different experience under the patriarchy to a well off, married, middle class mum. I suppose as long as they listen to each other and try to understand and support, that is important.

I think it's fear, Turnip

The compromise my group came to is that our regular meetings are woman-only but we run mixed events sometimes. We had one person coming along once purely to tell us that we were sexist for EVER having woman-only meetings and she would therefore be boycotting us. I think it is fascinating that there is so much hostility to women organising as a political group.

If I were to make time in my v. v. busy and crazed life to go to something like this (and how I'd like to!) then I only do so if it were women-only. I can be talked over, patronised, mansplained to and misconstrued in my daily life (like here in FWR by male posters, sometimes!) - if I'm going to talk Feminism IRL, let it be with women, who experience patriarchy, and who are starting from a similar position as me.

Women-only groups are absolutely necessary and it will be much harder for feminism to progress without them.

If people want to have mixed groups too that's fine, but I have always found the women-only ones more interesting, challenging and constructive.

you could have sort of open meetings every so often where interested men can attend, if they want