How women act differently in the presence of men

Im going to be the odd one out here and say I don't behave any differently- consciously at least.

For me it's about how well I know the person, not whether they're male or female.

I was in a mixed class at school which had some very open and frank sexual discussions- I think that was about the teachers ability to run such a discussion rather.

I am a classic introvert though- I don't like large groups of people, "girls nights" etc, I like to go out with people I know well and can talk to. If I do go out it's normally as a mixed group and nothing happens that wouldn't have in a single sex group.

I have a feeling that there might be a couple of radical feminists in our Women's Forum . Certainly more than a few that value women's only spaces.

we have a women's network at work. men complained about it being exclusively women. so now it's still called the women's network but it's for men too

i don't mind men on MN (how could i really - if they are parents they have more "right" to post here than i do), but i do like that it is a place that men are cautious about when it comes to posting

And I agree about online and men butting in. Definitely. Also it can be instantly noticeable even if you didn't know they were a man. Different tone going on.

I agree about how we talk about different topics in female company.

I work in a male dominated office. On the rare occasion we have a female only meeting the dynamic is very different. Much much more respectful. Less talking over each other and also we can make fun of ourselves in a safe way. I mean not nastily, not in a way that we lose face with the others in the room and in a way that is familiar to us.

I am also part of a Women's Forum at work and they are similar. If you are speaking and perhaps having difficulty articulating what you mean they won't fill in the gaps but encourage you along that path and give you time to get your words out. And give you time to speak in the first place.

With female friends I immediately feel more relaxed. I'm not nervous about having a couple of drinks with them for example. (I've only noticed that recently how I watch my drink in the presence on men. Probably a legacy from a previous relationship). And I can moan. And they don't have the solutions to all my problems on tap for me to follow. To the letter .

I feel that online women tend to want to leave a comment but men want everyone to actively engage with them and, thereby, make the thread all about them. Do you think there will be facial-recognition technology (or something like that) in a few years time which would allow websites to become women-only spaces? That would be great.

It definitely makes a big difference to me online. I find it very intrusive when a man butts in to a thread that's previously been all women, expecting to be interacted with in a similar way.

It wasn't, but that one is good. I can't find it.

bat - yes, I notice that.

Also in my career have often found I made a point in a meeting that was unheard/overlooked - a few mins later same point made by a man and heralded as wisdom
Some years ago teaching mixed class in France, experimented by making sure I kept track of asking male/female questions , and was accused of boys that I was favouring girls - clearly their expectation was that boys would dominate...

Online -yes! I have to admit, I hate it if I am on a thread on MN and a man chips in ( tho obs with usernames, who knows, bit if eg they refer to DW). strange because in RL and on other forums have male and female friends and do not object to men, but MN feels like a safe/female in-joke environment somehow, and I don't want men here.

Years ago I did a linguistics module that looked at the role of gender in conversation. It was a beginner module so looked at conversations between two people. If a man and a woman spoke the same amount, the woman was perceived as dominating the conversation. For the man to actually be perceived as dominating the conversation the ratio had to be around 70:30. What did I take from that? Shut up a bit in mixed company. Five years of girls school was undone fairly quickly once I had to find my way in the real (read: Masculine) world.

was it this one LRD? qz.com/259149/how-men-dominate-online-commenting/

I think it does make a difference online.

Much of the time, you can tell who's male and who's female on threads where it matters.

There was a study about how much men and women comment on different types of articles and how much their comments attracted 'likes'. I'll try to dig it out.

do you think it makes a difference online too? so on MN when someone identifies themselves as a man on a thread? it probably depends on the thread topic/section

Yes I'm comfortable and confident and don't feel judged. No one notices my shoes, my hair, my not wearing make up. No one tries to put me down or gossip about people I've never heard off.

I love male company!

I went to an all girls school for gcse then did my sixth form at a (state) boys school with a minority of girls in the sixth form. I found it really hard to adjust from an environment of healthy competition (albeit with truly shite science teaching) to an environment where the girls were considered superior almost by dint of being female, but after someone was groped on the stairs we were all given a bollocking about dressing more appropriately. We all adjusted our behaviour massively.

I was at a presentation evening at DD1's (15yo) school. It is a girls school but with boys in the 6th form.

There were about 15 groups; each made a short presentation to the audience. Some were better than others, but they were mostly okay.

There was one group comprising 4 boys and 1 girl. They. Were. Rubbish. Utterly crap. To the extent that I felt angry that they were so underprepared. (This is a selective school, so no question of them doing the best they could - they really hadn't tried.)

But the audience of mostly teenage girls giggled away at them and not in a mocking way.

I was angry that if girls had put on such a rubbish performance, they wouldn't have got away with it, but boys did. I think if the audience had been teenage boys, rather than girls, there would have been lots of jeering at their ineptitude.

I was pleased that DD noticed it. She mentioned it to me, rather than the other way round.

Good thread. Marking my place for when the kids are in bed.

I think it is very normal that we act differently in women-only spaces, isn't it?

This is why they are so important.

I've not seen the thread in question, though, so am utterly bemused about snout transplant comments.

I sit leaning forwards with my legs wide apart and my hands clasped in front of me.

I went to an all girls school as well until 16 and had no idea that it was considered very unusual for girls to enjoy & study subjects like Physics.

It was great.

That's been proven - girls do much better in all-girl schools.

The s-level english class at my all-girl high school had some really intense and frank discussions about sexuality among other things that I can't see happening in a mixed group.

Although my english teacher for GCSE in a mixed school was very confident in discussing sex, it was never personal in any way. Which is entirely appropriate given the 16-year-old boys in the room.