I am not sure whether a male perspective will be welcome here or not, but it's a public forum, so here goes.
I have begun to read and post on the FWR board in the last few weeks. I have always been interested in politics, so it has been enlightening for me, to say the least! I try to make it clear that I am a man, and I think that raises a few hackles, but I guess it is bound to.
At first, I did take some of the criticism to heart. You can feel under attack. However, in any form of political discussion, this can happen. You have to develop a thick skin and try to engage with those who are being reasonable.
Forums like this are a great way of sharing ideas, and lend themselves to people who are broadly in agreement. They really don't work well when there is conflict, particularly in areas where there is a huge amount of detail and nuance. The lack of face-to-face means you cannot tell the other person's intent - sarcasm, aggression, deliberate WUMmery etc. Hence people 'assume' a lot of stuff, get wound up, and it descends into mud-slinging and huffery.
People do get very passionate about their politics, and passion can make for poor debate, but that is unavoidable. If I had one thing to suggest about FWR, it is a bit cliquey, and maybe that is why some people here feel a bit 'outside' what can be a pretty sparky and interesting part of MN.
In the spirit of inter-gender detente, I offer you all a jammy dodger 
.
Please don't kill me!