to smell a really unpleasant whiff of mysogyny from some posters here?

[shinglebells]

On a number of threads recently there were some exceptionally unpleasant posts with a definite tinge of woman hating about them. Im not going to quote them because this would become a thread about a thread etc. I wondered if other mnetters felt the same, or is this just my imagination? But - if some posters are using this forum to effectively abuse posters who are generally women, what implications does this have for the site and what can be done?

I feel that misogyny is often used inaccurately on this site. People are accused of it for no real reason other than they are debating with, and disagreeing with a woman.

It has no implications for the site.

If you think posts break talk guidelines, report them.

Personal attacks and abuse will be deleted.

Anything else should be dealt with (or ignored) on the thread on which it occurs - as happens with all sorts of contentious issues. There are none which need special handling.

the comments i am thinking of were very specifically sexist towards women.

fair enough edith. i think its sad to be confronted by people who seem to be deliberately airing very nasty views in a deliberate way.

One persons idea of very sexist is just someone else's idea of a totally different opinion. Additionally, things don't always sound as intended when written down and so seem more offensive than intended.

I haven't noticed, but have maybe been on different threads. YANBU to find posts like that annoying. Best thing is to ignore and not feed.

I was just thinking the same the other day. Wondered if we had an infestation from somewhere. I should have searched some names to see if they were long time posters.

I've seen a few misogynistic posts on a handful of threads, & a few more that are just extremely nasty. I haven't noticed it as a widespread problem on the site.

Haven't noticed it. Report it or answer it.

Report? Not seen it myself.
Mumsnet have said on occasions that if people report, it helps to build up a posting history about a poster.

What edith said. I think there are general 'people dislikers' and their posts are quite obvious.

However, I've seen enormous double standards being happily applied here. Not seen anybody start a thread about implications for the site because of those...

Also what norudeshit said - one person's opinion can easily hit the target of enough person's idea of a 'label'.

I haven't noticed it.

Im not going to quote them because this would become a thread about a thread etc.

That's essentially what this thread is, so you may as well quote.

I agree with wombles re quoting; I can't say if you're BU or not, because I don't know what's offended.

Also agree re someone's opinion might offend some people and then may not bother some people at all - what do you mean by misogyny? Actual anti-woman posts or acceptance of sexism etc? That sort of thing normally gets jumped all over by quite a few, if not most from what I've seen.

It's an internet forum

You will find lots of different views.

If something breaks talk guidelines, report it.

If it doesn't break talk guidelines and you disagree, you are free to do so (whilst sticking to the guidelines yourself)

It's a tough world

Have you only just noticed this?

I think it's a large site and some of the users are bound to have misogynistic views. Usually on MN these things tend to be challenged fairly quickly by other posters.

Yep. Plenty of handmaids on here!

Yes there are misogynist posts and posters, but both are written by women as well as men.

Unless written as a personal attack against an individual poster though, Mumsnet allows hate speech against women as a group. Women don't have the protected characteristic as a group that we have in RL and in this regard, Mumsnet is no better or worse than other social networks.

Usually though, I've found misogynists of both sexes on here to be not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer and so they are easily batted away by intelligent debate. I've seen many of them get quite nasty when a brighter woman beats them in an argument and so often their posts end up getting deleted. MNHQ don't ban enough of them though...