New ish boyfriend - masonic lodge - weird?

[Creambun2]

Have been seeing a guy for just over three months now, all going well, seems a "normal" person (important for me after some awful relationships). However, this guy is part of masonic lodge and is asking me to come to some "ladies" night - sounds like some do from the 1930s or something.

AIBU to think this is a bit weird? He is in his early 30s. The only knowledge of the masonic world I have is that they used to deliver my grandmother a Christmas hamper every year after my grandfather died.

Why would a young bloke want to mess around in aprons doing "rituals" with loads of probably older men?! Is he going to suggest sex with aprons and gloves next

Anyone got any experience of this or been to one of these ladies nights ever?

Is this guy from Berkshire but goes to a Buckinghamshire lodge? I ask because I had a tinder date with a member of the funny handshake brigade few months back but he was a twat who spent the whole evening talking to my breasts and going on about the polish prostitute he paid £250 for the week before and all that he did to her and the amount of coke snorted.
I pulled over up the road and delete delete block!!

Going to Ladies Night is the one thing I miss about ex-H. I'm hugely antisocial but I loved the Ladies Night.

There is a sinister aspect to Freemasons, but it's not usually at the level that local freemasons get involved in. Just an old fashioned boys club with school dinners and some earthy politically incorrect humour locally.

What sinister aspect? There "was" years ago, same as the different aspects of religion. It is now a social and more stupid boys club than anything. Bit like the WI :)

There's nothing sinister, it's basically Brownies for grown men.

It's known as The Mickey Mouse Club in this house ( because of the gloves! )

'You have to be an honest, decent member of society, backed up by two other masons in order to join the masons.'

So nothing like the WI or guides then, which any woman or girl can join.

I would not speak to anyone involved in the Freemasons, unless I had to for work purposes.

It has a terrible history, and not just from many years ago. This is well documented. There is absolutely no justification for being involved in it whatsoever.

'Is there evidence that the WI are not also corrupt? i certinally know of places were they do manuplaite employment by employing members over non member etc?'

What, like the police stitching up innocent people, or Government investigations? Is that the kind of thing you want me to prove the WI haven't done?

I wouldn't know if they didn't tell me, obviously. And of course they are just like normal people.

What saddens me about a lot ofv the remarks here is the deep-seated opposition to what is basically a self-improvement society for - shock horror - men.

How dare such a thing exist. And how dare they do such offensive things, with their silly clothes and misogynistic handshake.

Snort.

And Scottish contributors tempted to have a go should remember that sectarianism isn't a problem outside Scotland and NI.

Maybe it is like the Internet in that if you ask some people what it's for they'd say it's for sharing lolcats, play games and having fun, and others would say it's for exchanging important encrypted messages and even others would say probably its main purpose is to build big personal networks like LinkedIn for personal enhancement.I guess it could be several things at once, simultaneously, but since I'm female it doesn't hold much interest; for me it's like discussing different shades of colour with someone who is entirely colourblind, I just can't conceptualise what it is.

"a self-improvement society for - shock horror - men"

Well, since that's basically another term for THE WHOLE WORLD, I think we're quite within our rights to oppose it.

Hear, hear, CaoNiMarticus.

I did the Grand Lodge your in London. Found it very interesting and the lodge was beautiful.

I'm also in the WI and have been since I was 30. I don't find that particularly sinister either.

Anachronistic, sexist organisation which functions to keep jobs for the boys.

This does sum it up, but in terms of the ladies night, the person who said '70's dinner dance' is spot on. We did have to properly dress up dinner suits etc but it was meal and raffle at the end. The only 'ceremonial' element seemed to be everyone having to shake hands and exchange words with the grand master or whatever he's called before going in to dine - much like a wedding.

We went as they wanted to recruit,if that's the word, my husband. He can't be doing with it so we were polite at event and declined follow ups. In his line of work (which I also work in btw, but I was very much an ornament) it was definitely an advantage being in the masons, but times have changed and it's pretty meaningless, in our field anyway.

My Husbands a Mason and has been for 34 years, it is a sort of Mens club and as he was not into sport this gave him a sort of hobby. Yes the Gloves and Aprons sound a bit weird but then I got used to it and it kept him out for a few hours so I could visit friends or do my own thing. Ladies Nights are a really nice evening of Good Dinner/Dancing and usually in a really nice hotel. Great prizes for the raffle. So make the most of it and enjoy.

There's no reason why men shouldn't be involved in a fraternal, charitable organization and surely it's a kind of reverse discrimination to think otherwise. My friends father died when we were around 11, her mother went to pieces then took up with a new male friend who beat her children black and blue. This was mid 70's, the school principal was appealed to directly but stated it was a family issue. The Mason's paid for her and her brother to go to boarding school and at that stage they were close to going into care, both did really well and that intervention took the whole family out of a terrible situation.

Frazzled was their late father a mason?

You would be surprised at the people you know who are in the Masonic.

Well when they give you a masonic handshake it tends to give the game away a bit.

I've rarely been surprised, they're more often than not, middle aged, right-wing and mediocre. The sort of people who would be propping up the bar of a golf club if they weren't at the masons.

Really? I don't know what 'a masonic handshake' is so wouldn't know it if I saw it.