To think how come there are men on Mumsnet ?

[Daisyflower12345]

I was quite confused to be honest.

I genuinely thought Mumsnet as it's says mums. Is for women only just surprised to come across a lot of males.

Now it's not a bad thing at all. Just quite surprising to be honest ?

This comes up all the time. It’s a parenting site, some men are parents, it’s not really a big deal. The name obviously implies it’s a site for women, but there’s very little about the content which is exclusive to motherhood.

It's right there at the top: by parents for parents.

That said, there are even non parents here! 😱

Yanbu. If you set up a women’s space, men will shortly arrive and start bossing about the women, unless you have a very strong fence around the women’s space, which mumsnet does not.

It's an open internet forum. Anyone can join, anyone can post, anyone can read.

Some are here for parenting chat. Some probably like talking to women - they probably have female friends IRL. Some have a professional interest, eg nannying.

And others are twats who like to spout self important shite and have women hanging off their every thought.

The fact is there are not many parent sites aimed at men. Their is a seperate dads section through mumsnet. But I took this site be more about parenting then about being a female space. Thats not why I joined it.

@Skysblue It's not a women's space.

Quite right. Also it’s MUMsnet so anyone who isn’t a mum shouldn’t be on here either.

Better get rid of all the contraception boards shouldn’t they. In fact, all the boards not directly relating to being a mother. So all the TV ones, style and beauty, Christmas, spats with neighbours etc. They can all go too.

Our local mums fb group has a strong women only policy, which I love because you can talk about childbirth / bf / mastitis / menopause etc without some creep getting off on it. We get membership requests every day from men, and it is clear from their fb profiles that they aren’t parents, just creepy. Most are located overseas 🤷‍♀️ not sure why they would want to be in a small town mums group other than for creepy reasons.

There is also a much more supportive atmosphere on the mums grouo that mumsnet, which I find quite toxic. It could be because fb is real names but not having men be part of the discussion does seem to make for a nicer atmosphere.

There's lots of topics on here that are of interest to mums but not exclusively so :) For instance, I came across this site when I was googling 'best size for shower cubicle' on Google - first entry was a mumsnet discussion on shower size, which was very helpful :)

@Skysblue

Yanbu. If you set up a women’s space, men will shortly arrive and start bossing about the women, unless you have a very strong fence around the women’s space, which mumsnet does not.

Now, I'm usually the first to agree about males liking to invade women's spaces at any given opportunity but it's not really the case here on MN. It's sub-title is 'for parents', and men are parents as well. In fact, it's more sexist to expect all parent chat to be the idea that only mums have questions or issues relating to parenting. More to the point, not everyone on MN are parents or ever want to be. So 'Mums'net is rather irrelevant as a name in general.

Almost anything parenting related is directed at mothers, I think fathers deserve somewhere to seek advice as well. Really, what's the harm?

I’ve spotted my cat lounged across the keyboard with Mumsnet up before. So it’s not just humans on here.

Yanbu. If you set up a women’s space, men will shortly arrive and start bossing about the women, unless you have a very strong fence around the women’s space, which mumsnet does not.

If you encounter any bullying or other use of the site in contravention with MN rules, please do report it. MNHQ have repeatedly stated that their site is for anybody to use (may be over 18's only - not sure about that one) - mums, dads, people without children - as long as they are able and willing to abide by the site rules.

If a poster is male and an arsehole, it isn't the 'male' bit that's the actual problem....

My dad was the one that introduced me to it. He loves AIBU. And we have our own in jokes about it. I love that we have that.

Because it's a website where anyone can sign up.

I'm not even a parent (unless you count the dog)

How do you know who's a man and who isn't?

There are people like me, who are women but with a male username, there are lesbian couples who may refer to "my wife and I" but are both female and there are of course some men too, but without them announcing "Man here, in my humble manly opinion.... xyz" you don't really know.

I get most of my news, Netflix recommendations and entertainment on here, and very rarely actual parenting advice, so whether I'm female or not, I find it very useful from the perspective of a person, not a mum.

Its been a great and supportive space for relationship advice in the past, with most posters (or certainly in the olden days!) not letting men get away with being shit, so I'd be really glad if any male partner of mine came on and asked for help, as I know he'd be held to account for any lack of effort on his part. Men have to have a pretty tough skin to post on here sometimes, so if they're still here, they're welcome

Because the majority of topics are not related to parenting. AIBU, Christmas, TV... None of these require you to either be female or have children to contribute to.

@Skysblue that’s interesting that the FB group is a strict “women only” group. Whilst it’s good that women have a place they can discuss female health concerns surrounding pregnancy and breastfeeding, etc would they allow an adoptive mother to join who has nothing to contribute to such discussions?

This again?

Everyone is welcome. That’s why.

I'm not even a parent (unless you count the dog)

Well your username suggests the dog does count. 🤣🤣🤣 Love it. 😊

Because it's a website where anyone can sign up.

That answers the ‘how’ but not ‘why’. I think OP understands how men might sign up, having signed up herself. She’s asking why they’d sign up.

FWIW I think the reasons are varied - some men sign up because they want advice on parenting and similar issues. I think some sign up because they’re misogynists who enjoy giving women a good kicking over the internet, and this is part of the reason MN has become more hostile over the years. And a few of them are just pervs.