As a man, should I post on MN

[Dadfromthesea]

I love the MN forums. More often than not I just read them, as they’re useful from a parenting point of view and often very funny to boot. I occasionally comment. I’ve started one thread ever, before this one.

Saw a thread this morning about a perceived rise in ‘women hating’ men posting on here. I’m definitely not one of those, and would be mortified to come across as one. But before long the thread started talking about men in general, and whether or not they should be posting at all on a forum called Mumsnet that’s predominantly aimed at women.

I get the need for women-only spaces, and would hate to intrude on one unintentionally.

So as a man, as a dad, am I being unreasonable by posting on Mumsnet? If the consensus is that I am, then I’ll stop.

I love that men take an interest in parenting forums. Emotional labour and that! Would happily see this 50/50

just be aware there are some really awful brutal people on here who love to bash men

gosh. Are these people worse than the men who physically bash women and kill one a day in the UK?

@StephanieSuperpowers of course he suggested he wrote a book. He had a whole thread worth of people telling him how great he is and he’s a man so just assumed he’d be amazing at that too

@CurlewKate absolutely get here you're coming from. But considering the absolutely shockingly low standards most of the women on here appear to have, knowing someone's sex makes no odds to me.

Also I suspect quite a few incels on here now, pretending to be women.

And on a side note, I like his writing as I did the poster (female) who had a thread about sheep trying to kill themselves!

@Bertiesmum3 "ive got no problem with a man posting, just be aware there are some really awful brutal people on here who love to bash men"
Don't worry-there are plenty of women in here who will rush to their defence. If men were as willing to rush to women's defence in real life, the world would be a much better place!

No I like it when reasonable, considerate men post because it's good to have the perspective of a broader range of people. But you don't have to "out" yourself! Thoughtful contributions to discussions are always welcome in my opinion, whatever the gender.

Your body might look womanly, but does it identify as womanly? Apparently these things are confusing and you don't want to annoy anybody...

@Onelifeonly
"Thoughtful contributions to discussions are always welcome in my opinion, whatever the gender."
I disagree. I think it's important to declare an interest. For example, when I comment on a thread about babies or young children, I try to remember to say that I'm much older than the average Mumsnetter, so people can decide whether what I say might be informed old fashioned thinking.

One board on Mumsnet is actually Dadsnet...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/dadsnet

I hate everyone. Men/ women is really irrelevant.

😆 🤣 only joking. I think it takes a lot of people to make a world. Different opinions and perspectives are always useful.

Well said.

you will be fine , most mumsetters are male identified so they will brown nose you at every opportunity
as long as you're not a perv I don't care
I've long accepted that there will never be any female spaces that won't eventually be infiltrated by men

There’s Dadsnet he can post on

I think anyone the who wants to use the site positively should be allowed to do so.

I don't have children are there are some posterss who would prefer if only mums posted but I'll continue until MNs stops allowing it.

This thread right here is why we have men in women’s sports and prisons

Personally I come on mumsnet for a community of women. There are plenty of other sites out there that have a broader focus (e.g. reddit).

I wouldn't dream of joining a site for dads and start sharing my opinions 'as a mum'. It's a very male thing to do to be honest.

There are childfree people on mn, then you’re saying they shouldn’t post either because it’s ‘Mumsnet’? And the ‘it’s a very male thing to do’ is why the op is afraid to post on mn I’d assume

@Dadfromthesea There's a thread like this one every few months. There's never a consensus.

I joined MN a couple of years back at my DW's suggestion, as she thought I'd find it interesting/amusing. I'm on a handful of support threads for my DCs' cohorts and interests, and they feel like lovely communities where I've been made very welcome. I also use this name in a couple of topics where some regulars vaguely know what I'm interested in and am competent to advise on. In more general threads I now tend to post under a namechange so as not to distract, unless it's absolutely relevant that I'm a man. But it never is.

That's a rather odd leap, to say the least.
This is not, and never has been, a women's only site. Nor is the OP pretending to be a woman (on the contrary).

Yeah I know but the fangirling to a man is nauseating

why? is there some law that dictates we can't find his thread amusing simply because he is a man?

Are we only permitted to find women funny?

Didn't even occur to me until several pages in that the thread in question was even being posted from a male perspective.... was i obliged to suddenly get the ick and declare it unfunny because it had dawned on me after post 600 that the author was in possession of a penis?

Not at all @PhantomUnicorn. but do many women follow a ‘successful’ thread with a ‘humble’ ‘do you lasses mind me being here? thread’ purely to garner praise?

It’s a parenting and general internet site

Lots of men, lots of women who aren’t parents (men who aren’t parents? maybe not)

it’s fine

I never said the forum was for mothers only. But I will answer.
There are different kinds of Mums who may not actually have given birth: Stepmums, adoptive Mums, foster Mums ,would be Mums and of course women with their own children. Then there are women interested in Feminism-.not all of them will have children but they raise many discussions about women's place in society. These discussions are of interest to all of us. Men sometimes take on a hostile tone at these and try to instruct us in more acceptable thinking. I suppose that's why they try muscle in on female territory.

If you declare yourself to be a man then I scroll past

The creators may have said that it’s a site for everybody, because they are being inclusive, they have to be
especially in todays climate of the “alphabet brigade”

but they called it MUMSnet for a reason , they didn’t call it parentsnet did they
the target audience is women and they are the majority users of this site

look at their little cartoon picture, do you see a male in this picture? No