To find it ridiculous how often posters accuse other posters of being men?

[BalletCat]

I've seen it on several threads recently, one OP was accused of being a man for using the term "lady parts" instead of vulva by several different posters. I've seen several OPs who are clearly women discussing women's issues get accused of being men because of a phrase they used as if only men can use certain phrases. In other threads if someone disagrees with the general consensus they get accused of being a man or an MRA because obviously a woman would never have that opinion!

I just find it very odd and childish that grown women are accusing eachother of being men and actually genuinely believe that
1 - men are sitting around posting made up shit on Mumsnet (why the hell would anyone waste their time on such stupidity?)
2 - that it even matters.

And obviously the thread gets detailed by everyone debating whether the OP is a man or not by going through their post history, analysing everything they have said.

What is the point? Am I the only one that finds this ridiculous?

I agree. It's ridiculous.

It probably does happen ( the accusation, rather than the reality) as you seem to be paying close attention and have noticed it but as I’ve never noticed it myself, nor seen others complaining about it, I’m personally failing to see it as a major or proportionately large problem ?

There are some men (of the hairy hands variety) who do make things up, to post on here .. to try to get women to share intimate things with them.

You can normally spot them by the use of the word “panties”, or an obsession with poo, or overly flowery language, or slightly bizzare questions about breast size, discharge, and any sort of sexual fantasy… but “panties” is the main one

I've been accused of being male a couple of times, simply because I wasn't deemed compassionate enough to consider all women a victim all the time. I find that view of women reductive, I make my own mistakes all the time, I don't need a male to fuck up for me, but I'm strong and resilient, we all are.

I don't think it's a big thing, and I don't view it as the insult the posters who indulge in this fantasy hope it is. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, however erroneous it may be and others are entitled to challenge it.

Isn't panties the American term for pants though? To them pants are trousers for some reason.

I’ve been accused of it several times now. Usually because of something like I’m happy for DH to have friends who are women or not having some type of boundary in my marriage that someone else may have.

It’s incredibly irritating. Of course women can be different and have different opinions.

It is horrible when they lurk pretending to be women though. I once posted on Relationships about my marriage and then had a person who had been posting seemingly as a woman send me a disgusting direct message (and they were clearly a man).

Unless something obvious like that happens though, you simply can’t tell.

It isn’t nice to accuse someone of being a man simply because they have a different opinion. It’s almost like all women are drones with no independent thought of their own so any other opinion = must be a man.

YANBU. I agree. You only have to have a strong "voice", speak directly, say the "wrong" word and/or have an opinion majority disagree with especially when it comes to a woman and you'd be accused of being a man. It shows how they expect women to behave while chastising other women for behaving a certain way.

Hmm I can see both sides but it is definitely a problem. I've never been accused of being a man but I was once told by lots of posters that I couldn't possibly be a cyclist because otherwise I'd automatically agree with the ridiculous nonsense in the thread instead of pointing out that what they were saying was not the guidance in the Highway Code and that I'd rather follow the actual rules of the road and not get mown down by a frustrated driver to make a point.

I racked up over 1000 miles on my last bike before it gave up the ghost but yeah... apparently I'm not a cyclist. 🤣 So it happens with other things as well as sex but that sort of thing is frustratingly used to derail threads sometimes.