Too late for the webchat BUT can we have a new section in FWR please?

[BOF]

One which IS a safe space for feminists? Where it would be possible to talk about, yunno, stuff from a feminist perspective without dealing with hostile trolls and posters who harangue and derail feminist discussion?

The concept of a safe space is pretty fundamental to feminist theory, so it seems weird that this isn't recognised on MN. It could even be non-googlable and not in Active Convos, like OTBT.

The main areas could remain, and new people to feminism/people offering alternative viewpoints could still post as much as they liked.

It strikes me that this might encourage back some of the excellent posters we have lost, and solve the problem of persistent frustration which characterises the often-derailed discussions.

What do people think?

An area for pro-feminist discussion isn't in the least bit "threatening", BOF. It just isnt the kind of thing that MN does. You can post in chicken keepers with any stance in relation to chicken keeping; you can post in The Doghouse with any stance in relation to dog-keeping (and in fact HQ came down heavily against Doghouse posters who were so monomaniacal in their support of dogs that they were being aggressive to posters who wanted to rehome dogs in order to put their childrens interest or their own peace of mind first); you can post for or against formula feeing in a single topic.

The kind of moderation involved in determining and enforcing a pro-feminist stance would be very different from what is done elsewhere on the site. And it isn't at all clear that a parenting site with limited resources (already very stretched by the demands of moderation in general) would want to engage in a very different kind of moderation just for one area of the site. That sort of moderation would also be off-putting for a whole range of feminist posters who have felt their contributions to be unfairly denigrated on the feminist board.

It does seem a bit perverse to imagine that MNHQ are "threatened by" or otherwise hostile to the idea of feminist discussion. I think they just provide it in the manner, and to the extent, that suits the kind of site MN is. There are other sites promoting a different sort of discussion, in which restrictions are made about what stance you can post from.

If it engendered good debate, it would be a pity to have a 30 day limit.

I don't think MNHQ are threatened by it at all- I haven't explained that well enough then. I was responding to the idea WereTricks brought up that sections of wider society feel threatened by it, which is why discussions are so often derailed.

I'd be quite happy to keep my disruptive arse out of any safe space.
I like the way that the FWR boards have developed and broadened over the last year or so.

Alexis "Or perhaps we can have a separate topic for people to post "what about the menz", and start a few threads on it about how hard men's lives are," - that'll be Dadsnet then.... There's a vast, unidentified space there..

Pan, It's 2013 and you are having to even have this discussion.

you're absolutely right and also about dadsnet. The feminist posters don't pop over to DN to derail threads about access or post-children relationship issues. I'm not saying that all men on mn are MRAs (before someone takes offence) but there are some posters with agendas and they always keep within TGs but still goad like motherfuckers. If a feminist discussion didn't pop up in their ACs, they would be less likely to post.

True lissieloo , all of that. And MRAs never make it over there. It would take a bit of heat off elsewhere, but discussion isn't what they are after.

one last note, for me, on DN - more female posters post there than males do. We are vastly fewer in number but, still, I suspect a ' I just couldn't be bothered' notion. Which is a bit of an indictment.

Pan, that's interesting. I certainly am less likely to go hunting for a thread if the topic doesn't occur in my ACs hiding AIBU has done wonders for my BP

I have AIBU hidden for the same reason but will check it for a cycling thread before I log on

I completely agree with BOF's post of 17:30:20

I personally think relationships and FWR both need moderating, to keep the derailers and trolls at bay.

I would not post in either section due to a few very unpleasant posters who continually derail and goad on threads (have been here 6 years btw, this is a recent name change!).

I keep reporting one poster in particular who keeps having posts deleted by MN - but still they are here (yet AF was suspended for less).

Until MN moderate these sections I think lurkers should just keep hitting the report button. After all MN have said they love reports.

What's missing are views of current F/WR regular posters, such as BBE, Sabrina, and Grennie, iirc correctly?

I'd love a safe space for feminism on MN but I don't think it will happen.

I think MN sort of tried to do it when it set up the feminist theory section and there were others sub sections FWIR but no-one ever used them.

I would love this to happen, but I don't think it will.

The moderation of it would be difficult, and I do wonder if it would be seen as a game, to try to derail without being deleted, if you see what I mean.

There's anti-feminist posts and there's disagreements about certain issues between feminists. I think it's important to recognise not all feminist sing from the same hymn sheet.