I'd like to see more posters on the feminism board too. I can understand why some are put off from posting though.
I tend to stick to the Relationships board mainly, because that is my area of interest and I've only generally got the time to post on one board. When the Feminist board was set up, I was itching to post, but knew that I'd spend even more time that I didn't have. I lurked frequently however.
What I found though, was that the daily negative effects of sexism were showing up every day on the Relationships board, on thread after thread. Porn and prostitute use, women having unequal workloads and less leisure time, infidelity (which is steeped in gender politics), rape, coercion, bargains about "men will be men", gendered myths about women's right to enjoy sex and the whole notion that men and women are inherently different, rather than my belief that we are a species that has been conditioned differently and it is the social constructs that cause so many problems, not our basic humanity or gender.
So I tend to post from a feminist perspective on that board and lurk here to learn more, posting only if I have the time and the other board is a bit quiet.
I understand why regulars on this board don't see the need to moderate their tone and agree that women are conditioned to use passive language, rather than direct speech. However, on all the talk boards I think debate and conversation is more interesting if, as in a normal face-to-face conversation, there is dialogue that acknowledges points of agreement as well as dispute. This stops threads being derailed by arguments and people taking entrenched positions because they feel attacked.
I often roll my eyes for example when I see post after post stating that "feminism is all about women's choices" but I'd rather explain why I disagree with that viewpoint and say why I think that women's choices often actively harm women and feminism generally.
As a general observation, I have sometimes felt that there are a few taboos on the feminism boards that would be interesting to discuss. Broadly speaking, they come under the banner of women taking responsibility for our own choices and re-framing them as decisions that have consequences, rather than us acting like victims with no choices or decisions to make.
It sometimes feels like the elephant in the room in Feminist discussions, with what seems like a huge reluctance to criticise a financially independent woman's choice to be a porn star, lap dancer or prostitute, for example. Treating women as victims, when they have made active choices that harm other women, feels patronising and anti-feminist to me.
I don't think we should have a blind-spot about what is at times, pretty lousy female behaviour - nor should we be more shocked or angry when women behave as badly or worse than men. Just as I detest women being expected to have higher standards of behaviour than men, I get irritated if there is not even an acknowledgement that the behaviour has happened, was an active choice and is blameworthy.
I think it also helps women to analyse the choices we are making and how these either harm us, or others. For example, I often see threads from women in relationships with lazy, selfish or emotionally detached men and their response is to enact some power by not having sex, a choice that is encouraged by others.
My approach is to unpick that a bit more and establish whether the resentment in the relationship is being addressed indirectly and passively via sex, rather than head-on via a conversation and possibly a more open choice to leave the relationship or pursue an open relationship with someone with whom she actually wants sex. Denying a sexual woman a sex life always seems to me such a self-defeating and indirect way of enacting power in a relationship, but it often seems to be assumed by posters on here that it is normal for women not to want sex.
When I first started posting on Mumsnet, I also used to see a lot of infidelity threads where OW were victimised by posters, as being blameless and simply victims of men, despite their own active choices to get involved in a relationship that was going to cause another woman and children pain. I'm so glad not to see that so much any more, just as I am glad that OW don't tend to get blamed more by objective posters, than the unfaithful men involved.
In summary, I'm always delighted to see the regular posters on the Feminsist board out in force on the "practical" threads in Relationships and I'd love to see more posters from other boards posting in this section too.