This board is the most frightening .

[fangbanger]

Apparently.

I am a little saddened that a forum mostly used by women, has decided that the feminist boards are the most frightening of the forum.

Why do we feel that is? What can be done to prevent people from feeling so intimidated that they are too scared t post?

I agree with Goblinchild.

And also agree that it is the "FFS!" snarly posts that are part of the problem.

Just because a topic may be a well worn one to seasoned feminist posters does not mean it is to the person who posted the (possibly naive) question/thought.

As Goblin said, we get this a lot in SN, and don't jump in with "FGS, of course that isn't an ASD triad/don't be stupid, of course School Action doesnt work" etc. It is all about tone and attitude.

Being a standalone section means that you will get people who seek you out for newbie advice. How you respond to that goes a long way to determining how people view feminists (rightly or wrongly) and whether they stick around.

I absolutely do normantebbit - I agree they are conversations that need to be had and if I can't respond patiently, I don't respond. HOWEVER, when i was learning I didn't actually have any conversations - I read what was out there, nothing sophisticated, just blogs, q&as, message boards etc. So I do wish more people would avail themselves of these things - I do think they'd learn more than just asking a question on MN.

But I know people won't so it would be great if we could say 'have a read of this - and tell us what you think'. However, I admit it's not exactly a MN format.

'I do think its unfair that feminists are always held accountable for a higher standard of behaviour than the rest of humanity.'

Do you really believe that SGM? I just think that if you are trying to spread a specific message, opening eyes, educating people, teaching in fact, then it needs to be seen as something approachable and accessible to those interested onlookers.
So if you can't answe a naive or tedious question with patience, better not to post and let someone else do it.
Or redefine the board as not out to be an educational resource and see it as a committed members only corner.

I'm not sure it's held to higher standards, SGM. But I have the impression (again, rightly or wrongly) that one false move and you get your head bitten off.

And I said the same the last time this thread came around too, as did others.

It is a bit about how you want to be perceived. We do get the same questions over and over on MN, that's just the nature of the beast.

And calm patience is a better response than 'yawn', 'search the archives', 'FFS, dont you know anything' etc. I don't like those responses in any section btw.

Maybe, if trolls are such a huge problem, feminists should also be opt in? Saves a lot of the passing traffic. And means that people who end up here want to be here. And no dropping in to troll because a thread is seen in active convos etc.

But ultimately, I think a lot of patient explaining is needed, and a lit less frustration. Reserve the frustration for the rdiculiys posts in Aibu, as goblin said earlier.

My bad, I thought that was part of what the board wanted to do. Got the wrong end of the stick.

Feminism helps me make sense of the world, that's why I'm drawn to it.

I'm in awe of the posters here who seem to really know what they're talking about (dittany) and the activists (Jessinavalon and others)

It's been brought up before, but I don't think a Myth Buster thread is a good idea, because people often try to say feminists have a party line when the truth is there isn't one.

For example, some believe that anyone who states they're a feminist is entitled to do so. OThers are very clear on what feminism is (and those views might differ between feminists).

I think all can agree that women's liberation from gender based oppression is the goal.

God, sorry for typos - typing on iPod.

I think being opt in would solve a lot of the issues then, you'd not have any of the irritating casual traffic and few trolls would go to the bother of searching.

Apologies then, I was just working around the idea of why so many women find a feminist board threatening and scary to post on.

Oh, and you see the role of teacher in a very different way to me as well.

I read this board a lot but I find it intimidating because I am a definite Christian (training to be a priest). I think of myself as feminist but am aware that a lot of people here wouldn't accept me as such because of my commitment to an admittedly patriarchal religion. Informed Christian feminists are relatively few and far between, so it's a bit lonely. A thread a while back showed as much, which I statred posting on but then backed off.

Which leads back to the point about entry requirements here (although it wasn't said in as many words); is feminism a contiuum or an entity? What kind of feminists are welcome here?