You don't have to be feminist to post here, but it helps...

[MrsReasonable]

I've noticed that whenever a 'non-feminist' view is brought up, there are occasionally some posts along the lines of 'this is a feminist board, why come here if you aren't...', etc.

Genuine question - is this a feminist board, or a board about feminism? Obviously the majority of posters are feminist, but I'm not sure whether that is because feminists (surprise surprise) like discussing feminism, or because it is seen as a feminist 'safe haven'?

I really do tend to think that anyone who complains on and on about the feminist 'meanies' is either a whinyarse who needs a break from computing, or peddling a majorly anti-feminist agenda. Stupid people think that if you shout a lie loudly and often enough it becomes true I suppose. ('Feminists are horrible, that's why feminism shouldn't be allowed'). Because I have not seen much meanness on here (less than on FF/BF or smacking/anti-smacking discussions) despite a right old range of viewpoints. And lots of posters on this thread have said that, actually, they have enjoyed being exposed to radfem arguments and learned something.
If you don't like it, you can fuck off. No one is forcing you to stay here and be disagreed with if being disagreed with makes you poo yourself with fright. But not liking other people's discussing a subject doesn;t mean you get to stop the discussion.

Exactly, Beachcomber. And Chickens. Although, I am going to supply a bit more food for the feast before I am done.

Lenin, but the focus of the thousands of posts on this particular subject is about the meanie feminists and those who don't feel able to post because of them. What about the likes of me who is new to feminism and wants to explore ideas without having my mental health questioned or defending myself against accusations of man-hating, thinking too much, being part of a cliquey mob and having a questionable relationship history? It hasn't happened much to me personally, but that is only because I lurk much more than I post and I am extra careful when I do post. It's shit, frankly.

I think the MNHQ definition of troll is very narrow.

I agree with Nick Beachcomber, Ayerobot and SGB.

See, I said upthread that I often agree with SGB.

i am scottish.cant prove it online.so no point demanding prove it or links

Although amazingly SGB and I robustly disagreed on the bikini car wash thread. And yet we are both still here to tell the tale and neither of us have been forced to reject feminism because another feminist implied that we were talking bollocks!

i am baffled by the cant say that in a feminist safe space ethos
and you know what some women do lie about rape,and it isnt heresy to say so. female dysfunction and stigmatisation is in itself a really interesting discussion

OK Lenin - perhaps we need to have a policy of reporting every personal attack that is made here. Including insinuations of mental health issues/issues with one's father/man hating/etc?

The difficulty is though that it isn't personal attack to say 'I think this (clearly feminist) view is insane and man hating'. It is however silencing and unacceptable in a feminist space....(and boring, tedious, lazy, etc see above post).

Because every time someone mentions a woman lying about rape, it harms the cause. The media focuses on women "lying", we don't need the feminism section focusing on it too. It's a small mino9rity, yet if the misogynists had their way, we'd constantly be hearing cases of "she lied about this, she lied about that". Again, it's a very small minority that lie about rape, and there's usually a reason behind that. Why is the concept of believing women so hard to believe?

Sorry, I'm still with LeninGrad. I do agree that we should be calling up misogyny, but I'm still not convinced that shouting someone out as an MRA troll is the way to go. It's occassionally someone that's simply misguided. If we suspect it is a troll, there's the report button. Or ignorance. I'm for pointing out misogyny. I'm just against attatching labels.

But we do Lenin - and then get accused of scaring people off the forum and being bullying meanies.

And then we have threads like this one.

'But can't we just call people on that and/ or then ignore Beach? Although we can report too, it isn't on, I agree.'

So WHY are we still talking about this?! Do you want to call people on it then ignore, or do you want to carry on about it all, again?

I have noticed posters crossing a line and I have reported them or taken it up with them on the thread. And some of them have proven to be trolls, and I wasted time talking to them. But nothing like as much time as is being spent here on going over and over things question of whether some people are mean posters.

If you are happy to call people on it/report it, why don't we just do that? If a load of us actually did that, and offered support on scary threads to newbies, and pointed out to anyone who gets overly aggressive that they're getting overly aggressive and not everyone agrees, then maybe newbies and lurkers wouldn't be staring at this thread wondering what the fuck we're all smoking?

no.harmful is to create a dont go there discourse.as if dont talk about it=doesnt happen

as humans we are capable of dysfunction and lying.and this includes both men and women - simply by not acknowledging a male/female has lied doesnt diminish the falsehood or its impact.

and nor does it mean if one misrepresentation made,that all others lie too.but cannot dismiss or not discuss some lies because find it hard or scared how it will impact elsewhere

If you are happy to call people on it/report it, why don't we just do that? If a load of us actually did that, and offered support on scary threads to newbies, and pointed out to anyone who gets overly aggressive that they're getting overly aggressive and not everyone agrees, then maybe newbies and lurkers wouldn't be staring at this thread wondering what the fuck we're all smoking?

Agree with this. 110%

SM, I think it is because any feminist who has actually bothered to inform themselves about rape knows that false reporting is no more common for rape than it is for any other crime. In other words it is a bit of a nonissue.

Most of us like to discuss the issue on a slightly higher and more interesting and useful to women level.

and ideologically i dont think any topic off limits on feminist board, it doesnt mean dont discuss that some rape allegations are false,in case someone feels hurt or misrepresented

any topic can and should be discussed robustly,on feminist board
might not all agree,but certainly have the dialogue
dont just dismiss as not to be uttered in feminist space