I want to create a meetup group for women but confused about pronouns/gender/inclusivity

[piddocktrumperiness]

I'm thinking of setting up a group for women. A sort of women empowering women type of thing where there would be shared best practice be it in business, health, fitness, relationships, investing, personal growth and charity. I want it to be uniquely for women as I believe the lens is v different. I want it to be a safe space really too. I think men have had the advantage for many years through their clubs and networking circles that have marginalised many women.

Also it's the kind of group that I personally would like to be a part of.

It'll hopefully be a micro community of friends and wing women if needs be, social events with some structure too.

How do I do this without coming across as gender discriminatory because the gender/trans debate is so prolific and I'm finding it all v confusing

I didn't even touch on cost. We have free use of a church hall and meeting rooms.
We do not charge anything to attend. No subscription charges or entry charges. We do receive small amounts of funding from the lottery quite regularly and raise money at fundays.
We charge £1 for exercise classes as anybody can attend they do not have to be a member. We also run specialist sewing groups cake making jewelery making pottery classes etc which we charge for as we have to pay the instructors and artists.
Popular classes which we do not charge for we ask for a £5 deposit which is returned if all classes have been attended - so basically charged for not attending, wasting our time, taking a space somebody else could have used.

Theeyeballsinthesky Yes. We have close links with local cllrs, as some are female they have have expressed interest in our group. It was not a formal council meeting but she had been invited to attend one of our weekly Empowerment sessions and she posed the question out of interest.

@missnevermind

Theeyeballsinthesky Yes. We have close links with local cllrs, as some are female they have have expressed interest in our group. It was not a formal council meeting but she had been invited to attend one of our weekly Empowerment sessions and she posed the question out of interest.

I'll bet she did... Can you say which political party she is a member of?

😁 Labour 😀

It's perfectly possible, OP. I'm a member of several women-only private groups where the person organising asks the sex of anyone who wants to join and simple blocks anyone who gets spluttery and argumentative. Maya's case established the fact that it's acceptable to believe in biology and two sexes and if you create a private group you can include and exclude whoever you want. Look at MN: it sets the rules and anyone who doesn't stick to them gets the boot. Women seem to have been cowed into a situation where their default setting is inclusivity but inclusivity isn't good for women and leaves them open to abuse. So decide on your rules, invite a few friends and acquaintances to join and if anyone starts whinging about why you're not welcoming transwomen say 'Because this is a group for female-sexed people. Transwomen have all kinds of other groups they can go to, but this is just for women to share their experience of being women and support others like them.' Don't engage with arguments because they don't argue, they just dodge.

It does not surprise me that it was Labour. Mind you, there was a wide field of possible contenders.

Ahhh I did wonder Miss - and of course the local authority absolutely needed to ask that question 🙄🙄 heaven forbid women have something just for them….

Unfortunately absolutely everything with "women only" or "for women" or especially "lesbian" sends out a sort of bat signal to gender ideologists who will start harassing you and other members of the group about "inclusivity".

You could try saying "female women" or some such jargon but that'll probably make it worse.

Best just to give it your own shot, see what happens and don't put up with shit from gender ideologists.

Good luck!

18:41Orf1abc
If you mean transwomen are not welcome, then say it

Do you have ANY idea whatsoever, just how vulnerable that would make piddocktrumperiness.

I cannot believe anyone would make such an ignorant suggestion. She may as well paint "punch me" on her forehead. (This is based on all the "punch a terf" memes out there, not some random comment).
OP is right to feel worried. Women have dead rats pinned to their door and worse, for wanting same sex anything.

Whatever you OP do, do not even mention it. The gender issue.

Just go with women only and brave it out.

@ValancyRedfern

Do you mean on the meetup app? I've been to a few all female meetup groups and they seem to manage to exist without controversy. I think a small meetup groups isn't going to hit the twitterati unless a vocal tra decides to take it on as a cause. If I were you ide just set it up on meetup as a women's group and don't mention anything about how you're defining the term. Hopefully it won't come up as an issue. The group sounds great!

The ones I've been to were radfem and lesbian groups. They have joining questions like 'what is a woman?' and can therefore vet who joins. I'm not involved in running them myself so I don't know if they get grief for it, but all the meet ups I've been to have been all female and very positive. At the end of the day, if you are setting up a group you set the rules.

My road changes name half way down, there's an active Facebook group for people who live in the street with the other name. Will they let me join? Will they fuck! It's a bit annoying but entirely up to them as they run it.