The misogynistic responses need to stop, but so do overreactions like this. I’m a woman who is routinely second-guessed, but I saw no such offense in Richard Pearse’s comment. Leaving the board and then deciding to come back can *both *be what someone truly wants.
Go out of your way to be offended and you’ll find that everyone is offensive…
It doesn’t have to be over the top. It doesn’t have to be a majority. It can just be the incessant drip drip drip that reminds you that you are a second-class member of this society. And the constant reminder that this board is relatively more enlightened than society at large can be disheartening.
Well, if that’s to Facebook, it will be an exercise in permanent frustration as most FB’ers probably can’t read any of them long words.
I’ve always been confused by the “if you can’t stand the heat” logic. The first line in the registration agreement is “don’t be a jerk.” Seems to me that is a poor defense when the rule is “don’t be a jerk.”
In sixteen years we have made progress. We’ve realized that cunt is not a nice word. We’ve pretty much stopped the “show me your boobies” posts anytime a woman talks about bras (breastfeeding and even mammograms and once, as I recall, breast cancer - perhaps a low point). At the same time, we have fewer of those threads. There are either fewer women, or the women here don’t feel comfortable making themselves a target simply because they want to rant about underwires. (I suspect both).
But the online world as a whole hasn’t become a safer place for women - the online world and the real world have slid together. Gamergate and other cases of online harassment of women have made the internet as a whole feel less safe. That this place is anonymous offers some protection - but you could find me in real life if you tried.
Humm, I have eight PhDs and six MDs on my friends list on Facebook - not bothering with the lawyers and people with master’s degrees - off the top of my head. And I’m VERY selective in my Facebook friends. Most of them handle big words pretty well. Right now I’m engaged in a statistical discussion on the efficacy of chiropractic care and the associated risks.
There’s a big difference between offensive personal interaction, which is what the examples you refer to are and to which the “don’t be a jerk” concept applies, and the expression of opinions that other people dislike, which is what the MRA that people objected to here are doing.
It’s exactly this kind of sniveling appeal to reason and balance that ruins it for everyone trying to get up a full head of steam. I don’t know how you live with yourself.
So my opinion is invalid? It’s because I’m a girl, right?
+1
I hadn’t notice Anaamika was gone because I really limit my time here but it’s a loss to the board.
:dubious: < bullshit is what I actually want to express here.
I believe I’ve been clear that this problem on this board goes beyond the MRA advocates. There are plenty of guys who just behave like jerks when it comes to their interactions with women.
Yes, and because you drive a Datsun. 
See, I had thought of making a real post in this thread, but I can already see it going down the same path most threads about women go down here. I’ve started taking a hands-off approach to most of these threads because it’s just the same thing every time. No wonder Anaamika is taking a (maybe permanent) break.
Exactly.
It’s getting to the point where we can’t sit around trashing MRA without pesky nuisances bringing in dissenting opinions.
We need a safe space here.
It is too bad that she left to take a break for those reasons.
MRA - wow, I didn’t know there was such a thing.
This is it. This is the exact thing I was talking about. It happened. You took the thread there.
MRA Lives Matter!
Nonsense.
The thread was “brought there” by a couple of other posters, in posts #20 & #21. Some further discussion ensued before my first post (#40).
This is an illustration of the exact opposite of your claim.
I’m a guy and those posts annoy me. On the recent thread about cleavage, we get something similar with a particular poster chiming in on something completely irrelevant simply because it’s a thread about breasts.
The problem is not dissenting opinions. The problem is stupid opinions.
That’s just a self-serving way of saying the same thing.