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Comment by staticelf | Hacker News Reader

It's a bit like all these female-only groups that exist and special programs for women. If I were a women I would be a bit offended by those things as I would if I would work in another field and the spotlight was constantly on my gender rather than my competence.

It's just so... ironic.

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If I were a women I would be a bit offended[...]

The implicit presumption here is that if you were a woman, your life experiences would otherwise be identical and those experiences would result in you feeling that way. I highly doubt that to be true.

I suppose you could say that growing up as a female with the attendant experience (harassment, unwanted touching/comments, assumptions about your role, etc) wouldn't change your opinion, but without having actually lived those experiences I wouldn't put much stock in that comment.

Now there are women who do feel that way and I respect those opinions. But as those groups do exist (and btw, a group geared toward women is not the same as "female-only") there are clearly lots of women who don't feel the same. The conversations between those two groups of women are worth listening to.

Well, now I work in a male-dominated field but I would be offended by the same arguments/thinking if I worked in a female-dominated field and they used the same arguments there but for men.

Maybe harassment is an issue, not that I've experienced it in my country, but creating seperate groups and focusing on gender even more is just making the entire issue worse. It won't stop any harassment in public spaces either.

I'm a female founder. I go to a handful of woman-only events.

I don't go because I need or want any special accommodation for gender, nor do most other women I know.

We prefer woman-only events because attending mixed events is made uncomfortable and annoying by a small minority of unpoliced men. I mean, what are we going to do about that, make a scene because some poor guys are unusually awkward and persistent (as pop culture instructs them to be)? Easier to just skip them and find our community elsewhere

I've had the same problem with a small minority of women, who while not always physically aggressive are equally persistent. I don't have the luxary or privilege of a male-only events alternative though.

Very well, but since you clearly like the female only events, what is the problem with having male only events then?

The status-quo is already effectively a "male only" event.

No, that isn't accurate. Predominance does not necessarily equate to exclusivity, as you seem to be hinting.

Well, does that really solve your problem? Isn't that just prolonging the real issue and potentially even making it worse?

I don't think the world needs more segregation between genders and I find any attempt to do so ironic as it is the exact opposite of any gender equality from my view.

I'm sorry that people is harassing you or that you've had bad experiences but I think most people have had bad social experiences even if the details is different for the genders.

This happens with any minority group. Race, sex, etc.

The irony is that being around other like individuals brings people together, and people naturally like that. The issue isn't that you're joining up with other similar people, but with keeping dissimilar people out.

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