>
> So, if you wish to exclude men from your chapter meetings, I think
> that's fair. It's unfortunate, but it would be
> unrealistic/idealistic/foolish of me to insist otherwise.
>
> - deb
>
True enough. I hope we never do this at the Ottawa meeting, though. I think
the nice thing about the Linuxchix group is that it is a wonderful place for
women to come together in a field which is primarily male-dominated. However,
I find groups such as these tend to attract men who are very open-minded and
supportive of women's rights in general, and I openly welcome them. Sometimes,
mostly-female groups can attract men who are either trying to 'pick up' or who
are looking for a fight. Other times they seem to attract men who are rather
ignorant to the issues surrounding women, but this can be a good thing, as
many of these men will walk away with a new awareness of said issues. The
positive seems to overwhelm the negative, and I really like the diversity this
group offers.
I'm not saying that any women-only groups wouldn't have a lot going for them.
But with the positive there would be negative as well. I think all-onesex
groups who exclude the other sex can often lead to more sexism. Getting the
boot just because I want to join a primarily male group may get me thinking
that these men are a bunch of sexists and they want to keep their boy's club
to themselves. So I can imagine how a man might feel being turned away from an
all-woman's group. I might not feel that way if it was a male support group
for prostate cancer survivors, but I think I might get offended if I was
refused entry to a men's linux group, even if I was told 'there are lots of
other groups out there you can go to, you know...'
In short, I'm not coming down on anyone who wants to keep their chapter
female-only. However, I think it's a shame to exclude people on the basis of
their sex and I wouldn't want to see that happen locally. If it were me (and
it isn't), I would let anyone in, regardless of their gender, and if they
caused problems (like trying to hit on people, being outright obnoxious, etc)
I would ask them not to come back. I know that the men at the Ottawa linuxchix
meeting were definately an asset to our meeting. I don't believe many people
looked at them and said 'they're male' or looked at me and said 'she's
female'. Of course, we all knew each other's genders, but that didn't seem to
factor in to our coversations.
Take care, all :)
Amanda K.
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
