20 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
I mean that you can just go to a local MMA class or Magic the Gathering event or insert whatever male-dominated hobby and more than likely find a group that just happens to be all men
There's something to be said about what often happens when a woman joins one of those groups though, and that does happen sometimes. I'm not sure how to sum it up - if you know you know. But the result is that the group dynamic can really change, and sometimes it kills or damages the group.
To be clear, it's not necessarily the woman or the men's fault. Often neither. People are just playing the roles they have been trained to play. I think it's better to place the blame on greater society.
But the point is that sometimes there is value in codifying the all-male attribute of a group.
Comment by pretenditscherrylube at 17/02/2025 at 20:24 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
FWIW, when there are a few men in a large group of women, the same thing happens. I was in a female dominated grad program with just 2 men in my year. The level of social competition from women (including ones with husbands) to be buddy buddy with the men was insanely shocking to me. One dude - kind of a bro - totally played all the women off each other to be the center of the social scene, despite being so boring and mediocre. The other dude - kind of a hipster - found it appalling and sexist how the women would fight over his friendship.
It would be FASCINATING to study the effects of gender dynamics in an imbalanced yet heterogenous environment.
Comment by gelatinskootz at 15/02/2025 at 04:56 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I mean I'm mostly contrasting this to what is offered to women, as that seems to be what the study they referenced is useful for. I would imagine that the vast majority of women are not active in social groups that are explicitly only for women. Those kinds of groups are certainly more prevalent than they are for men these days, but they don't seem particularly widespread or popular to me. For hobbies that are generally known to be mostly women like yoga or arts classes, you're still gonna find at least one man there a lot of the time.
I just think the loneliness epidemic is an issue that extends beyond what formalized social groups like that can address on their own.