Post #2779765

A lot of these groups might not be as gender exclusive as they may appear? I looked up our local mens shed and membership is not gender restricted. The objects of association are focussed on issues related to men, but membership is not restricted. I suspect that this is fairly typical amongst mens sheds in Australia. There are Dads groups and Mums groups, and these are also not very exclusive. I'm a cis-male and attended a "mums group" with our new born twins. Yes it was literally called a mums group. I felt welcome, although at one point I left the room when I felt as though the conversation was headed towards the physical effects of pregnancy and birth on mothers, just because I didn't want anyone else to feel uncomfortable. I can see that a group which excludes a gender could develop a toxic culture, but I don't think gender exclusive groups are necessarily bad because of that risk.