The rest of Lemmy is free for men to participate in, this is the only community where men are not permitted to post. This helps create a safe space for women to chat without the direct influence and reactions of men.

I also personally agree with you and think men can have valuable contributions, including on women's topics. But I also respect the desire for a women's only space as well, especially in a context of a sexist society where women struggle to gain equal rights under the law and in society generally - and in a male-dominated social space like Lemmy.

I think we should exclude people who are bigoted instead, or even people who just don’t “get” women’s issues.

These are also the rules, bigots are not welcome here.

Aside: I’m personally irritated that make-up is what’s considered a woman-centric topic. That’s kind of reductive – not everyone is femme.

I get that, but the reality is that lots of women enjoy makeup (including me!) even if some don't.

Listing make-up and hair as examples of what women might be interested in is not meant to be reductive or essentialising, even if it is based on generalizations and what is perceived as a common interest among women.

We're not saying women must be interested in makeup to be women, or the only way to be women is to be high-femme. To the contrary, the founder of this community who wrote that example recently posted a meme critical of makeup as an industry that exploits women's insecurities.

Thank you for your post!! ❤️

Hi there, I also have nothing to do with makeup or following beauty standard or fashion ... however I have friends who do, and sometimes they like to talk about it. So ... I just zone out and let them get on with it, it's not hurting me.

Men dominate 99.9999% of online spaces, and even the most supportive of ally men will sometimes talk over women or assume their opinion is more important, so I think that maintaining this as a space just for women is a good thing.

I have a great example, there is a discord server called Spectrum. Its exclusively for Queer ppl, no straight allies. Theres nothing wrong with allies but Queer people need spaces where they arent talked over or judged. We also need spaces for women and minority groups in a similar manner.

follow up question, why does it matter what you call yourself on the internet?

on the internet, nobody knows you're a cat.

Hi and welcome to WomensStuff! Really glad to hear your views on how we do things. Dandelion already said it all better than I would have done so I don't have anything to add, just agreeing with her. 😊