There's Something Wrong With You If You Can't Have "Community" With People Who Don't Have Vaginas
There's apparently a new trend -- female-only co-working spaces. At Bloomberg, Ariana Igneri writes:
It's 11 a.m. on a recent Friday, and 29-year-old Audrey Gelman--public-relations powerhouse, former Hillary Clinton press aide, longtime friend of Lena Dunham's--is sitting on a pink couch at the Wing, the co-working space and social club she co-founded this October in New York. A man walks through the elevator doors, and Gelman throws him a friendly wave. "That's our AV guy," she says. "He's basically the only man that comes through here."That's because the Wing--so-named because, like the wing of a house, it's a separate space--is just for women. Co-working is hardly new; industry trade magazine Deskmag estimated there would be 10,000 co-working spots worldwide by the end of 2016. But female-focused spaces have become a niche in the industry as a response to contemporary feminism and a reaction against fratty venues that advertise kegs and pingpong. "Women are craving community, connection, and confidence, and that's what we're going to give them," says Stacy Taubman, 38, founder of Rise Collaborative, which is set to open in St. Louis this month and will offer members networking events, a book club, and a chance to mentor teens. Then there's SheWorks Collective, also in Manhattan; New Women Space, in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Hera Hub, in Phoenix, Southern California, Washington, D.C., and Stockholm.
Confidence is basically a prediction -- the prediction of how well you'll do in a certain domain. Generally, the domains you encounter in business have men in them -- they aren't sex-segregated pinkdoms. So, maybe you're leaving yourself a little unprepared to deal with the real world by spending time in a sex-segregated world.
Also, didn't women just spend the better part of a century fighting sex segregation? Sure, it's segregation by the government but also, hasn't there been some complaining about male-only golf clubs and the like?
More and more, I get the impression that people -- especially women -- want to remake the world into a giant nursery school.
Depressing.
Count me the fuck out.
via @SteveStuWill
I'm ok if they are fine with the corallary: men only workspaces.
But "Mens Clubs" are bad, Cub/Boy Scouts must allow girls in, but Brownies/GirlScouts don't have to allow boys in.
mer at January 5, 2017 9:31 AM
Count me out too! Mer, that's what I don't get. Women only is fine but men only wrong? How can they ignore the double standard?
Denise at January 5, 2017 11:47 AM
Yeah, if there are male-only spaces and female-only spaces... not my thing personally (and I don't know how good an idea it is in a business context), but if people what that, whatever. It's when someone says "We can have segregated spaces but you can't", that's where I have a problem with it.
Cousin Dave at January 5, 2017 11:51 AM
When I was looking for my "break" into full-time career work I was grateful for any mistake my "opponents" made. Anything that made me "look" like a better bet as a potentially good employee.
So for all of the males out there interviewing, writing resumes, and sweating out the trial period, KEEP IT UP GIRLS!
Bob in Texas at January 5, 2017 1:28 PM
Hah -- right on, Bob.
Amy Alkon at January 5, 2017 2:21 PM
Women need community. This is just an update on the sewing circle or quilting bee. Hell, you could even compare it to the good-ol-boys network. And some women may do well at it. Good on 'em.
Canvasback at January 5, 2017 4:48 PM
I shudder at the thought of women-only workspaces. I'm a nurse, so men aren't super common, more's the pity, but the only person I can even talk *with*, at my hospital full of people actually crying the day after the election, is the former army medic dude. The rest, I just smile and pass pleasantries with.
Momof4 at January 5, 2017 4:58 PM
a "He-Man Woman Haters club" by any other name.
charles at January 5, 2017 7:07 PM
That's because the Wing--so-named because, like the wing of a house, it's a separate space--is just for women.
In the next building is the separate space for men: Wings, so-named because, well, dudes like wings.
JD at January 5, 2017 8:54 PM
Wow, yawn. The type of woman who wants to be in a place like this is not the type of woman I want to meet anyway. 'La Différence' is what makes life fun. I wouldn't want to waste my time in a men's only club.
This trend reminds me of the stricter separation of sexes in some Islamic societies.
Lobster at January 6, 2017 5:57 AM
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