I might wonder if you’re a feminist, David, why you use essentialist and sexist terminology like ‘emasculated’ or a negative notion of ‘feminised’ but it doesn’t really interest me enough. The simple point is that you are the one defining what is ‘robust’ debate and then assuming people here want to ‘protect’ women from it. It’s not an argument you can have with me as I’ve already said I welcomed robust debate on the list, I just didn’t like the petty, personalising manner of certain posts. In case you have misunderstood my point, I would make no particular gender distinction about human beings’ capacity to be petty and personal. What I said is ‘I do believe that many people, and not only women, have found the often irate mode of discussion on the list off-putting’. So again this is not an argument you can have with me, and it’s not an argument I am prepared to bother with any further.
   One final point is that the list rules explicitly forbid making ad feminam or ad hominem comments of the kind you have just made about Alison ‘I have heard that she is not a very nice person in general’. That is exactly what I mean by petty, personalising comments.

Jamie

> On 12 Feb 2018, at 18:46, David Lace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> No, Jamie, my point is that emasculation etc is present in avoiding robust debate here for fear of some women being offended if people (men and women) consistently disagree with them on a particulate issue.
> 
> It does no service to see women as not being up to taking part in such debates. I would have thought men would welcome women into the debating chamber however vigorous that chamber is. To not do so is to imply women are weak and need protecting. As a feminist, I think this is sexist.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ———————————-original message——————————————————
> 
> Jamie McKendrick wrote;
> 
> Well said. And I’m astonished at this implied notion of masculinity: that to question why this list has so few very women posting raises fears of the list becoming ‘emasculated’ and ‘feminised’. Nor has such a question anything to do with the dubious politics of ‘safe spaces’ and ‘no-platforming’. I give up!
> Jamie