I'm sorry if this thread has been distressing to some, or feels ugly. Frankly I feel that any "controversy" it's brought up should be aired from time to time. I deliberately posed an open question in the first place, because I'm more interested in hearing people's general opinion about TE, and about what we feel is important and unique about it than just a "who gets to be here", which we don't really get to decide anyway. But I figured that if it being a womens forum was important to people, it would be discussed, maybe with some insight as to why. And if it's not important to many people, that would be (is!) an interesting point too.

But I'd like to add that whether you like someone or not doesn't really matter. There are people here I don't like that much, I'm sure there are people here who don't like me much, but as long as we behave we still have a right to be here. In the same vein it's possible to voice an opinion as to whether this should be purely a womens forum regardless of what you happen to think of Mr. Bloom, or PsyclePath, or any other man who sometimes posts here. To put it this way, many of us are happily married, but don't particularly want our dhs and boyfriends posting here with us. Not for any secrecy, anyone can read it as we all know, but because women-only spaces are hard to find, like someone mentioned. Especially maybe for us women cyclists.

My own opinion? Like I said earlier, I feel that women-only groups tend to express themselves differently than mixed groups. I feel that TEs unique nature has to do with the overwhelming majority of the posters being female. And yes, if I were given the choice, I would prefer it to be exclusively female.