Zack_M_Davis comments on Epistle to the New York Less Wrongians - Less Wrong
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Comments (271)
I think you're being a little unfair to brazil84's comment. Adding a woman to a men-only group affects all (edit: many, not all) men because they feel an impulse to compete for her. A gay guy won't cause this reaction.
Policy debates should not appear one-sided. Some mixed gender groups do have downsides, which may be important to some people. In my experience, being in a group with many males and few females feels slightly less comfortable than either an all-male group or an evenly mixed group.
Speaking as a heterosexual male, no it doesn't. People, even young human males, can be mature enough not to have an impulse to "compete" for every female they encounter.
I agree that Cousin It's statement is literally false due to his use of the word all, but given that not all men are perfectly mature in your sense, I expect the essential concern to remain valid: adding a woman to a male-only group will tend to change the social dynamics, in part due to the impulse that Cousin It mentions.
(I mention this for the sake of completeness; speaking only for myself, I think that explicitly single-sex groups are a terrible idea and would not participate in one.)
Agreed. Edited the comment. Sorry.