Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
As an aside, a not insignificant amount of people simply want to be left alone to do their own thing. I don't think everybody necessarily needs to be invited to join absolutely everything in existence - because such an approach prevents quite a lot of people from getting support that is custom tailored to what they desire.

If a group of women on the internet want to hide away in their own little Discord server then I think that's perfectly acceptable. I see advertisements for women only groups quite often - for coffee mornings and the like.

I know women who have been horribly abused and as part of their recovery, they needed to retreat into their own little support bubbles until they built up the confidence to interact with the wider world once more.

It's an approach that isn't going to work for everybody, though it works for some people and the last thing survivors of abuse need is to be burdened with problems that simply do not concern them.
Ugh I wish I had 100 likes for this...joke's on me for clicking this thread, I came here to see if the maintenance was done yet and good lawd

As a girl who didn't get into gaming until the pandemic turned everyone into a shut in, I've gotten the full ride in the last year, from d*** pics to literal stalkers. I literally thought alot of it was just a meme or overblown until it was actually happening to me.

Its pretty much impossible to explain what its like, why bubbles are okay, and why having clear and simple boundaries isn't a sideways invitation for people to test and push at them. It doesn't always have to be something dramatic like abuse recovery either that leads to these groups. Sometimes its just about being comfy around people who get it.

So I think alot of us just choose silence in online spaces because it makes life so much easier. This thread pretty much shows why lol.. I'm lucky since I'm in some rl girl only groups like the coffee meet ups you mentioned above, and a fun cuddle puddle/movie group. Its obviously alot easier to regulate in person or over Zoom.

I guess I don't really have a point, I just saw your post while reading the last 18 pages with my jaw dropped open, and wanted to say ty for being sane.

But that's as far as I can go on this thread, I have to get back to my secret girl group to do more secret girl stuffs