Anyone else have this problem or it is just me?[/b][/color]
*raises hand and waves it energetically*
MEMEMEMEMEME!!!
I posted this and some comments in the thread Bitch, bitch, bitch and have decided to copy it here to see if other women have this experience. 
Not a woman, obviously. But I do have some comments.
Why is it that on internet community boards, I seem to get along fine with boards whose posters are the majority men and boards that are co-ed, but on boards where the majority of the posters are women, I don't?
My answer below...
But first...
I am invariably confronted, told I am too upfront, too blunt {that is seen as a bad thing, apparently), the wording of my posts is 'unfortunate' or trollish. Some posters react with teary and/or very angry bitchy emotional posts.
Not that they all do, of course. A few women support and/or understand what I was saying/meant, but they invariably get beaten down by the outpouring of outrage. But seeing as I behave and the mods don't caution me and indeed they have posted several times cautioning the others that the board is a discussion board and not a 'support' board, there isn't much they can do except gang up against me whenever I post - sort of like a high school clique.
Everything you just mentioned has been happening to me here at Bettermost.
Everything. Same exact shit. And its not just the women, its the entrenched gay men too.
I have a theory that for women - in general - social cohesiveness of the group is deemed more important than individual expression.
I agree with that. I would also say that is true of men, but in a
vastly different way. Women don't just want your cooperation, they want your agreement too. They want everybody to feel what they are feeling, and express that in harmony. Men just want you to do what needs to be done...whether you like it or not. And women just don't like that "whether you like it or not" aspect. Feelings are a bigger part of the equation with women, and the relative absence of consideration for emotions among males bothers women.
e.g. I have been told to tone myself down so as not to hurt someone else's feelings.
On boards where men dominate, that idea that I might hurt someone else's feelings with the wording of my posts has never ever been brought up.
Tell me about it!!
This is the ONLY board where people disagree with me AND make it personal. On other boards I have debated some of the "controversial" issues that I have debated here (Gay Identity, masculinity, etc.) with no flame wars. People on those boards will question my thinking, my logic, my understanding, etc. But they never question my character, my integrity, my sincerity, etc.
Interesting social dynamics.
