Loxxie wrote: Am I missing something here...surely any offer of help and support to any walk of life....men. .women..***..straight...fat ..thin..old..young...whatever...is better than not trying to maybe move with the times.....if I'm honest when I was trying to accept my addiction I remember thinking...." no way..that's a blokes problem in the bookies "...so maybe other women have felt the same...who knows ? Anyway....I'm not looking for an online argument...we all have different ideas of rights and wrongs....if if helps just one person to open up and fight the fight by having "segregated groups"...then it's got to be a good thing....
I have no issue with a women only chat as long as its not something that discriminates against others. If Gamcare is to do a women only chat then it needs to also offer a men only chat.
I was in that chat room...Myself, not needing any emotional support, & the moderator. I was told that it was something to do with Women's awareness day...I think GamCare may have been a little misguided?
As someone who has used every excuse under the sun to justify my gambling & why I didn't have a problem, I err on the side of it being an excuse when it comes to gender specifics affecting recovery but I accept not everyone is like me!
Perhaps consideration could be given to running a male only room alongside any future offerings. I'm all for equality but when that means better treatment for women, it makes me ashamed. Battling a gambling addiction is hard regardless of our gender, excuses for not putting on software, attending meetings, getting help are aplenty but the help is out there & I for one am grateful for the effort put in by this site & the people on here. There was nothing malicious intended, sometimes the chat room doesn't run for circumstances beyond our control, we can't let it affect our recovery!
Hi all.
Its one afternoons chat room. There is no need to over react like its a sexism issue of any importance. Gamcare are trying an idea. It may be an idea that would work like themed topic chats or new members
I accept the premise behind it that a womens only chat room may be very helpful to some people
I dont need a men only chat and I am not aware of the gender of quite a few posters. Eventually I work it out but it doesnt matter to me on this or any other forum.
I dont think there is any need to bring up an issue of sexism
Best wishes to everyone on the forum
That's the joy of a debates section Joydivider, we can all have different opinions and debate it without having to close anyone else down.
I believe it was a good idea although I've only just read about it. If I cross reference the the woman only chat and then the newcomers section which has the arrival of a few new faces over the weekend mainly woman . Then maybe they signed up as a follow up from the publicity appeal , so it's a good move imo, as for the men only one , since when have men started moaning about equality?
Since they came here & realised it was ok to talk about their feelings maybe 😉
Lol
There were some heated and angry comments made in last night's chatroom about the women only chatroom which as far as I am aware was a one-off. There were also comments along the lines of users trying to dictate the topic(s) under discussion which I do not believe was true. I think several people including myself felt that in a "gentle" way it would be good to move the discussion on and also to give a couple of people who hadn't used the chatroom before a chance to open up. I know one of the new people last night made a comment about all the bickering going on. Thankfully, that is not always the case. Lots of fellowships including AA have female-only meetings and I've never heard anyone complain about that or say it is sexist. Say only two women used the female-only chatroom so what? I think we've all got bigger things to worry about than a one-off (maybe?) decision by GamCare and as the organisation pointed out there around 700 chatroom sessions a year here. Best wishes, Phil.
More misinformation. AA have Men only meetings also, which is the point that was being raised. GA had women preferred meetings which i believe no longer run due to lack of interest.
Well I'm sorry about the unintended "misinformation". That was my understanding from people who I knew when I lived in Brighton ten years ago who attended AA. I never heard of men-only meetings but if that's the case fair enough.
I looked for a women's only GA meeting.
A reply from AA to satisfy my curiousity:
Hi Phil
My name is Sally and I’m an alcoholic in recovery, a member of
Alcoholics Anonymous and I’m one of the team answering emails today.
Thanks for your email about men only meetings.
For your specific question.... the tradition of AA is that the the only
requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking and that the
hand of AA should always be there to help the alcoholic that needs it.
For this reason, some AA meetings are listed as for men or women but the
expectation is that if a suffering alcoholic attended the meeting they
would be helped regardless of their s*x, not turned away.
Some areas DO have meetings listed for specific groups of people but
this is very much down to what has been developed by alcoholics in the
area.
Some of the meetings will have a name suggesting they are mainly for men
e.g. men's breakfast meeting.
If I can be of further help, please let me know.
Best Wishes
Sally Murphy
---
This reply may include the opinions and experience of the individual
responder, which may cover matters on which Alcoholics Anonymous itself
has no collective view.
Further information about AA is available on our website at
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
On 28/03/2017 10:24 am, Phil X wrote:
> Hi, I just wondered - does AA do men-only meetings?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Phil X
S-E-X. So I was wrong but obviously unintentionally. I still don't see "segrerated" meetings as sexist though although I'm starting to come round to people's views on the change of chatroom being "imposed" last Friday. Best wishes, Phil.
Context. This forum is male dominated. There's no need for a male only forum. Surely that's just being petty?
How anyone can feel sick to the stomach about this really baffles me. Diddums
Gambling is generally a male dominated world. Yet more and more women are affected. Intuitively, there must be a place for a female only forum.
Louis
Couldnt agree more Louis.....actually baffles me that this bothers people.
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