I think it helps for the ladies who may not be comfortable posting in a thread that guys post in too - you can see from the number of posts on MFP about ladies being scared to even go into the weightroom that a lot of us think that guys may not be that supportive - not my own experience but maybe some ladies feel this is a 'safer' environment to discuss thier workouts.

While I'm typically completely against gender separation (I honestly feel insulted by stuff "for women" mostly because I am one, and it doesn't really cater to me at all, most of the time. Can't you just give it another, less gender-excluding name? What if a guy wants to use that stuff? Why discriminate him? What if a woman wants to wear board shorts? Why do they not exist in the girl section of clothing stores?) I think in this case it deters the "alpha males" from joining in and ruining the fun. I,ve been on other sections/groups on MFP and this is by far the friendliest and most helpful one out there. I wouldn't shun a guy if he wanted to drop in, but I think I'd like to keep that qualifier up just to avoid, well, drama, for one thing.

I like having a group of women to talk to about lifting.

Ditto.

And there are men that are part of the group. They chime in every once in a while. There is a Stronglifts 5x5 group, http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/5542-stronglifts-5x5, but it's not really very active. This one is much more chatty, so you're more likely to get a fast answer to your questions here.

The reason this group is for women is the same reason it's an SL 5x5 group- to try to discuss a subject with folks similar to themselves. There is an open SL group as someone pointed out. There is an occasional dude that wanders in here, and like most people there is some good and bad. I actually stopped participating as much when there was one very active male poster as I found his replies a little condescending (and he was just as new to lifting as most people in here :mad: )

Most of my gym friends are dudes. There is one that gives me good natured crap about using fractional plates. He's 6'6 and 308. He really just doesn't understand that I might be able to OHP 115, but 120 would be an absolute no go. Since I know him irl I can give him crap right back, and I know it's part of the rapport we have. I think if someone online was making fun of me for using fractional plates, or even commented on my needing to use them I would be a little miffed, and probably wouldn't be returning to that forum very often if at all. If I was reading a forum that had the above exchange I would not feel the need to return.

Lifting weights is not something society encourages women to do yet it has a ton of benefits both to health and appearance. Having a "safe" place to discuss strength training with other women is valuable resource to encourage more women to start. There have been more posts than I can count beginning with "I want to do this, but I'm intimidated by the weight room." In fact I think I made a post like that in Dec 2012. Now I'm intimidating the boys in the weight room. If this wasn't "for women" I doubt there would be as many of those posts, and that many women wouldn't start or would start way later.