Maybe it’s because I was growing out of youth groups, but It seemed to me that coed Bible studies used to be more of the norm. Now all of a sudden we have men’s groups and women’s groups. And men’s groups are all about Bible, throwing axes and equating 400 pushups to mountain climb your way into heaven. And women’s groups include pastries lighter than air, more pink than a Susan G Koman fundraiser, and talk about nothing but love (from the stereotype I can derive…haha).

Does anyone else think this can grow very toxic very quickly and drive people away from the church?

And for me, personally, any time I’m with a group entirely of men I feel like I’m not getting diverse opinions. Like I can raise an issue at work and all the men would agree with each other, where a female perspective might be the better one.

And to me, men and women are more similar than the are different. I get that men may be more comfortable sharing “man issues” with other men, just like women may feel with other women, but to me it seems more of a construct of reality how we’re so different (and, no, I’m not saying men and women don’t exist–we definitely do have physical and physiological differences, but I don’t think they’re enough to matter with as much division as we’re constructing).

I dunno–what do you all think?