Men's spaces

Men's spaces are separate social and cultural spaces, roles and norms available to men in some non-westernized societies. It is the membership of these spaces that determines a male's manhood, while failing to get a membership of this space amounts to being denied manhood, and to be liable to queerhood, i.e. to be counted as a 'third gender' or a non-man male.

In non-westernized cultures, most traditional spaces are divided into men's spaces, women's spaces and third gender spaces. The entry or participation of women in these men's spaces is highly restricted. Entry of third genderered persons into men's spaces is also regulated, although with more freedom than women to partake in these spaces.

Although these spaces are restricted for women, Western women who want to study these spaces are often allowed entry.

In the early days of human civilization, as proven by several indigenous and aboriginal tribes, boys, along with other children, lived in women's spaces till they reached puberty, after which they generally had to undergo 'manhood tests' or 'rites of passage into manhood' in order to be initiated into men's spaces.

The manhood tests became more and more torturous with time during which men were expected not to show the slightest sign of pain or sigh. Boys who failed these tests were denied membership of men's spaces, which amounted to denying manhood and being emasculated, and were isolated as one of the third genders, deprived of social rights and privileges available to 'men.' This was a fate worse than death for masculine gendered males.

The feminine gendered males, i.e. the third genders were in some tribes exempt from manhood tests and were raised as third genders from early childhood, when they showed what is today known as "Gender incongruent behaviour."

In what are considered modern civilizations, it is still of great importance to be counted as one of the men. It can even be a matter of life and death for masculine gendered males. - and to be isolated as a 'third gender' remains severely stigmatizing for masculine gendered males.

Some in the Western World think men's spaces are discriminatory toward the rights of women, and therefore fit for abolition. This is due to an overlap of previously all-male spaces and what was considered the "old boy network" - channels of social and financial upward mobility that were conducted in all-male spaces. All-female spaces are generally viewed as beneficial for women, focusing on providing access to safety as opposed to gender-segregated access to opportunities. There are few exclusively-male spaces in contemporary western culture, and even such former strongholds of men's space as military and sports environments have become more gender-neutral.

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Wikipedia