This is a safe space: a space for women+ to come together as we are. All of our wants, needs, thoughts, feelings, experiences, losses, successes etc. are welcome. We are here to support each other during trying times and grief, as well as to celebrate each other. If you are a woman+, you belong here. Your contributions are valid and valued: this is the space for us to be ourselves, whatever state it may be that we find ourselves in. It is okay to be angry, happy, sad, disgusted, overjoyed, pensive. It is okay to be in need. We are here to support each other.

Some guidelines to help this space be a positive experience for everyone:

Anyone who identifies as female, was socialized female, AFAB, or otherwise has firsthand experience with the issues being discussed, is welcome to post. If you identify as cis-male, we ask that you please set your participation to “lurk” mode, unless explicitly invited to participate further. This includes upvotes. We ask cis-men to keep their upvotes to commenters who voluntarily add a “+up” to their comments, and only those comments.

Please do your best to be mindful of others’ experiences when commenting or posing questions for the group. The female+ identity is Legion and contains multitudes, and not everyone who has experience with being treated as female by society identifies as female. Furthermore, racial and ethnic identities, sexual orientation, and many other factors can change how one experiences their gender identity on a day-to-day basis.

Don’t feel compelled to share beyond your comfort level. 

Any contribution/rant/thought experiment by a woman+ is always welcome.

I will certainly not be around today because it’s graduation day and I have a lot of work to do. Saturday, I went to a grad party for a couple of masters grads – both the first in their family to get a college degree, much less multiple. Which leads me to our prompt: What does graduation mean to you? Or schooling/academics to the same extent? Was it expected of you growing up? Was it something you always intrinsically wanted? Were you the first of your family? Did you go a different route?