The “Male Only” Company Has Responded To Criticism By Locking Down All Social Media Accounts
Just a day after announcing their imminent launch, the company has scrubbed its presence from popular social media sites
The guys behind Nomadic Thinkers, Australia’s first co-working space offering its services exclusively to men, have copped a lot of heat in the past 24 hours. Most of the criticism has focused on comments about domestic violence and mental health made by one of the one of the founders in an interview with Junkee.
Now, just a day after announcing their imminent launch, the company has scrubbed its presence from popular social media sites.
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The Bondi Hipsters posted a devastating takedown of the concept of “male only” work spaces on Nomadic Thinkers’ Facebook page and threatened to sue the company for using their pictures, without authorisation, on a blog.
The blog is no longer publicly available but can viewed through a Google cache. The folk over at the Huffington Post have gone through and pulled out some of the wildest comments.
“Men are physical and practical creatures. We require camaraderie and social time with other men (without female chaperones),” they wrote in a post titled “Are You A Pathetic Man Child?”. “The old saying that it takes a village to raise a child is so true. Unfortunately we have a village of women because the men have been slaughtered and the boys have been babied and coddled in cotton wool. It’s time to create some men again.”
They go on to claim that men are currently “persecuted for expressing masculinity” and that feminism has “gone past it’s desired point”. The blog also quotes ‘pick up artist’ Roosh V’s website, Return of Kings.
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This morning Nomadic Thinkers published a statement on their Facebook page in response to the controversy. “Firstly, we would like to acknowledge the public anger as a result of a Junkee article on Tuesday,” the wrote. “Unfortunately, it has come across that we trivialise the significance of domestic violence and depression. We would like to express our apologies as this is not the case.”
The statement went to say that the space “combines mental, physical and social stimulation” and “will be a catalyst for impact amongst the men of our community.”
Sometime this afternoon the company’s Facebook page was deactivated.
Prior to being switched off the page had been bombarded with negative, one-star reviews. The company’s Twitter account has been locked down.
The concept of a male only co-working space has been criticised by a number of people in the startup community. Little Tokyo Two, a co-working network based in Brisbane, has distanced itself from Nomadic Thinkers after the founders suggested a partnership between the two organisations.
“In reality having a men’s only space isn’t the issue it’s the way they have portrayed it and the reason behind it that is disastrous,” Little Tokyo Two’s founder told The Courier-Mail.