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Good Blog, then Irregular Blog

nfasson

Registered User
Was following this blog for awhile:

http://freemasonryesoterica.tumblr.com

Has some really nice photos of Masonic paraphernalia and architecture, but then I noticed that the owner is a member of a Lodge that admits women, which he writes is Chartered from a Grand Lodge in France and not England.

He seems genuinely interested in Masonry and sought out joining, but even though he knew that the Lodge he was becoming a member of was Irregular, he chose it to make a statement about regular Lodges not allowing women.

What is the basic consensus when dealing with this issue? How do the Regular Lodges respond to those who want to join but are confused as to why it does not allow women? Is it seen as a problem for getting the younger generation to join up?




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BroBook

Premium Member
No man or body of men has authority
To change the O.B. "I think"


Bro Book
M.W.U.G.L. Of Fl: P.H.A.
Excelsior # 43
At pensacola
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
CoMasonry - In an emergency I'm not going to exchange dues cards. At a meeting I'm not going to attempt to pass one of their tilers or as a tiler allow one of their members to pass. There's plenty of room in between to be okay attending social events together. I have in the past been friends with a couple who were both CoMasons. I never did ask them when or where their lodge meets. No mystery how that worked out.

My jurisdictions don't admit women. I can't stop other jurisdictions from changing their stance on the topic and becoming irregular and not recognized. The relative population of jurisdictions speaks for itself - Male only jurisdictions have hundreds or thousands of times more members. Deciding to change your stance on gender clearly comes with a punishment far worse than I would bother doling out.
 

jjjjjggggg

Premium Member
Skipping the basic responses typical to discussing allowing women to join (i.e. "We are a fraternity", "there are orders like OES") I wanna share a little bit of a conversation I shared with my wife.

She said she understood the idea of freemasonry being a brotherhood and that we have obligations about being there for each other. She said she wouldn't be too happy if it were allowed for woman to join thinking what if a "sister" called a brother at two in the morning wanting "help" or if a male and female began getting too close because of the time spent together. It's not that she doesn't trust me, but she could see how the situation could put people into situations that might not be appropriate. She was imagining the awkward situation of a man and woman being "lodge family" and their spouses looking in from the outside.

Of course, I'm sure co-masonry doesn't deal with this issue, or maybe it does, I don't know... but my wife understands my need for deep meaningful relationships with other men that exclude women... that's why they call it a fraternity. She has no interest in wanting to be a part of that, especially since we already share a unique bond that I'm unable to share with anyone else due to my vows with her.


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nfasson

Registered User
Skipping the basic responses typical to discussing allowing women to join (i.e. "We are a fraternity", "there are orders like OES") I wanna share a little bit of a conversation I shared with my wife.

She said she understood the idea of freemasonry being a brotherhood and that we have obligations about being there for each other. She said she wouldn't be too happy if it were allowed for woman to join thinking what if a "sister" called a brother at two in the morning wanting "help" or if a male and female began getting too close because of the time spent together. It's not that she doesn't trust me, but she could see how the situation could put people into situations that might not be appropriate. She was imagining the awkward situation of a man and woman being "lodge family" and their spouses looking in from the outside.

Of course, I'm sure co-masonry doesn't deal with this issue, or maybe it does, I don't know... but my wife understands my need for deep meaningful relationships with other men that exclude women... that's why they call it a fraternity. She has no interest in wanting to be a part of that, especially since we already share a unique bond that I'm unable to share with anyone else due to my vows with her.


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Great points. I agree... why complicate the situation like that? You're searching for that commonality of thinking and having women in the mix brings a whole host of issues that detract from that.

I don't know if this guy is trying to be overly progressive or just meet women, but it seems like a lot of trouble for little reward.



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JJones

Moderator
As it was said before, we are a fraternity. In addition to that, we are a private organization that has the right to be as selective or exclusive as we want. As a fraternity, we only allow men to join, there's nothing sexist, backward, or negative about that.

I've only seen this come up on the internet and I've never had to have this discussion in person. Of course, I'm in Texas where there's still enough common sense for (most) people to understand why women can't join a fraternity. :)

It's also had no negative affect on petitions and the younger generations appear to be growing more and more interested in joining in my area.
 
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