View from Russia: The real reason men hate women-only spaces

A women-only bar in Minsk, and the reaction it sparked

If you haven’t seen an example of collective male hysteria for a while, take a look at the comments on the news story about the opening of a women-only pub in Minsk. There are tears, threats, and even strategic plans to take over the territory. The men commenting are furious that there will be a place in the city where they aren’t welcome.

I thought we’d moved past the stage where the emergence of a ‘girls-only’ venue would provoke anger and horror. After all, it’s 2026. In neighboring Belarus, the president has declared the Year of the Woman, and entrepreneur Alexandra Tyamchik has decided to open a women-only beer bar. You might think: what’s the big deal? Just another bar for women, yes? Yet, for some reason, internet knights have rushed to defend their wounded egos.

What do men write about? Well, the usual things. ‘I doubt women can drink as much as men.’ Guys, are you serious? Do you go to bars just to compete over how many drinks you can have? It’s terrifying to imagine what you get up to at all-inclusive hotels.

If it were just these kinds of comments, we could simply ignore them. However, other users were hatching devious plans: ‘You can drive up there and pick someone up who’s already had a few.’ Thank you for confirming this, dear ones: women don’t open such bars to cause trouble, but because no one wants to feel like a ‘ready-made’ option in any establishment. 

Some people even suggest going there just to spite them. Here you go: “The funny thing is, it won’t just be girls going there. Blokes will go too, and no one will be able to do anything about it.’ Very mature. It’s just like in the sandpit: ‘Since the girls built a house, we’ll go and knock it down!’ Except this house isn’t yours and there’s nothing in it to knock down except your own dignity.

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Actually, I don’t think this story is really about beer, or about women not knowing anything about it. Incidentally, the production director at one of Belarus’s most famous breweries is a woman.

The real question is: why does the idea of a space where men aren’t welcome make them so angry?

This reminds me of an interesting historical fact. In the late 19th century, when cafés began to appear in Europe’s first department stores and railway stations, places where a woman could go alone or with a friend without risking her reputation, he male half of society was equally horrified. What? A lady eating in a public place without being accompanied by her husband or brother? That’s debauchery and the end of the world! Now, they’re just coffee shops we pop into a hundred times a day.

We’ve had women-only train carriages and gyms for a long time. Do you think these are just to keep the opposite sex at bay? As strange and frightening as it may seem, it’s all for safety’s sake. It’s so that we can get from work to home without the risk of being harassed. To go to the gym wearing whatever you feel comfortable in, rather than something that might make you feel like a product on a shop shelf. To exercise without worrying that someone will come up and tell you that it’s not a woman’s job.

All we want is to do what we enjoy in a place where we feel safe and comfortable.

It’s the same here. Women just want to sit around, drink beer, eat pretzels, chat about their lives, laugh out loud, be quiet and think to themselves without having to deal with stares that say, ‘Fancy a chat?’ We don’t want to plan our route to the toilet so that we avoid running into a compliment from a tipsy neighbor. Nor do we want to wait for someone to come and sit next to us five minutes later and ask, ‘Are you here on your own, miss?’

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The funniest or saddest thing is that women react to this outburst with bewilderment in the comments. One of the men asked, ‘How would you feel about a bar without women?’ The girls’ replies are brilliant: they all say they don’t care. And it’s true, we don’t need your territory. We’re not going to fight men in vests for a spot in pubs near the Underground or barge into bars where you watch football. We just want our own little corner, free from all that. So why do you need to barge in there?

I reckon a bar like that would be an instant hit in Moscow. It would be lovely to have a beer with my girlfriends in a cosy setting without having to put up with some bloke nearby who thinks he’s the only one allowed to drink beer. It would also be great to be able to order a beer with a friend without feeling that underlying anxiety, or worrying that someone might come over to chat, try to pick you up or crack crude jokes.

Overall, I’m really happy for the women of Minsk. To the men who write about ‘failure’ and ‘unmarketability’, I’d like to say: you’re just afraid that it’ll be too much fun without you there and that the beer will taste better than in your favorite bar. And you know what? It will. But don’t be upset. After all, there are always other bars where you won’t be chased away.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team