On the old DU, there was the Feminist group and there was Women's Rights and Issues. The first was a group and the second was a forum. What this meant is that only star members could go into the Feminists group, but everyone could go into the WR&I.
When DU3 first started, the Feminist group had a falling out. Feminism and Diversity was created to allow people a safe space to discuss feminism as it relates to other forms of discrimination (discrimination against LGBT, against women of different races, etc). At the time, the hosts of the Feminist group did not seem to be receptive to these sorts of discussions in the Feminists group. One person in particular (iverglas, who is now not allowed to post) was vicious in her transphobia.
So, at the beginning of the year, there was a huge fight in the Feminist group and hosts that were more receptive to these discussions were "in power" in the Feminists group. Those who didn't want to discuss other forms of discrimination asked for their own group and the History of Feminism was born. Now, the Feminist and Feminism and Diversity groups are about the same. There has been talk of combining these two groups, but Skinner (the owner of DU) has said that he's not sure that he can keep all the posts here in F&D, which may not sit well with the members here. So, it's still being worked on, I think.
The History of Feminism group has stated that they don't wish to merge back in and I respect that. WR&I took a vote and the vote there was not to merge into Feminists group because the posters there felt that WR&I provides a broader umbrella to discuss issues of women's rights without being branded a feminist.
All of the groups allow males to post there, as long as you respect the SOP. You won't make friends if you go into them and state that sexism doesn't exist.
= new reply since forum marked as read