Doesn't it come across a little sexist?

There is no reason men and women can't compete equally in pinball. And to me, segregating the women out is a cop out. It's like, 'here, you go and play in that minority league while us real players do the serious thing'

Social meets for women is fine, and I can see that bringing more women into the hobby. But competing separately? Seems like a bad idea to me.

Just as an aside, the poker world went through this kind of revolution a few years back. They had some difficulty because you can't legally have a women's only competition. (Lets be honest, it is sexist - for exactly the same reason having a men's only tournament would be sexist). So a lot of men would join the women's competition (sometimes even in drag) just to make their disagreement with the format clear

The only solution to this issue was to 'discount' the entry price for ladies (ie radically overcharge for men)

I think a large part of @blondetall's post there I can relate to ... as a man! I'm also not very good at pinball, certainly not to the level I can compete with the best. But I still enjoy trying, and would rather be able to compare my ability (or lack of) against those players, rather than play in a subset of weaker players.

Of course I can't fairly comment on the feelings of being intimidated by a large group of hairy men. That has definitely never happened to me, no sir.

It's interesting you raised the IFPA points though. Could a women's only event fairly award IFPA points? Either way, it would arguably lead to *less* prominence for the best female players as they slip down the ranks.

I also don't hold much weight to this idea that women will play in both events. I think that would prove difficult due to time constraints, personal financial constraints or even just preference.. I think logically the majority that *would* find a women's only event appealing would surely play only in that subset for exactly the same reasons that they would prefer *not* to play the main event? Or are we really thinking that they'll play both (and therefore we don't need a womens only division?)