The Wing, A Communal Workspace For Women, Is Under Investigation For Discrimination

NY Times- The Wing, the members-only association for women that calls itself “a coven not a sorority,” has presented its clubhouses as impeccably designed safe spaces for women to work, network, nosh, primp and talk politics.

Now, a year and a half after first opening in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, the company is also the subject of an investigation by the New York City Commission on Human Rights for possible discrimination violations, said Seth Hoy, a spokesman for the commission.

According to the commission’s website, its purpose is to enforce the New York City Human Rights Law, which “prohibits discrimination in New York City.”

It has retained the services of some men. For instance, Tony Florence, a general partner at the venture capital firm NEA, led an $8 million fund-raising round (the Wing has raised more than $40 million total). The Wing has also used male plumbers and electricians. But membership is for people who identify and live as women, said Audrey Gelman, a founder of the Wing, in an interview with The New York Times in October. “We still believe women deserve spaces of their own,” she said.

Well well well, how the turntables. A couple women start a workspace whose mission is “no men allowed.” It’s a roaring success and women can’t sign up fast enough. The only problem is… it kinda violates workplace discrimination laws. In New York, it’s illegal to refuse to hire someone based on their race, gender, nationality, religion, disability, and other protected categories (NY Attorney General). Of course, it gets a little tricky because this is a communal workspace where I’m sure a lot of the members are self-employed. But imagine that you’re a young fashion design company, working out of the Wing, and a hotshot gay male designer wants to come work for you. He’s shaved his head bald even though he has a full head of hair, and he’s wearing yellow transparent sunglasses and watch made entirely of owl bones. He’s PERFECT for the role, but you have to tell him sorry dear, our workplace doesn’t allow your kind. That, my friends, is a human rights violation. Because men are humans too.

This is the perfect catalyst for the MeToo spinoff movement– #MeThree. The MeThree movement will be for all men who are sick and tired of the men whose behavior has fanned the flames of the #MeToo movement. So many good men are now being lumped in with these monsters, simply because we’re men as well. I’ve taken to tucking my penis between my legs every morning before I get to work. I can’t tell you how uncomfortable it is to sit with my full weight on my bits and pieces all day long, my legs clamped together, squeezing the life out of my unit. By the time I get home and let the package swing back to the front, it looks like something you’d be forced to eat on Fear Factor.

For every guy out there who now refuses to look at women out of fear, who can’t bring himself to offer harmless compliments to female coworkers because he doesn’t know if it will get him fired, who has chosen to be gay because being straight is too perilous as a lifestyle these days, the #MeThree movement understands and accepts you. Sadly, we don’t have our own clubhouse like the Wing. But if you want to meet up for a beer, just go to any bar in Boston. Chances are, you won’t see a single woman.