• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 14, 2012

While Pinterest is trying to get more male users on board in the U.S., men aren’t invited to a new social network launching in Australia. The network, called ConnectPink, is being launched on June 15 by Fairfax Media Australia as a forum to bring together Aussie ladies -- especially the four million women living in rural areas, who have a harder time socializing face-to-face.

ConnectPink’s content director, Angela Carey, was quoted by the Guardian News: “ConnectPink provides a more personal alternative, a place where women can connect, chat, shop, swap, share and more in an environment that is safe and gives them a real sense of belonging to a community that is theirs.”

It’s not clear how ConnectPink will screen out men who try to join, perhaps by masquerading as women, as social networks like Facebook already have a hard time ensuring that users are who they say they are.

(In fact there are already Australian social networks for dating which straddle the urban-rural divide: according to recent reports, a dearth of single men in Australia’s cities is driving urban women to look for love out in the countryside, while the flight of young women from rural areas means farmers are eager to meet “sheilas” from the big city).

While the genders generally seem to get along well enough, and in some cases may even enjoy each other’s company, there is always a need for “homosocial” spaces -- “boys’ night,” “girls’ night,” etc., where gender-specific interests may be shared away from the uncomprehending glare of the opposite sex. Many feminists have argued that girls benefit from female-only education, where they won’t feel pressure to defer to male classmates.

That said, I’m not aware of any big women-only (or men-only) social networks in the U.S., even though they must be out there somewhere. Have any readers joined a gender-specific network?  If so, what’s it like, and what do you use it for?