Vulnerability

The debate

This was not a regular meeting. Instead of prepared speeches, the club held a full debate: “Should men be encouraged to express vulnerability?” Three women took the pro side, three men took the con side. As one photo caption put it: “3 women Vs 3 men.”

Brent served as Debate Master and laid out the rules beforehand: “今天的 debater 请提前了解规则，特别是 grand fire 环节，每个辩手每次发言只有 1 分钟，please shorten and sharpen your opinion.” Stella and Christy swapped their positions before the debate started, with Christy moving to first speaker for the pro side and Stella closing as third.

On the floor

The debate got heated. David, as Debate Evaluator, summed it up afterwards: “今天的话题很 relevant, 两队的 arguments 让我们这些吃瓜群众感到很开心，借用一本书名’男人来自火星，女人来自金星’ 很好玩.” One member noted that the men’s team had a tendency to run over time, “像今天@Maecenas WANG 点评男队发言超时像泼了水收不回来一样好.” Mike’s defense: “应该多给男队一些时间，听众里 9 成都是 ladies，这样比较合理.”

After the bell

Stella captured the mood with a line that echoed the theme itself: “How are you? I’m not fine, but also thank you.” The room agreed: “吵架好好玩 下次大家真的下场吵一次.” And then: “吵完感情更深了.”

As for who won the debate, nobody knows. The vote forgot to include a winning team option, so “因为失误忘了设 winning team 选项，留下了悬念.” Meanwhile, Susie quietly completed four different roles in one evening. The club was already talking about scheduling another debate in October.