"Women Only" Hour At Gym Leads To Lawsuit

[Greenday]

Honestly, I've never seen that kind of behavior in gyms. Most of the people I've met there are happy to answer questions and be helpful, and I've never encountered anyone judgmental. I'm sure some are, but they keep it to themselves.

I've never seen anyone do this at my gym. I had people see that I know what I'm doing and ask for help but that's it. And I don't mind that.

The only time I've seen men stare at women was in Afghanistan. There was a small gym between where I worked and where a lot of the Eastern Europeans lived. Usually it was dead in there so that's why I went there. But whenever those Eastern European guys were there, I hated it. They'd sweat all over the place and not wipe it down. They'd do those half-assed reps and grunt really loud, pretending to be super strong. They'd slam weights down. Every time a woman was there, they'd stare at her and would try to do all their workouts right around her.

[Aethian]

I was at one gym for about six months where it was mostly college kids. There was grunting, there was flirting, there was the chowder head moves on both sides... It was just very uncomfortable for me being a size 20 at the time.

So I tried another gym and that felt worse cause the workers were constantly by me. Usually telling me I was doing something wrong even when I was just on the treadmill. So I left there.

Tried doing Curves but the one closest to me and work was always closed when I got out.

Now I'm at a 24 hour gym where they have some big rules. 1. No being a chowder head. Meaning you can't go around with huge ass grunts, throwing the weights, or banging the weights. 2. If your found to be giving unwanted sexual attention to anyone three times, your out. 3. No cell phones on the floor, if you get a call there is a quiet room at the front of the gym to take it.

Those are the big three, but even those have made it nicer to get in the 45 min workout I need without being harassed or having to listen to the outrageous grunts.

[BlaqueKatt]

While I agree on the lawsuit (they should have at the very least offered a men's only hour) I'm wondering if they went with this because of the beliefs in certain religious groups.

nope, that's covered in the article

Interestingly, women's hour also has little to do with religion. The gym have scarcely used faith to justify their policy, but - even if they did - it still wouldn't excuse their unequal price structure.
Want women-only sessions for religious reasons? Fine - more power to you. But don't ask men to pay for 442 hours they can't possibly use. No God would approve of that.

[Aethian]

442 hours? Where do they get that number if it's only a hour a day? Even if the gym was open 7 days a week no holiday closings that's only 365 hours in a year.

[Anthony K. S.]

442 hours? Where do they get that number if it's only a hour a day? Even if the gym was open 7 days a week no holiday closings that's only 365 hours in a year.

Well, I doubt that he plucked that number out of thin air. There has to be something to it.

My guess is that the "women only" time itself is one hour, but there's an additional 10-15 minutes because (1) the staff instructs all of the male members to leave shortly before the hour begins and (2) the women who want to leave at the end of the hour are given a little time to clean up.

There may be other reasons as well.

[jackfaire]

I go to the gym once a day M-Th and I can only be there for one hour due to my commute to and from work it is literally the only time I can be in the gym working out. If they suddenly declared that "women's only hour" I would be screwed and have to quit the gym altogether.

I also agree with the "get over your own crap" statements.

There are some gyms where people go to pick up each other but these gyms are easy as hell to spot.

Take a tour of the gym get a feel for it you can tell pretty easily if the people there are doing the "trendy workout" thing where it's about being seen and less about the workout or if people are just there to get in or stay in shape.

Also some of these "I am uncomfortable being checked out" people are so full of themselves that they think "that guy's eyes went my direction when he was turning his head god why won't he stop checking me out" the guy in question looking for the clock and she happened to be in his field of vision while scanning for it and didn't even notice her until he saw the sudden and confusing look of disgust followed by glare.

[guywithashovel]

Ten to one, the push for this was started by people who think everyone of the opposite sex is hitting on them and/or ogling them. We have a few of those on CS, people who would have us believe that every time they leave the house, they are fending off armies of pervs and creeps wanting to eyeball them and feel them up.

[BlaqueKatt]

Ten to one, the push for this was started by people who think everyone of the opposite sex is hitting on them and/or ogling them. We have a few of those on CS, people who would have us believe that every time they leave the house, they are fending off armies of pervs and creeps wanting to eyeball them and feel them up.

Or possibly people that don't want to be seen sweaty and disheveled. My former boss was like that, she'd go to the gym and do a light jog on the treadmill for 20 minutes and then leave. She couldn't understand why I was always hurting the next two days after my workouts, until she found out what I did during mine(I have a personal trainer that pushes me really hard, and it's showing results)

[Ladeeda]

Or possibly people that don't want to be seen sweaty and disheveled. My former boss was like that, she'd go to the gym and do a light jog on the treadmill for 20 minutes and then leave. She couldn't understand why I was always hurting the next two days after my workouts, until she found out what I did during mine(I have a personal trainer that pushes me really hard, and it's showing results)

It amounts to the same thing: people more concerned with how they look rather than getting fit, ironic as that seems. And said people wanting to limit exposure to the opposite sex while they're looking less-than-fabulous.

Which, in my experience, is silly. A woman with no makeup, hair a mess, and covered in sweat is more than 1 fellow's idea of a perfect beauty.

[RedRoseSpiral]

This area has a large Orthodox Jewish community and Muslim community. Having women's only hours is more for their religious views and traditions (no men but their husband seeing them, etc). The gym membership also goes for several other locations.

[Rebel]

I work on the front counter of a gym 4 mornings a week. It's an old-school type gym where the majority of the members are guys, but we do still get quite a few women too. It's generally known as a bodybuilder/figure competition gym. In fact, a large percentage of the members and even at least 2 staff members are training for a May competition right now.

One of our female members is weeks away from a competition (in the bikini category).
This girl is just the nicest and most outgoing people you would ever meet. You can't help but be pulled into her enthusiasm whenever she talks to you.
She also looks amazing.
She does have the tendency, however, to be very enthusiastic about her training sessions. She will cheer after ever set and Hi-5 everyone if giving the chance.

Last week she was training with her female trainer (one who has a figure competition in a few months as well). At that time the only women in the gym were the 2 of them and myself. She was doing her usual enthusiastic training. I had just been on the floor straightening up the weights and no-one had approached me about having her tone it down. All appeared well.
Soon, a couple of guys started to mimic her. She laughed and waved and went about her training. One of the guys approached the 2 women.

He bent over her and screamed into her ear to shut up.

Now, fuck this guy.
He had ample opportunity to approached this in a better way (myself, the female trainer, the gym owner, or even just asking politely for the lady to keep it down). He chose none, and instead verbally attacked her whilst also using threatening body language.

The woman had her trainer take her to the enclosed women's only section of the gym for the rest of her session.
So she could feel safe.

Because that's the point of a women's only section.
It's a place where they can feel safe.

Now, yes the guy was told off by the gym owner and his membership was suspended for a month. He was meant to apologize to the female member but she hid in the women's only section until he had left (I sent the trainer a message when he had exited the building).

This was an attractive and very strong and fit woman. She still needed that women's only section, not because she thought that the guys were all eye-fucking her or judging her, but because she no longer felt safe on the main gym floor.

Women's only sections/gyms/hours are about women feeling safe and comfortable.
Some women simply cannot exercise where men are for a variety of reasons (abuse, rape) and so these spaces are a godsend to them.

It just always confuses me when people are certain that women's only spaces are all about vanity.

[Gravekeeper]

Because that's the point of a women's only section.
It's a place where they can feel safe.

Frankly, this is ass backwards though. You don't respond to the problem by moving the victim behind a curtain like an antique vase. You get rid of the problem. Permanently.

Women's only sections/gyms/hours are about women feeling safe and comfortable. Some women simply cannot exercise where men are for a variety of reasons (abuse, rape) and so these spaces are a godsend to them.

Something about this sentiment kind of irks me somehow. Yes, that hypothetical situation is terrible, but "Let's hide all the fragile women from the terrible rapey men" has a certain irksome quality to it that lessens both genders.

[Rebel]

Frankly, this is ass backwards though. You don't respond to the problem by moving the victim behind a curtain like an antique vase. You get rid of the problem. Permanently.

Okay.
Fix society so that women never feel like they have need of a safe place to exercise.
Problem solved.

Something about this sentiment kind of irks me somehow. Yes, that hypothetical situation is terrible, but "Let's hide all the fragile women from the terrible rapey men" has a certain irksome quality to it that lessens both genders.

I'm sorry it 'irks' you.

Frankly, the gym owner saw a market that was in demand (women's only time) and made it available for the members.
Many gyms do the exact same thing simply because there is a demand for it.

Don't like it? Change society to make these places no longer needed.
Until then, allow the people who feel the need for them to have them.

[Aethian]

Something about this sentiment kind of irks me somehow. Yes, that hypothetical situation is terrible, but "Let's hide all the fragile women from the terrible rapey men" has a certain irksome quality to it that lessens both genders.

I think she was talking about women who have been raped not those who see every guy as a rapist.

[Gravekeeper]

Okay.
Fix society so that women never feel like they have need of a safe place to exercise. Problem solved.

The whole of society is not broken because you know one person that ran into an asshole at the gym. Never mind the fact there is nothing gender specific about the story you presented. If the person in question is traumatized towards an entire gender because one asshole yelled at her, there's a much deeper issue going on. She's blaming an entire gender based on one jerk who according to your story did not even do or say anything pertaining to her gender. He was simply an asshole.

Don't like it? Change society to make these places no longer needed. Until then, allow the people who feel the need for them to have them.

I have no problem a gym that wants to offer gender segregated services, provided said services are equal ( They are not in the article ) or exclusive ( the gym is either women only or men only exclusively as a business model ).

What I do have a problem with is the dual misogyny / misandry behind the implication that women are weak and fragile, and must be hidden away from the slathering desires of men so that they feel "safe".