"Women Only" Hour At Gym Leads To Lawsuit

[Gravekeeper]

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

Yes, I'm being hyperbolic for effect, as that's where the line of thought usually ends up. -.-

It lessens both genders to imply one is too fragile and has to be protected from the other who is terribly abusive.

[Anthony K. S.]

I am genuinely wondering ...

If you believe that it's okay for a gym to have a "women's only" hour, for whatever reason, then do you also believe that it would be fair to charge women a higher membership fee?

Part of the complaint against this gym is that they're providing their female members with time and services unavailable to men, but still charging both men and women the same rates.

The gym rejected a suggested compromise that men be given a reduced fee.

As it stands now, at least a portion (however small) of the men's membership fees are being used to pay for operating the gym during "women's only" time.

I have to admit, that would bother me, too. When I pay a membership fee for a gym, I generally don't do it with the idea of paying for other people to exercise.

So, if a gym offers a "women's only" hour, should the female members be charged extra?

As a rule, when a business provides you with a service, you are expected to pay for it.

[fireheart17]

As a rule, when a business provides you with a service, you are expected to pay for it.

Does this logic apply to womens exercise rooms?

To locker rooms both male and female?

Does this logic apply to swimming pools or other facilities that not everyone can use for various health reasons? (ie a pregnant woman or someone with a heart condition may not be able to use a sauna, but is still expected to pay for it).

[Gravekeeper]

Part of the complaint against this gym is that they're providing their female members with time and services unavailable to men, but still charging both men and women the same rates.

The gym rejected a suggested compromise that men be given a reduced fee.

Yeah, I men, that guy's a dick but he has them there if he's paying the same fee but has less access. None of this would have been a problem if they just went with a compromise.

Does this logic apply to swimming pools or other facilities that not everyone can use for various health reasons? (ie a pregnant woman or someone with a heart condition may not be able to use a sauna, but is still expected to pay for it).

Having a vagina isn't exactly a medical condition. >.>

Besides, the operating costs of a gym quite likely take that into account. I don't think a gym expects all of its members to use every single piece of equipment it has every time they're in. Utilizing every given facility and equipment at a gym every time you're there would be quite challenging.

[Duelist925]

Does this logic apply to womens exercise rooms?

To locker rooms both male and female?

Does this logic apply to swimming pools or other facilities that not everyone can use for various health reasons? (ie a pregnant woman or someone with a heart condition may not be able to use a sauna, but is still expected to pay for it).

Locker rooms are a moot point: Because there are both male and female locker rooms.

And as GK said, being female isn't exactly a medical condition. The examples you quote are a matter of self denial--the heart patient is required to look after his own health, the pregnant woman the same. All the company is responsible for is proper warning, ie signs saying "People with heart conditions should check with doctor before blah blah blahing" or the like.

This instance is a matter of a company forcing uneven conditions--men and women paying the same, but receiving different availabilities. (ie, men pay the same, but receive less)



It would only apply to womens only workout rooms if there was equipment in there that was not on the main floor, and would reasonably be expected to be used by either gender.


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Edited because Greenday and GK are not, in fact, the same person.

[Ginger Tea]

The whole "I am paying for an hour I can not use" can also be applied to hours you can not attend due to being at work, granted you can't expect to skip out on work for an hour to get some treadmill time.

But if the hour they chose is a prime time slot that would be a problem, if the gym is 24/7 or a long day at least, I would look into scheduling it into stupid O'clock or at a time where it is no inconvenience to either gender, but that would involve looking into activity over a few months to find out what were available slots.

I have no issue with gyms opening up exclusively to one gender or another and if one such female gym was open and this became an issue for my hypothetical mixed gym, I would recommend them changing to theirs, I might loose custom, but I would not alter my customer's access if an alternative was readily available.

[Rapscallion]

Maybe they could have "No Public Masturbation Day" 7 days a week instead. ;p

Is it possible to sign up other people to that?

Rapscallion

[Greenday]

And as Greenday said, being female isn't exactly a medical condition.

God I wish I could take credit for that quote by Gravekeeper.

[Ladeeda]

The whole "I am paying for an hour I can not use" can also be applied to hours you can not attend due to being at work

Except people CAN use the gym during those hours, if they chose to skip work for it. It's available for them, even though they are NOT available to use it.

Cutting out an hour a day means the gym is NOT available for a significant portion of time for a significant portion of the clientele.

[Rebel]

I am genuinely wondering ...

If you believe that it's okay for a gym to have a "women's only" hour, for whatever reason, then do you also believe that it would be fair to charge women a higher membership fee?

Part of the complaint against this gym is that they're providing their female members with time and services unavailable to men, but still charging both men and women the same rates.

The gym rejected a suggested compromise that men be given a reduced fee.

By that same line of thought, should the women who can only use that one women's only hour a day be charged a reduced rate?

[Andara Bledin]

The whole "I am paying for an hour I can not use" can also be applied to hours you can not attend due to being at work, granted you can't expect to skip out on work for an hour to get some treadmill time.

No, it can't. It can only be applied to situations under which the gym has control. When you work, what medical conditions you have, and your transportation issues are all on you, as a customer, and up for you to work out.

The provision of facilities and when those are available to whom, however, is the gym's purview and should be equally provided for all members who pay the same rate.

[Anthony K. S.]

By that same line of thought, should the women who can only use that one women's only hour a day be charged a reduced rate?

Actually, that is not the same line of thought.

As Andara and others have pointed out, the membership fee reflects the services that the gym makes available to you.

Whether or not you are available to make use of them is your responsibility to work out, not the gym's.

As long as the gym makes the space, equipment, staff, etc. available for use, they've done their part. They are not expected to reduce your fee if you are unable to make use of them, whether due to scheduling conflicts, transportation problems, medical conditions, anxiety issues, or whatever else. Those are your issues to manage.

In this case, the gym is not making that space, equipment, staff, etc. available for certain members to use. If they are providing more services to one group than another, then it is not unreasonable to expect the groups to pay different rates.

As long as they are paying the same rate, they should get the same services.

[Rebel]

As it all stands, the decision to create a women's only time slot was made by the gym owner. It's something they found there was a demand for and so it made good business sense to implement it.
There is only one known complaint. If he is this upset by his gym, I'm sure he can have the owner cancel his membership. He is free to train at any other gym, although I wish him luck finding one that doesn't offer a women's only space or time in some way.

The gym is a private business that has the right to change its operating times, availabilty and classes as it chooses. A membership entitles you to use of the gym facilities when it is made available to you. The gym has the right to change the availability as it deems fit. The implementation of a restricted hour is in accordance with the stipulation of gym rules and the possibility that they may be amended from time to time. This is all in the contract that you sign when you first join up.
I even double checked on my gyms contracts. It's all covered there.

You can be upset about being denied one hour a day (which is most probably at a very quiet time anyway) all you want. The owner found it nessesary to implement it for his members. The best way to discontinue this women's only hour is to make it so that the members and the gym owner no longer feel it is nessesary.

[Panacea]

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.

That would suck. If your gym made a change after you bought a membership, you should have a right to cancel.

However, if that's the policy when you buy in, then that's not the gym's problem. You should check these things before you sign the dotted line. I know I did.

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.

This is anecdotal, but most of the women I know who have an issue going to a coed gym is not worries about sexual harassment. It's fears about their own perception of their body image; how they look to others, especially other women.

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.

Most women don't dress to impress men as much as they dress to impress other women. Women are catty and cliquish: how you look establishes where you stand on the pecking order.

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

Now, fuck this guy.

Absolutely fuck this guy. He's an asshole, who doesn't understand how motivation works, much less common courtesy. All he had to do was say, "You know I appreciate you're trying to motivate yourself, but the noise is distracting me, please tone it down." Then the ball is in her court.

But physical intimidation. Oh the hell no. He should have been hit with the permabanhammer for that.

But that's an outlier, not the norm, for why some women feel uncomfortable in gyms.

[Andara Bledin]

But physical intimidation. Oh the hell no. He should have been hit with the permabanhammer for that.

For screaming in her ear, I'm not sure he shouldn't be hit with an assault charge, to be honest.