WaterBomb
Two kids no brane
Good evening all! I just came across something interesting that i felt would make a good discussion topic for cong, so here it is.
My wife just joined a gym near us. Among its many perks, it also has a 'women only' section. It has the same equipment and amenities, but only women are allowed to work out in there. I am not sure if there is an official stated reason for this, but one can assume it's an attempt to provide women an area to work out in that is free from the threat of unwanted comments, advances, or oggling from men.
Now, my reaction to this goes some different directions. On the one hand, I get the concept of protecting women from harassment. Everyone should feel comfortable working out without being objectified, and this is clearly a much bigger issue with women than men. The simplest way to prevent these unwanted interactions is strict separation, which is what is being done here.
On the other hand, I wonder if this is truly the best method of combating the issue. While it certainly accomplishes the goal of preventing harassment, is it helping to discourage the behavior in the first place? Or is it just deflecting the issue to happen somewhere else? This raises another question: is it even the responsibility of the gym management to be trying to educate men on proper behavior?
My personal feeling is that this action, while well intentioned, is only deflecting the issue. I believe the focus should be not on separation, but on fostering an inclusive environment where people feel safe reporting unwanted advances, and severe punishments for those actions that ultimately discourage the behavior to begin with. But again, this might not be something the gym management feels qualified or responsible to do, so I would understand if that's why they did this.
How does everyone feel about this? Discuss!
My wife just joined a gym near us. Among its many perks, it also has a 'women only' section. It has the same equipment and amenities, but only women are allowed to work out in there. I am not sure if there is an official stated reason for this, but one can assume it's an attempt to provide women an area to work out in that is free from the threat of unwanted comments, advances, or oggling from men.
Now, my reaction to this goes some different directions. On the one hand, I get the concept of protecting women from harassment. Everyone should feel comfortable working out without being objectified, and this is clearly a much bigger issue with women than men. The simplest way to prevent these unwanted interactions is strict separation, which is what is being done here.
On the other hand, I wonder if this is truly the best method of combating the issue. While it certainly accomplishes the goal of preventing harassment, is it helping to discourage the behavior in the first place? Or is it just deflecting the issue to happen somewhere else? This raises another question: is it even the responsibility of the gym management to be trying to educate men on proper behavior?
My personal feeling is that this action, while well intentioned, is only deflecting the issue. I believe the focus should be not on separation, but on fostering an inclusive environment where people feel safe reporting unwanted advances, and severe punishments for those actions that ultimately discourage the behavior to begin with. But again, this might not be something the gym management feels qualified or responsible to do, so I would understand if that's why they did this.
How does everyone feel about this? Discuss!