# Well it's official, the YMCA drops the MCA **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465 "2010-07-12T23:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/1 "2010-07-12T23:09:01Z")
It’s official the YMCA is [now](http://www.startribune.com/nation/98262904.html) just “the Y” having dropped any refence to men, Christianity, or being an association from it’s name. I can’t say this is all that surprising. They’ve been letting women join for nearly 40 years and have long since stopped focusing on young men and on families instead. Meanwhile a few years ago our the local YMCA made a big deal of adding women-only excercise area so that ladies didn’t have to go all the way to the YWCA (which doesn’t let men or boys in at all) a few blocks away or one of the area’s for-profit Curves. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/2 "2010-07-12T23:13:53Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > It’s official the YMCA is [now](http://www.startribune.com/nation/98262904.html) just “the Y” having dropped any refence to men, Christianity, or being an association from it’s name. I can’t say this is all that surprising. They’ve been letting women join for nearly 40 years and have long since stopped focusing on young men and on families instead. Meanwhile a few years ago our the local YMCA made a big deal of adding women-only excercise area so that ladies didn’t have to go all the way to the YWCA (which doesn’t let men or boys in at all) a few blocks away or one of the area’s for-profit Curves. But they’ve ruined the song! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/3 "2010-07-12T23:24:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > But they’ve ruined the song! > > :mad: Seeing as how they let women in now, I don’t think the Village People would have had as much fun there as they did anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/4 "2010-07-12T23:29:05Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Seeing as how they let women in now, I don’t think the Village People would have had as much fun there as they did anyway. What have I told you about bothering me with details!?!?!??!??!?!??!?!? Seriously, what **have** I told you about that? I don’t keep track of these things. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/5 "2010-07-13T13:41:05Z")
It’s about time, the rest of the world dropped it [around 1990.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Channel_architecture) ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/6 "2010-07-13T13:49:52Z")
So it’s just the _young_ now. Figures. They get all the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/7 "2010-07-13T14:01:35Z")
Hmmph. I hope Mose Alison doesn’t get wind of this. “_Young Blues_” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/8 "2010-07-13T14:14:53Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > But they’ve ruined the song! > > :mad: Well, the M was always kinda hard to do. Hurts my shoulders. And the A was just a stylized dunce cap. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/9 "2010-07-13T14:27:32Z")
Everyone is taking the short cut. CBS is CBS Inc not Columbia Broadcasting System. When’s the last time you heard American Telephone and Telegraph. Who under 20 even knows what a telegraph is. Who said, “Did you look at the Sears Roebuck ad?” Short is better, I’m far to busy to talk to people without using abbreviations. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/10 "2010-07-14T01:30:16Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Meanwhile a few years ago our the local YMCA made a big deal of adding women-only excercise area so that ladies didn’t have to go all the way to the YWCA (which doesn’t let men or boys in at all) a few blocks away or one of the area’s for-profit Curves. I don’t believe this is universally true of YWCA’s - I may be incorrect, but my grandfather lives in a retirement home right next door to the YWCA, and goes to a senior water aerobics class there (or at least he did in the past). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/11 "2010-07-14T03:34:26Z")
> [@QuercusMax](#): > > I don’t believe this is universally true of YWCA’s - I may be incorrect, but my grandfather lives in a retirement home right next door to the YWCA, and goes to a senior water aerobics class there (or at least he did in the past). This particular YWCA is (or was a few years ago) all-female. One of my college classmates tried to join about that time and was directed to the YMCA by a very confused staffmember. I considered joining the YMCA since it was closer to home than my junior college’s student center, but I found out that they charge men & women the same fees despite not having an equivalent men-only exercise area and declined on principal. I also learned that woman had their own sauna in addition to the big coed one off the pool are (this bothered me more than the exercise area). ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/12 "2010-07-14T04:12:21Z")
The Y where my family belongs has a large exercise room, as well as separate men-only and women-only exercise rooms attached to each gender’s locker room on the second floor, and a smaller Curves-type area where a recording directs you to change machines every minute or so. In addition to the adult-only lockers on the second floor, there are also smaller locker rooms just off the pool area for children, accompanying parents, and disabled people (the signs say something like “Mothers, girls under 17, and disabled women” and “Fathers, boys under 17, and disabled men.”) I’m going to feel a little weird only calling it the Y. Then again, I’ve only seen a few young men there, mostly heading in or out of the basketball gym. Mostly I see older adults, girls who attend my daughter’s and niece’s dance classes, and kids of both genders attending swimming lessons or tae kwon do. As long we’re on the subject, I wonder if my local Y had actual dorms like the ones I read about in old books? I remember reading about guys showing up in New York City with no place to stay sleeping at the Y, and sometimes activities other than sleeping taking place there. Does anyone know if this actually happened? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/13 "2010-07-14T04:13:33Z")
Why? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/14 "2010-07-14T04:45:47Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Why? Why ask Y? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/15 "2010-07-14T05:15:03Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Everyone is taking the short cut. CBS is CBS Inc not Columbia Broadcasting System. When’s the last time you heard American Telephone and Telegraph. Who under 20 even knows what a telegraph is. Who said, “Did you look at the Sears Roebuck ad?” > > Short is better, I’m far to busy to talk to people without using abbreviations. 😃 tl; dr ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/16 "2010-07-14T12:14:21Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > As long we’re on the subject, I wonder if my local Y had actual dorms like the ones I read about in old books? I remember reading about guys showing up in New York City with no place to stay sleeping at the Y, and sometimes activities other than sleeping taking place there. Does anyone know if this actually happened? My brother-in-law stayed at a Y while he was on a 3 month contract. He said it was pretty nice, and was centrally located. And knowing my brother-in-law, I strongly doubt any hanky panky on his end. I’m not sure I remember the city, though. Chicago? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/17 "2010-07-14T12:38:15Z")
It’s still open for dining, right? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/18 "2010-07-14T13:00:19Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > My brother-in-law stayed at a Y while he was on a 3 month contract. He said it was pretty nice, and was centrally located. And knowing my brother-in-law, I strongly doubt any hanky panky on his end. I’m not sure I remember the city, though. Chicago? The Chicago YMCA’s that have housing have yearly contracts, except for the one in north suburban Niles, Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/19 "2010-07-14T15:22:24Z")
I lived at one near Chicago back in 1992 for three months. The less said about that time, the better, although that was all me; it had nothing to do with the place. Only thing I didn’t particularly like there was the no-outgoing calls from the phone in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465/20 "2010-07-14T15:47:34Z")
The Y’s in our area, are primarily just fitness clubs. They compete directly with the for-profit fitness gyms but are able to offer lower membership prices, because they are tax exempt. Most of the facilities are very nice, most of them newly constructed or remodelded in the last 5 years. They do provide low or free memberships to those that ask, but they don’t advertise it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-its-official-the-ymca-drops-the-mca/546465.md?page=2)