I’m not quite sure that you actually do get it. Change that last part to “women objectify and hit on guys, but with less than 1/10 the intensity, and less than 1% as often,” and you might be getting close. There is a significant difference. Huge, actually.
I see men chatting up uninterested women all the time at my gym. This seems to happen a lot around the group classes. When a bunch of people are waiting outside to go in, I often see clueless men trying to chat up the women who are seemingly oblivious to their disinterest. Then in the class, they’ll stare at the women as they’re in compromising positions during the activity. It doesn’t really cross the line of sexual harassment, but it’s something the women would rather do without.
There is also a different vibe to classes when men are involved. Men and women often don’t have the same goals. A class with both sexes may be trying to cater to both sets of goals . A class with just women can be more focused on their goals.
Although I haven’t seen a men-only gym, I know there are gyms which are serious-only. I was reading about one in New York which was like $400(?) month and they would kick you out if you didn’t go often enough. It was a gym for people who were very serious about working out and wanted to be surrounded by other like-minded people.
Re. the discriminatory aspect of single-sex gyms: When black people and white people attended separate schools, this was deemed un-Constitutional because separate schools were inherently unequal, and some students were receiving an inferior education.
Now, commercial for-profit gyms are of course entirely different than public schools, but I brought it up to point out the “unequal” aspect of discrimination. From what I’ve seen, the very best gyms a person can attend are never single-sex. At least in the DC area, if you want to get the best value for your money, the cheapest gym, or the very best equipment money can buy, you will not sign up for a women-only gym.
Is it technically discrimination? Yes. But until the discrimination actually keeps men out from truly superior gyms, I don’t see anyone complaining.
(Underline added)
Cite?
I’ve been in more gyms/health clubs than I can count (way more than 20? 
) and I’ve never seen this groping you imagine is taking place. There are always plenty of muscle-bound men and women, weightlifters, and athletes, who would gladly stand up for any woman who claimed they had been “groped”.
Looking at exercising women, is a different issue, and is the primary reason “Women Only” facilities exist.
I used to belong to a women-only gym many moons ago, before I essentially switched to doing all my workouts at home. If I were to join a gym again in the future, I’d definitely have to consider a women-only gym again (along with other factors such as price, location, hours of operation, classes, etc.).
At every co-ed gym I’ve been a member of, I have had multiple instances of men at the gym making me uncomfortable enough that I felt compelled to cut my planned work out short and leave. I have never had a similar experience at a women-only gym.
The thing is, it wasn’t always some meathead being aggressive or engaging in overt or blatant sexual harassment.
Sometimes it’s the guy over in the corner on the weight bench who can’t seem to stop staring at my tits (which are covered by an industrial-grade sports bra because I have ahem large tracts of land and a sweaty t-shirt). Never says anything, never even speaks to me, but try having someone stare fixedly at your tits for half an hour while you’re using the machines. It’s . . . unpleasant doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Or the guys that feel like it’s entirely okay for them to discuss in their outside voices not only the precise bodily features of the receptionist that most interest them, but what they would like to do to and with her in graphic detail at some length.
Or the category of dude who assume that every single girl at the gym is there solely in pursuit of a boyfriend of their very own, and that any guy will do, so every time you see them, you get the exciting adventure of turning down today’s request for a date or a blowjob behind the building - even though you have already declined, politely a dozen or more times. These guys are often actually really polite about their asking, but being asked out by the same guy every freaking time you see him - and at the gym you might seem him several times a week - is wearying even if he’s polite. You get to where you start flinching when you see guys that do this. And then you feel like an asshole because they’re being objectively polite, just persistent.
Now, it’s not all the guys at the gym - lots of guys at the gym are perfectly reasonable and polite souls who mind their own business and let you mind yours. It’s not even most of the guys at the gym, really. But it happens often enough and consistently enough and it’s - at its very best - irritating. I can avoid the whole irritation by just picking a women-only gym. Which are often less expensive. Frankly, for my workout needs, any gym will have the equipment and facilities I’m most interested in, so if I can choose one to avoid an irritation, why shouldn’t I?
Plus, there are a number of other minor irritations I can skip by picking a women-only gym. Granted these are minor things - and super personal and idiosyncratic to me - but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not the only one who, for example, is not totally comfortable stripping down to my bathing suit in a room filled with strange men - especially if I forgot to shave my legs this morning or my bikini area could use a trim. It’s silly and stupid on my part, but it’s a thing all the same. Even though I’ve been happily married for a decade, I still prefer not to be sweaty and gross in the general company of theoretically eligible men if I can avoid it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll still do it if need be and not be bothered about it, but I can skip even having to think about it by choosing a women-only gym.
Really, what it boils down to is that for a lot of women, picking a women-only gym, all things being equal, is just less of a hassle. Also, who among us really needs yet ANOTHER excuse to skip the gym today? I found that I had a lot fewer excuses my brain recognized as legit if I just picked a women only gym.
It’s not discrimination unless women are told they can only sign up for women-only gyms. If they want to attend the very best gym possible, or get the best value for their money, they are entirely able to do so.
Do you think that people who grope do it openly where everyone else will see it? It could be at less busy times, or over in the corner of the gym. Or what some men do is “accidentally” grab or touch part of a woman, and if she makes a stink, he can claim he was just trying to get past her, and she should lighten up and she’s not that hot anyway, she should get over herself.
It’s like those threads on catcalling. Men often say they never see it, and women say it happens often. It’s because the catcallers often won’t do it when there are other men around to hear it.
I don’t know how often men are groping women at gyms. I’m fortunate enough that it hasn’t happened to me. But I know that just because I haven’t experienced it or seen it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.
It’s not discriminating against women, but it’s discriminating against men.
Anyways, my point was that if the very best gym possible was a women-only gym, then the discrimination actually might be cause for concern, because men would be denied access to the best gyms this country has to offer. Though now that I’m thinking about it more, men typically have access to all the best athletic facilities, since men’s athletics tend to have better funding than women’s, and it’s not called discrimination. I suppose because the money often comes from private donors, and private donors are allowed to discriminate.
What other sorts of discriminatory gyms would be legal (whether they would be profitable is another story)? For example, could you legally create a whites-only gym? How about a university grads only gym (must have bachelor’s degree or higher to patronize, to reduce the number of rude jocks present and encourage higher-level discussion in the locker room)? A gym reserved for those who can prove Irish ancestry?
If the gym is set up as a private club then it can discriminate anyway it wants to - left-handed red-haired Germans with a cleft palate and an Jewish cousin from Italy (would probably be a very small club in that case). At least in the US. Other locations vary, of course.
The issue is with public accommodations - is a gym requiring a membership public accommodation? Also, there is the historical separation of men and women for certain activities in our society (toilet, shower, etc.) which permits some forms of discrimination. Where there are genuine different needs then treating all alike might actually be what’s discriminatory as opposed to accommodating differences.
HEY! ASSHOLE! KEEP YOUR FREAKING HANDS TO YOURSELF!
WHAT PART OF NO DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?
THE NEXT TIME YOU TOUCH ME, I’M GOING TO BREAK YOUR DICK OFF!
CAPISCE?
See how easy that is? You’ve drawn attention to the pervert, the perversion, and aroused the testosterone level of a lot of guys who would really like to test out their pumped muscles on some asshole who’s molesting women.
I think there are some men who are unable to read a woman’s body language or are just uninterested in doing so. This thread made me think of a thread we had a while back about catcalling after a woman made a video of herself walking and being approached by many men. I recall people defending the men saying that they were just being friendly and that catcalls were an acceptable way to meet women. In some sense that’s true, but it is wholly dependent on the women being open to being approached. The women in the video had a closed-off posture and didn’t look at or respond to the men, yet they continually whistled, called, and followed her. Clearly she was signaling “Leave me alone”, yet many men approached anyway. I think that happens a lot where women are approached even though their body language says they want to be left alone.
Imagine what it would be like to be continually approached by people you’re not interested in who keep trying to engage you in conversation you have no interest in. I’m sure many of us have that coworker or neighbor who thinks nothing of yacking on and on about mundane crap and ignore the clear signs that you’re not interested. Imagine that happens when you’re in the gym, coffee shop, grocery store, etc. It would get tiring after a while. If there was a no-talking gym, you might go there just to work out in peace.
Those poor, poor men, being denied their God-given right to express their sexual urges to any and all women they see, all because some uppity bitches have the nerve to want to be able to work out without them. I think we all know who is really being harassed in this situation.
Do you seriously not understand? Do you think it’s just always that easy? Here are some possibilities of what can happen when a man gropes a woman in a public place:
[ul]
[li]She freezes, can’t think of anything to yell or do[/li][li]She chooses to do nothing, hoping to just get it over with and avoid that guy in the future[/li][li]She yells but isn’t intimidating enough and the guy pushes thing further, like it’s a game[/li][li]She yells at the guy to get away, and then the guy makes fun of her for thinking he would want to touch her fat ass anyway[/li][li]He goes away, but other people tell her she brought it on herself for dressing provocatively[/li][li]She yells and the guys goes away embarrassed at the moment, but then corners her later in the parking lot for embarrassing him and threatens her [/li][/ul]
These aren’t sci-fi scenarios, they are all real possibilities. The reason that women don’t always yell and make a stink isn’t because our feeble female minds didn’t think of it, it’s because it doesn’t always help.
This has got to be one of the most clueless posts I’ve ever read on this board, and that is saying a lot.
This is why I don’t go to women only gyms. The amount of lesbian harassment is unacceptable.
That’s from 2006, and I can find no indication that is ever actually existed. It’s very strange!
I tried yelping some of their locations, and don’t find that they exist.
I’m glad you wrote that because I was in “what did I just read?..” shock.
Then again, the guy who wrote it has two pit threads about him. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised
You forgot the option where the woman is ejected from the gym for being disruptive.
It didn’t happen at a gym, it happened in a marching band. And hey, way to totally miss the point that it happened once in my entire life, as opposed to the bajillion instances of male harassment I’ve experienced. Or were you attempting to be funny? (That whooshing noise going over your head is your clue that didn’t work.)
On the off-chance this guy is actually this clueless. . . .
Or, yanno, you’ve drawn the attention of a lot of guys with pumped up muscles who are good buddies with Mister Hypothetical Groper who are only too happy to get all up in your grill for giving their buddy a hard time when he was only trying to be friendly, and what’s the matter, you don’t wanna be friendly?
If Hypothetical Me has just been groped in public by a dude who appears to have no problem with sexually assaulting a woman in a public venue (the gym) in full view of a bunch of other people that there is a strong possibility he knows better than I do, the calculus of personal safety may well dictate “raise as little fuss as possible and GTFO as quickly as possible with all bits intact and no even more egregious sexual assault having taken place” is the way to go.
Speaking only for myself, if I’ve just been brazenly groped in a public venue by someone who apparently didn’t think twice about whether or not that was a good idea, getting gone and never, ever returning are a whole lot higher on my list of personal priorities than gambling on whether the other people in the room - all of whom presumably witnessed said groping - are willing to lend me a hand. And rest assured, it is a gamble, not a sure thing.