Deleted User said 9 years, 7 months ago:

Everyday, there will be a time where only women can work out at the university gym.

Discuss….

I would also like to note,there are two gyms lol

http://i.imgur.com/FgNyPAu.jpg

What happened to equality?

Swifting said 9 years, 7 months ago:

I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea especially in some cultural groups where women are forbidden to wear tight fitting clothing around men. This gives them an opportunity to come to the gym and workout without worrying about their cultural prohibitions and safety concerns of wearing loose clothing.

They have to work those hours into their schedule to attend and men have to work to avoid those hours.

It seems like a great compromise to be inclusive for everyone.

Deleted User said 9 years, 7 months ago:

@swifting
It’s a public university in Toronto.

Swifting said 9 years, 7 months ago:

You have no Muslims in Toronto?

Okay – what about survivors of sexual assault?
They don’t feel comfortable being alone in a gym full of men – this gives them the opportunity to not be in a room filled with men.

I don’t think a few hours a day, during what looks like non-busy gym hours, (after the morning rush and before the after-work rush) is really that much to compromise.

edit: I did the research Toronto has the highest population of Muslims in any city in North America. It’s also the second fastest growing religion behind the obvious Christianity. 7.7% of the population is Muslim.

rinseandrep said 9 years, 7 months ago:

“Meghan Ancheta, a Fashion Design student, supported the women-only gym time because it might help women avoid the pick-up artists who frequent the gym.”

Ah ah, they are like locusts. More on this:

http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/students-debate-women-only-gym-times-at-ryerson-university/

mongoose said 9 years, 7 months ago:

I think swifting makes some good points. It is only unequal if they deny the same benefits to men if it was determined a need for it.

Deleted User said 9 years, 7 months ago:

@swifting
I won’t get into the religious topic since we all know that isn’t what was really at stake.
Should women also have their own timings in classes as well since sexual assault survivors won’t feel comfortable in an engineering class full of men?

Swifting said 9 years, 7 months ago:

I think they should have the materials available to them to learn and if they’re uncomfortable with the class – independent studies should be made available.

I do think that @rinseandrep ‘s article expresses fully the disconnect.

There are two facilities. Most of the time the facilities are dead for an hour at a time. This isn’t hurting any large number of people, in fact, as a marketing technique – it’s genius.

Why not make a safe place when the facility isn’t being used to capacity – and increase attendance?

Niklaus said 9 years, 7 months ago:

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Deleted User said 9 years, 7 months ago:

Brb we want equal rights. We wanna be treated exactly the same.
Brb we want special treatment.

mongoose said 9 years, 7 months ago:

So take sex out of the equation for a moment and lets make this about people. If large enough % of your membership base has issues with working out around members of the opposite sex… why not set exclusive times for them?

Jess said 9 years, 7 months ago:

But Op, it’s not special treatment. It’s a safe space. A good analogy I read once was something like ‘they don’t make safe spaces for men in the same way they don’t make homeless shelters for the rich’. It’s not that it’s unequal to men, it’s that women suffer at such high rates that these safe spaces are needed.

Women avoid sexual harassment all day every day. When they get dressed, they have to decide whether they want to look and feel good or avoid catcalling and potential following. When they get on public transport, they worry about the creepy guy a few seats in front or whether the 6’1 guys crushed behind her 5’4′ in peak hour are gonna sneak a grope. When they get to work, is her boss or coworkers gonna hit on her again? Are male customers gonna flirt or out right sexually harass her even though she’s at work and literally couldn’t flirt if she wanted to. When she’s on her lunch break are creepy men gonna come over to her? Are construction workers gonna cat call or offensive things like “nice tits” and then get angry at her if she doesn’t appreciate it? When she walks home, is someone gonna yell at her from their car? Follow her? Jump her? Assault her? She’s probably got some sort of weapon, even if it’s just her keys, just in case because even if it never happens, the fear doesn’t go away. When she goes to the gym in workout wear literally made for working out, is it going to attract attention of men who don’t understand the concept? Are they going to whistle, or stare when she’s just trying to work out? Is she going to be hassled by the nice guys who stick to cardio or the intimidating walls that are body builders? Quite frankly, we don’t know which one is worse. Is she going to get followed by those creeps that go to gyms to pick up women who like to stay fit? What about the ones that go to stare? Peeping toms? Oh, god, what if her personal trainer is a pervert?

This isn’t exaggerating either. This is everyday life for women. We just don’t talk about it because so many men have told us that because they don’t go through it with women, we couldn’t possibly with men. Probably we’re just being bitches and can’t take compliments. Or we’re too sensitive. Or on our period.

Women-only gym sessions are not the biggest issue. It’s the fact that women need them is the problem.

rinseandrep said 9 years, 7 months ago:

Constitutional rights 101

Equality means both
1: treating similar situations in similar ways
2: treating different situations in different ways

Swifting said 9 years, 7 months ago:

@jesuswasrussian – AMEN!

As soon as we stop teaching women how to avoid being raped and instead start teaching men not to rape as a public policy this won’t be needed.

And the comment from the article about women only library hours – if the library became a place where you wore next to nothing – then damn straight. Just until we don’t have to teach our women to not be raped as much as we teach our men not to rape.

Brods said 9 years, 6 months ago:

I think if women get specific hours of the day for only women then men should get the same. That way it’s fair — in the end.