Women only training hours at my school's gym

thunder_god · Oct 8, 2014

I just paid for a gym membership at my school's gym and found out 2 days later that there are hours each day dedicated to allowing only women and varsity athletes separately to use the gym and no one else. I'm quite pissed off at this and feel I'm being discriminated against based on my gender. I gave one of the girl staff there a piece of my mind the other day when she told me I couldn't come in to workout because the gym was at capacity. I know it wasn't her fault and I shouldn't have exploded on her like that but I was pissed.

Anyways I was thinking about contacting the student union or any university governing body to file a complaint about this and if it just gets shoved under the rug I was considering filing a complaint with my province's human rights office.

What do you guys think?

jimmy18 · Oct 8, 2014

Don't bother complaining. Complete waste of time. Instead, spend time looking for a new gym, though you are probably now contracted to this one.

thunder_god · Oct 8, 2014

jimmy18 said:
Don't bother complaining. Complete waste of time. Instead, spend time looking for a new gym, though you are probably now contracted to this one.

It's my school's gym and I already paid for 2 months membership already.

jimmy18 · Oct 8, 2014

Are you p!ssed off because you can't go to the gym at certain times, or because when you are allowed to go there are less women around (as they go during women-only times)? Both are legitimate concerns

Peaks&Valleys · Oct 9, 2014

EDIT: listen to dasein

Rubirosa · Oct 9, 2014

Were you told before you purchased your membership about the training time restrictions? I know you said you just found out, but did they hand you a schedule of the gym hours and tell you that you could train anytime? Is there a specific reason given as to why there are only female hours?....This is a public university feeding off of taxpayer money?
I say go ahead and contact a human rights agency....what harm could it cause you? See what they say.......

thunder_god · Oct 9, 2014

Rubirosa said:
Were you told before you purchased your membership about the training time restrictions? I know you said you just found out, but did they hand you a schedule of the gym hours and tell you that you could train anytime? Is there a specific reason given as to why there are only female hours?....This is a public university feeding off of taxpayer money?
I say go ahead and contact a human rights agency....what harm could it cause you? See what they say.......

Nope, no mention of this, otherwise I would have joined another gym.

thunder_god · Oct 9, 2014

jimmy18 said:
Are you p!ssed off because you can't go to the gym at certain times, or because when you are allowed to go there are less women around (as they go during women-only times)? Both are legitimate concerns

Both, but mainly because I can't workout at two different times during the day. The typically space out the women's only hours and the varsity athlete hours by a few hours. I've been to 4 different educational institutions and this is the only one that has such a bull$hit policy in place.

dasein · Oct 9, 2014

First, how bad is the actual problem as opposed to the principle of it? If it's something like 1-2 hours a day, and those hours aren't in typical morning or evening gym heavy use periods, realize people will accuse you of being some kind of whiny agitator and a misogynist. You may draw the ire of campus feminists and white knights. So are you willing to put up with that? Assuming you are...

In your shoes, I'd write a calm, brief letter to the head of the athletics department (or whomever is the final decisionmaker with respect to gym policy) asking for change of the policy as pertains to women only hours. Wait for a response. If one is not forthcoming, resend it, cc the Dean of Students, and tell them your next stop will be the Uni Pres, the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association.

Your position is unassailable. It's just as discriminatory to have "women only" hours in a school gym as it would be to have black or white only hours. In fact, I'd point this out in exactly this way. If you don't get traction from the Dean of Students, resend a third time and cc the Uni President, the head of the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association. In that letter, explain calmly that since no action has been taken, your next stop will be a formal complaint to a government agency and speaking to the press.

This is an opportunity for you to take a stand where you are clearly in the right and taking a stand won't take too much time or effort. Good luck with it. You may also obtain support or a petition from other male members. If this were a private gym, I'd say just demand a refund and go elsewhere. In this case, I think you should remain a vocal member of the school gym and keep a detailed log of times you would have worked out but were prevented from doing so because of the discrimination.

thunder_god · Oct 9, 2014

dasein said:
First, how bad is the actual problem as opposed to the principle of it? If it's something like 1-2 hours a day, and those hours aren't in typical morning or evening gym heavy use periods, realize people will accuse you of being some kind of whiny agitator and a misogynist. You may draw the ire of campus feminists and white knights. So are you willing to put up with that? Assuming you are...

In your shoes, I'd write a calm, brief letter to the head of the athletics department (or whomever is the final decisionmaker with respect to gym policy) asking for change of the policy as pertains to women only hours. Wait for a response. If one is not forthcoming, resend it, cc the Dean of Students, and tell them your next stop will be the Uni Pres, the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association.

Your position is unassailable. It's just as discriminatory to have "women only" hours in a school gym as it would be to have black or white only hours. In fact, I'd point this out in exactly this way. If you don't get traction from the Dean of Students, resend a third time and cc the Uni President, the head of the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association. In that letter, explain calmly that since no action has been taken, your next stop will be a formal complaint to a government agency and speaking to the press.

This is an opportunity for you to take a stand where you are clearly in the right and taking a stand won't take too much time or effort. Good luck with it. You may also obtain support or a petition from other male members. If this were a private gym, I'd say just demand a refund and go elsewhere. In this case, I think you should remain a vocal member of the school gym and keep a detailed log of times you would have worked out but were prevented from doing so because of the discrimination.

I just think lately I have developed a much lower tolerance for female bs and feminist crap. Good suggestions, I will have to find out the head of the athletic department.

Colossus · Oct 9, 2014

dasein said:
First, how bad is the actual problem as opposed to the principle of it? If it's something like 1-2 hours a day, and those hours aren't in typical morning or evening gym heavy use periods, realize people will accuse you of being some kind of whiny agitator and a misogynist. You may draw the ire of campus feminists and white knights. So are you willing to put up with that? Assuming you are...

In your shoes, I'd write a calm, brief letter to the head of the athletics department (or whomever is the final decisionmaker with respect to gym policy) asking for change of the policy as pertains to women only hours. Wait for a response. If one is not forthcoming, resend it, cc the Dean of Students, and tell them your next stop will be the Uni Pres, the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association.

Your position is unassailable. It's just as discriminatory to have "women only" hours in a school gym as it would be to have black or white only hours. In fact, I'd point this out in exactly this way. If you don't get traction from the Dean of Students, resend a third time and cc the Uni President, the head of the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association. In that letter, explain calmly that since no action has been taken, your next stop will be a formal complaint to a government agency and speaking to the press.

This is an opportunity for you to take a stand where you are clearly in the right and taking a stand won't take too much time or effort. Good luck with it. You may also obtain support or a petition from other male members. If this were a private gym, I'd say just demand a refund and go elsewhere. In this case, I think you should remain a vocal member of the school gym and keep a detailed log of times you would have worked out but were prevented from doing so because of the discrimination.

I totally agree, that is blatant discrimination. OP, this is a good battle to fight (if you care) because like dasein said your position is beyond reproach. Can you IMAGINE the uproar it would cause if there were "male only" hours in a gym?!

Now, the school has a right to allow varsity athletes to use the gym exclusively during certain hours, if that is their primary training facility. But they do NOT have the right to assign "women only" hours, even if it overlaps with varsity hours. It's not the same thing as allowing the elderly or the disabled protected gym time.

If I were you OP I'd write an email exactly like dasein said to the head of athletics, and and if that doesnt work go up the chain of command. I did this once with a grading issue in junior college, and it worked once I got to the department head.

Robert28 · Oct 9, 2014

This college or highschool? If it's college, it must be a small one to only have one gym. My college had weight rooms for all sports and two on campus gyms for students to use.

zekko · Oct 9, 2014

Colossus said:
But they do NOT have the right to assign "women only" hours, even if it overlaps with varsity hours.

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm curious to know if they really have the right or not.

Colleges seem to be the worst places in the country when it comes to serving the great feminist agenda. I'm sure the women are saying they need the gym to themselves because the men are ogling them, hitting on them, and making them feel generally uncomfortable.

dasein · Oct 9, 2014

Some other defenses may be that these special hours are for "survivors of sexual abuse" on campus or elsewhere, or "at risk women in the community." Or you may get a variant of some sort of "body dismorphism in a segment of the female student population" response. You may even get a legalese response that the ADA requires such hours as an accommodation to some disability, which will be hogwash.

Your responses should be that regardless of rationalizations, it is plainly disciminatory policy, that men also suffer from those social ills, conditions and disabilities, that if they can freely use other university facilities without special accommodations such as the libraries, dorms or common areas, why are exercise facilities any different?

Anyway, in a rational world, the policy would be corrected immediately, who knows what they will say though? If you go through with this, keep us posted as to what the response is, and we can help address those.

thunder_god · Oct 9, 2014

Thanks for the support guys. I'm definitely going to fight this issue, but just need to finish my job applications first before I can be ready for full on battle. Also the program I study in is largely female dominated with like a 70% ratio of females to males. I am anticipating that I will face extreme criticism from my classmates if word gets out that I am pursuing this issue, however it is not something I feel I can turn a blind eye. I am frankly sick and tired of all the feminist propaganda that was spurred up throughout the years about how women want equal rights but they expect a double standard such as making men do all the hard work/heavy lifting, child custody, getting away with rape, guys paying for dates, guys making the first move and risking rejection, etc.

I will need to spend some time crafting out a carefully thought out email to the head of the athletic department to express my opinions about their women only hours.

dasein · Oct 9, 2014

Keep it short, to the point, and ask directly for change of the policy. Couple of paragraphs max, no threats of any kind yet. Do mention "discriminatory" along the lines of

"After I paid for two months at the school gym, I found out there was a discriminatory policy of women-only hours in place. I don't think this is fair, it causes others and myself unwarranted inconvenience, and am respectfully asking that this policy be discontinued."

Fluff it up into full sentences, but that's the gist of what you want. Would consider a regular mail as opposed to Email, which people can claim they didn't get or see. Be sure to make and keep a copy in a file.

Good luck.

Atom Smasher · Oct 10, 2014

Certified, return receipt requested.

thunder god, I encourage you to follow through and pursue it as far as you can (as you've already stated you intend to do). The very reason we're in this societal mess is because of men's apathy, and the time is ripe for us to take tangible action.

Bible_Belt · Oct 10, 2014

Dasein, I have to criticize your lawyering. Haven't you seen the recent South Park? If the OP were my client, I would have him say he was transgender, and that female-only restrictions represent an ignorant, antiquated idea that there are only two genders, thereby discriminating unfairly and promoting a culture of intolerance.

Just like Eric Cartman got his own private bathroom, the school would probably offer special gym hours only for the "gender confused." Then the OP would be the only one to show up, and he would have his own private gym.

JaegerPilot217 · Oct 13, 2014

thunder_god said:
Thanks for the support guys. I'm definitely going to fight this issue, but just need to finish my job applications first before I can be ready for full on battle. Also the program I study in is largely female dominated with like a 70% ratio of females to males. I am anticipating that I will face extreme criticism from my classmates if word gets out that I am pursuing this issue, however it is not something I feel I can turn a blind eye. I am frankly sick and tired of all the feminist propaganda that was spurred up throughout the years about how women want equal rights but they expect a double standard such as making men do all the hard work/heavy lifting, child custody, getting away with rape, guys paying for dates, guys making the first move and risking rejection, etc.

I will need to spend some time crafting out a carefully thought out email to the head of the athletic department to express my opinions about their women only hours.

I agree with that, life ain't about how hard you can get hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward

zekko · Oct 13, 2014

bradd80 said:
It is my educated legal guess that private schools are using prongs #2 and #3 to "protect the interests of an underrepresented minority to encourage increased participation in college athletic programs."

So in other words, they have the right. Most likely.

The funny thing is, as I understand it, the majority of students in college today are women, so they're really protecting the majority. Even if they may be "underrepresented" in athletics. Which is probably because men are more interested in sports and competition than women are.

I was also going to note that the government doesn't really care what is fair, their aim is to help women, not men.

And of course men are still being allowed to use the gym, the girls only have it for a few hours, so that may figure into it as well.

Women only training hours at my school's gym

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