After Atalanta

I only found about this story from a FB friend who posted a link to the petition on Change.org. And despite my searches for more info--I cannot find any. So I wonder if this is actually making news in Beverly--which, coincidentally, is my home town. So a woman was told she cannot take her daughter into the children's locker room before swim lessons at the Beverly YMCA--where I once was a little guppy trying to work her way up to dolphinhood. Why can this mother not take her daughter into the kids' locker room? Because the woman was born a man. And apparently she still has "male eyes" and her gender presentation is confusing to people. First (though in no particular order), pretty condemning of men, no? All men are looking at little girls with leering eyes is the suggestion here. Of course, the message could (most likely?) be that a transwoman is more likely to be some kind of pervert. Second, let's perhaps use this as a teachable moment, people of the Beverly...

Is it possible? Are American women's life spans going to dip below those of our mothers' because we don't work out? Apparently it is possible, according to a study out of the University of Washington. Not good news for American women. This study follows a report out of Britain a few years ago which showed a dearth of sporting activity among girls and women. So what's it all about? According to this article , time and money. Because even while we promote Title IX and advocate for equal opportunities for girls, when adulthood hits, exercise is one of the first things to go. Assuming it was ever there at all. But this article says that even adult women who were once quite active, sacrifice exercise when things (i.e. motherhood plus work plus domestic duties plus attempt at salvaging a social life) get busy. And then when mid-life hits, the effects of a less active life really come into play. While I sympathize with the issue of making time for exercise when a woman becomes...

...which is not very feminine, I know. But I washed up and put on a skort and went to work out and I felt better! Yeah, right. But according to this article , putting on a skort and doing a workout should make me feel super duper feminine. But the whole thing caused the above-mentioned gag reflex. I have been sitting with this article for a while now and I still cannot figure out how to make sense of it. (I've also been kind of busy hanging in the miserable rathole with the other radical feminists , too; so that kind of limits my time). But I decided to try to take it point by offensive and misinformed point. First, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I do wear skirts when I play tennis--though not exclusively. And I wear skirts in everyday life (though not every day). And yes, I probably do fall on the femme spectrum somewhere. And yes I have those yoga pants that are tight in the ass. But I also have baggy gym shorts and grey t-shirts. And baseball caps--not the ...

Or maybe it's the new red--depends on what the usual color of boxing gloves is. I feel as if I have devoted a lot of blog space to the pinkification of women's sports and so I am not seeking out the pink stories, but when things come my way--in 3s--it's hard to ignore. So the latest is something called Pink Gloves Boxing. And it was featured on NPR's Morning Edition today . NPR! Guess it's time to write a letter. Pink Gloves Boxing is a fitness enterprise started by two former football players who started to train women in boxing. They have developed a whole package that they now sell to gyms. And the package includes not just information on training routines but the gear which includes: dog tags, t-shirts, and pink gloves--of course. The thing is, this program doesn't sound to me like it's any different than programs that already exist in gyms. My gym has a boxing class and many gyms have cardio boxing/kickboxing. After all, as the story states "There...

I see articles or scholarly presentations about the "progress" of women in the Middle East, especially in countries or regions in which there is little separation between Islam as a religion and Islam as a government. Invocations of progress always raise those little red flags for me, but I, too, was pleased to see more Muslim women or women living under Islamic rule, working out, participating in sports, and generally finding their own place and activities in sport and physical activity. From adaptations to fitness clothing to facilities, it seemed that more and more women had the opportunity to become physically activity and even compete at the highest levels of their chosen sport. In Saudi Arabia, a country with very strict regulations on women's movements, habits, and dress; a country that has never sent a woman to the Olympics; many women-only gyms were sprouting up and becoming quite popular. But many are now being closed . Gyms in Saudi Arabia need licenses and tho...

I never, never jump into the latest fitness trends. It took me years to get into both Step and indoor cycling. But for some reason I tried Zumba a couple of weeks ago and have been twice now. Not sure how long Zumba has been around (wait--according to the website it came to the US in the early 2000s), but it just came to my gym. Zumba is--this my description--a dance aerobics class. The foundations of the movements are in Latin dance. Here is what the Zumba website has to say about its product: Zumba® fuses hypnotic latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exhilarating hour of caloric-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life! (The rest of the description is here .) I haven't decided exactly how I feel a...

...that I meant to post on this weekend but didn't quite get around to. I was buoyed from my usual cynical position by three things that happened Friday evening, which was a very good thing because I had being having a crappy day until then. Anyway, the first thing (only because I am talking about it first--all three happened within about an hour of each other) is that NPR covered the Paralympics. It was a segment on, I believe, All Things Considered. The stars of the games including US swimmer Erin Popovich . The disqualification of an Irish soccer player because he was too able-bodied, and the doping scandals(there were four athletes sent home for steroid abuse). Then I heard on that same NPR station--not sure if it was local or national news--that the Basketball Hall of Fame has formed a committee to look into basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, particularly during segregation. It will review records of teams, players and coaches who have historically b...

It is soooo obvious which women in the gym are brides-to-be. They are the ones logging many miles on the treadmill, counting hundreds of crunches on physio balls, and lifting teeny tiny weights in an effort to tone (but not build--god forbid--bulk) shoulders (for those going strapless), upper back (for those going backless), and pecs (for those going for the plunging necklines). And all the while sporting those very large diamonds that are so popular these days. And while some of these women are doing it on their own many get help in various forms such as trainers, or the many , many websites out there dedicated to getting women to their desired shape for one day. And now, according to today's Boston Globe , gyms are offering special packages for brides-to-be. Total Performance Sports in eastern Massachusetts has a Bridal Survival Fit Camp. The gym may call it "fit camp" but the article (including the photo caption which reads: "future brides and members of wedding...

...where can you? A Californian man had his trial gym membership revoked when he wore a t-shirt that read "I need a man or a date" and printed his phone number on it. It's bold but I've heard a lot of stories about all sorts of queer behavior in the gym and frankly this seems tame. I mean he isn't coming on to anybody--he's waiting for someone to come to him. Most of us are performing something in the gym--masculinity, femininity, butchness, femmeness--because we know we're being watched (and we know that because we're doing some of the watching). David Kano was just being a little more obvious than most and that is what upsets people. Of course, he did join a gym called the California Family Fitness Center. Not that I am excusing the gym's actions but any place that has the word Family in it might not be the best place to pick up dates if you're a gay man looking for another single gay man. [The Family Fitness Center didn't seem to be too...

Well this controversy is actually old(er). It began last year* in Rochester, Minnesota when a lesbian couple sued their athletic club (scroll down a bit to see the news blurb; slightly longer story here ) because it would not give them the family rate on their membership. A judge dismissed their civil lawsuit which cited sexual orientation discrimination and the couple is now appealing, asking that the lawsuit be reinstated. According to the club rules, no one can get the family membership unless they are legally married. And here we see what seems to be the theme of the week: it's not us (health club, IOC) who are discriminating; it's just the rules. Of course no lesbians, except those in Massachusetts, can get married. The health club doesn't seem to care. This whole story is a bit surprising to me. Every health club I have belonged to has extended their family or couples rate to my partner and me--even when I lived in Iowa! And I always thought Minnesota was more liberal...

Guess who was cited at the Ninth Carnival of Radical Feminists hosted at unconventional beauty ? Yep, it's me. Blogger ladoctorita/lily liked my post, Viva Las Vegas!, about gender in the gym and included it in the carnival. I like to think it had something to do with my snarky writing that day which included the line that she pulled as a header "But hell hasn't frozen over yet, so I'll revert to my cynical explanation." Ladoctorita offers some gym anecdotes of her own--well actually those of her friends--and recounts the story of a man who goes to the gym, for hours, just to ogle. He never works out. He has been kicked out of one gym thus far for his staring and hitting on women but persists nonetheless. This situation seems more egregious and potentially dangerous than the one in my gym but since I have been irked by one particular guy twice already this week, I am going to take this opportunity to complain. "The Admiral" (nicknamed by RP) has been the...

Oh how I love to discourse about the gym. And this case in Nevada where a man has filed a complaint with the Nevada Human Rights Commission citing the Las Vegas Athletic Club for providing discounts to women and women-only spaces is a great place to start a conversation. It's the first gender discrimination claim ever brought in the state where the discrimination is against a man. According to lawyer Todd Phillips, who filed the complaint, when he was touring the LVAC with his wife he found out that women received a lower sign-up fee and also had access to areas of the gym men did not. The issue of a lower fee was analogized to those ubiquitous and atrocious "Ladies' Nights"--ever so-popular in Vegas apparently. I am not going to address that particular connection, though it appears some bars and casinos are concerned they won't be able to lure women in, ply them with alcohol, and then let the men in after them: an event that eerily resembles ones that took place ...

This is a very interesting and well-done article about the difficulties women in Israel face trying to find time and space to work out in a culture which does not support women's physical development--especially when it gets in the way of their duties to family and community. We can see some similarities in the obstacles American women face when they want to be active: carving out time during the day between household, community, and occupational duties. But there are sooe obvious differences as well: many American gyms have daycare; a fit female body is a status symbol in our culture and thus encouraged for certain women; and we often don't have the same community obligations--to entertain when a neighbor pops in, for example. [So few neighbors are popping in on one another these days.] An additional problem with the concept of Israeli women working out is the need to do so in sex segregated facilities. The article actually focuses on the one facility, The Eden Club, in a ...

The other day I tried a new weight-lifting workout with someone I consider an "expert." Expert's routine is very different from my own which lacks a certain amount of...well...routineness I would say. Expert was correct, in our post-workout discussion, that I only do things that I am good at rather than challenging my body in new ways. But I was also told that my lack of routineness (which is only slightly true--I do have a method of working opposing muscle groups on different days) is a "recipe for disaster." In other words, I am going to get injured. Of course I have been doing this not-a-routine for a decade or so without injury and am, in fact, rather careful about not hurting myself so I can pursue my non-gym physical activities. But I was interested in what Expert had to say about lighter weights and different exercises. I don't have a desire to gain more muscle mass because I play tennis and I don't want to pull a Justine Henin and start a weight ...