Women-only gyms have been becoming more widespread in recent years. This has been due to the high levels of harassment from men in co-ed gyms.
Diana Johnson and Felicia Oreb, who opened Base Body Babes Studio in 2014, claimed, “‘many of our members preferred training at the female-only facility over the mixed-gender gym…Unwanted attention, such as stares, comments, or harassment, can create an uncomfortable or unsafe environment, discouraging women from fully participating or returning to the gym,’” according to the New York Post.
Impact reported that women who go to co-ed gyms often experience men staring and making comments about their bodies, taking nonconsensual photos and videos of them, making unwanted romantic and/or sexual advances, touching them without their consent and even following and stalking women.
Over 61% of women have reportedly experienced this type of behavior at the gym at least once. This is especially discouraging for young women and teenage girls interested in working out. Statistics from Exercise.com show that “35% of girls aged 14-16 don’t participate in exercise due to lack of confidence, and 34% avoid it because they don’t like being watched,” despite the desire to workout or feel more comfortable in their body.
It is an incredibly unfortunate reality that women-only gyms are currently needed. Everyone should have safe and easy access to places to improve their health, as it’s crucial to extended life expectancy and a better quality of life overall. As long as women are unsafe and uncomfortable around men, there should be institutions — such as women-only gyms — to protect and provide safe places for them.
However, it’s important to note that women aren’t the only ones subject to violence and harassment by men. Women-only gyms are only truly helpful if they include genderqueer people and LGBTQIA+ people as well.
The Human Rights Campaign found that “over 2,800 hate crimes were recorded against LGBTQ+ people in 2023, accounting for almost one in four (22.8%) of all hate crimes recorded that year,” 542 of those were crimes against genderqueer people. In other words, genderqueer and LGBTQIA+ people in general are just as likely, if not more so, to be threatened by men, solidifying the need for safe places for them too.
Women-only gyms are great ideas — in the short term — and should be implemented across the country. However, to truly accomplish their goal, genderqueer people should also be welcomed into these communities. These gyms should not have to exist, and it’s disheartening that women and genderqueer people can’t simply exercise in peace, but the fact is that as long as people are victimized by men, there need to be places to protect women and genderqueer people from them.
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels
