This has wound me up. Aibu? (Gym class men/women)

[FredAstairesChair]

I'm looking for a new adult acro/gymnastics club to join.

Why the need for this? It's put me off.
For what It's worth I weight train and do aerial sports and have had men 'destack' machines after I've been on, but this isn't really the point. I'm worried it will be a sort of sexist vibe or I won't be permitted to learn things I may want to learn because I'm a woman (although written down this seems ridiculous).
Aibu?

Is it not just because those are the competition disciplines?

Yanbu. I'd want to try everything.

@Ohshitiveturnedintomymother

Is it not just because those are the competition disciplines?

Perhaps. It doesn't say anything like that or indeed anything about competitions. I'm not sure..still seems wrong to me.

Doesn't sound like you will enjoy it but I would be relieved as I like most females don't have much upper body strength compared to males. Obviously there should be flexibility for outliers like yourself but can't ignore reality for the majority of the prospective participants.

That’s what happens in the gymnastics competitions and the Olympics.
Big standard and nothing to be concerned about.

Is it just the high bar that is for men?
When you say the men destack after you do you mean they take the plates off?

Those are just the normal male/female disciplines in gymnastics.

@Grellbunt

Doesn't sound like you will enjoy it but I would be relieved as I like most females don't have much upper body strength compared to males. Obviously there should be flexibility for outliers like yourself but can't ignore reality for the majority of the prospective participants.

Ok thanks. Good to get that perspective. I realise men are massively advantaged when it comes to upper body strength. I guess I just feel we should be able to work on that if we want to, and this feels more like 'You can't do this so you have to do something else'. Of course it has taken me longer to get to a stage where my upper body strength is possibly on a par with a weaker male,but I'd have been very upset to have not been 'allowed' to try to get here. I'm imagining when i joined my body builders gym being told 'Nope! That machine is only for penis owners!!'

I'd go for that class purely because they filter sessions based on biological sex

I was expecting them to have some self-ID clause in there which would put me off.

@Newkitchen123

Is it just the high bar that is for men? When you say the men destack after you do you mean they take the plates off?

They have done yes.

I am not just considering me here but any female who looks at this website. For me however, it feels like I may be held back at this gym by not being permitted to trying things I might become perfectly reasonable at. For other women, as said by a pp, perhaps it is less pressure and a good thing.

OR perhaps it's still telling them to not bother trying things as women can't possibly do them.

Why don't you just, you know, email or call them and ask them if you can try the same disciplines as the men?

@BlackberrySky

Those are just the normal male/female disciplines in gymnastics.

Okay. I'm obviously inexperienced in gymnastics as I'm a total beginner to it (began learning just before lockdown) ,I just like learning new things.

This is a beginner adults class though. I doubt it is for anyone competitive.

Why are you not taking the plates off yourself and putting them back on the stand?
Sorry but it's a bug bear off mine having to take plates off before I can even do my exercise. The bar should be empty and the plates should be cleaned

@BuffySummersReportingforSanity

Why don't you just, you know, email or call them and ask them if you can try the same disciplines as the men?

I just typed out an email,deleted it and came to MN for second (third/fourth/500th ) opinions first :)

You might enjoy CrossFit OP, there's lots of gymnastics included and men / women compete in exactly the same tasks

@FredAstairesChair This is the sport of gymnastics - men and women do different disciplines. It’s not a weights workout.

Would you complain if you were given lower hurdles or a lighter shot in athletics? Because that’s what women get there as well - it’s part of the sporting standard. There’s nothing sexist about a class that teaches the sporting disciplines.

If you want to pump iron with the boys, go to a mixed gym, not one run to BGA standards.

Those are the official disciplines. 🤨

@Newkitchen123

Why are you not taking the plates off yourself and putting them back on the stand? Sorry but it's a bug bear off mine having to take plates off before I can even do my exercise. The bar should be empty and the plates should be cleaned

I was just illustrating that I'm pretty strong..

Mostly of course,men are largely stronger and they'd usually put more weights on after me so was never the need to de-stack at all, it would save them work to leave mine on. Once I noticed certain men wanted fewer weights I would do it myself if they were on after me.

This was pre covid,i do it at home now so not an issue. Nobody cleaned anything in that gym though to be honest.

Well often we can't do things so what's the issue?

Men can't give birth either but do we see them going around angsting about it ? No.

I'm a bit fed up with people - often women - making out that being equal to men should mean doing everything they do. Females being shown in fictional fight scenarios overpowering men, celebrating women warriors defeating males even though the majority of women in real life haven't a hope in hell of defending themselves against a male-bodied person (absent a gun or serious weapon - and even then there's a risk you'd be overpowered and have it taken off you). It's a false narrative and insidious.

@SuperSange

Those are the official disciplines. 🤨

I'm beginning to note this now.. I'm wondering if i should go to a different gym though (the one I joined before lockdown had nothing like this) so I could have chance to learn everything.

The gym is merely following the disciplines available to professional male and female gymnasts.

YANBU because there shouldn't be divisions in sport based on gender at all. There shouldn't be "men's" and "women's" competitions, it should just be one big contest where anyone who is good enough can enter. The best should prevail and the average should just do it on an amateur basis.

The argument that some sports are suited to men, others to women, is offensive. The argument that a woman can't beat a man in a sport is also offensive. Look at Fallon Sherrock, took on a man and beat him at the World Championships. And I reckon Nicola Adams could take down plenty of men in the boxing ring too.

If your not used to doing a whole lot of upper body and particularly shoulder work then some of the “men’s” activities are likely to cause tendon damage so I’d imagine it’s a precaution as most women don’t have the shoulder build for it. Rings are notoriously hard for women unless they have trained from a young age on it

Why don't you just ask the gym if you could also try the other equipment as you do have good upper body strength?
Fwiw if you think about professional/elite gymnasts they still tend to do these events, and they have immense upper body strength compared to most women.

@FredAstairesChair

Sorry I hadn't seen your reply when I typed my other post.

I may be quite angry and I may be projecting. Sorry! I'm just a bit fed up with a few developments in society around this issue and your post triggered me but it isn't your issue.

Sexism and stereotyping is a massive problem - but there is a difference between genuinely recognising differences and, as you say, putting things off-limits for abitrary reasons. Can be difficult to find the balance.