Religion and unisex

[midgemagneto]

I have seen it written that some religions do not allow women to mix with men in some circumstances, it's usually brought up in the context of changing rooms

I am curious as to which religions / branches and what the limitations actually are. do those restrictions apply to men in the same way ?

Happy to read if given pointers ( not too high brow though please )

I think the issue is that with all religions there is a big cross over with culture and there are many different strands of opinion within each religion (hence the expression 'a broad church' I suppose)
so people from one branch of a religion will tell you definitively one thing, and then others will tell you that's not the case at all. Compare, eg British Quakers with Irish Catholics.

My Muslim friend said that the women of the family would leave the front room if men visisted and would go to their rooms, she was from South India (Hyderbad).
My business partner is also from there, and he is Hindu. His mother would not answer the door to any man who was not family, he said this was the norm where he lived (until 2008).
At his school boys and girls were taught in the same class but separated into two sides of the classroom.
Their school did not teach any sport only academic subjects so changing was not an issue!

Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Romani and Gypsy cultures all prohibit the mixing of sexes in various situations.
Its not all neatly written out for us to link to online, you'll have to go and do some digging if you don't know anyone to ask in real life.

The writer Onjali Rauf decscribed some of the issues in a piece for Woman's Place UK in 2019: 'Women like myself and my Sikh or Hindu or Jewish friends who need single-space places to safely unveil, wash up and reconfigure ourselves; or women who are breastfeeding and lactating and needing a space to let it all hang out; or women going through the menopause or chemotherapy who need safe spaces to just be looked after, or young girls on their first ever periods or sprouting breasts who need space for support and reassurance.'

The sadly all-too-predictable backlash to her comments from members of the (white, middle class) publishing industry was covered in the Mumsnet thread 'The latest in UK children's publishing and the racism of gender ideology'.

Many arts institutions have switched to fully mixed sex toilets now. One place, the Tramway in Scotland, briefly switched back to single sex when hosting a religious festival which is basically an admission that their 'normal' day-to-day mixed sex policy excludes women from religious minorities from using the toilets.

Thanks for the pointers

Look up airlines move woman Jewish men.

Happened s fair bit.

This is a certain branch not all men obviously!

With (some) ultra Orthodox Jews, men are not allowed to mix with or have contact with women who are not their wives or female relatives. Hence occasional stories that hit the news about these men asking women sitting next to them on planes to be moved (rather than the men moving themselves!) which has quite rightly got a lot of push back both from airlines and individuals.

But curiously, have never heard of the reverse, of an ultra Orthodox Jewish woman asking to be moved if sitting next to a man she's not related to, or asking for the man to be moved? So maybe the rule about not mixing with the opposite sex is actually more heavily policed and stricter for men in Judaism? As I think it relates to prohibitions for men not to mix with menstruating women?

Wonder if anyone can confirm? Suppose it's also possible that the women are just less likely to fly unaccompanied or less likely to kick up a fuss if seated next to a man, so maybe one doesn't hear about it?

But certainly in Judaism the ban on mixing between the sexes applies to men at least as much if not more than it applies to women.

Should also stress clearly that these rules do NOT apply to the vast majority of practising Jews, only to a small number of ultra Orthodox ones.

I'm a Reform Jew, but many of my Orthodox female friends will find it difficult if men are allowed in women's spaces. Rather than risk coming into contact with them, many have said that they will stop using public facilities and just stay at home or within their religious circles.

@EishetChayil

I'm a Reform Jew, but many of my Orthodox female friends will find it difficult if men are allowed in women's spaces. Rather than risk coming into contact with them, many have said that they will stop using public facilities and just stay at home or within their religious circles.

This MN guest post was a complete eye-opener for me and an insight into a closed community that I had no idea existed in quite this level of containment:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts/4186416-Guest-Post-Mumsnet-was-the-first-safe-place-I-had-to-realise-my-own-agency-now-I-am-campaigning-to-end-forced-marriage

Thank you for that link EmbarrassingAdmissions it was quite a hard read though

@IvyTwines2

The writer Onjali Rauf decscribed some of the issues in a piece for Woman's Place UK in 2019: 'Women like myself and my Sikh or Hindu or Jewish friends who need single-space places to safely unveil, wash up and reconfigure ourselves; or women who are breastfeeding and lactating and needing a space to let it all hang out; or women going through the menopause or chemotherapy who need safe spaces to just be looked after, or young girls on their first ever periods or sprouting breasts who need space for support and reassurance.'

The sadly all-too-predictable backlash to her comments from members of the (white, middle class) publishing industry was covered in the Mumsnet thread 'The latest in UK children's publishing and the racism of gender ideology'.

Many arts institutions have switched to fully mixed sex toilets now. One place, the Tramway in Scotland, briefly switched back to single sex when hosting a religious festival which is basically an admission that their 'normal' day-to-day mixed sex policy excludes women from religious minorities from using the toilets.

So the Guardian who were all over Muslim people a couple of years ago are now happy with excluding the women of that faith from being able to use the services that are for them. It shows how depraved and hypocritical the extreme left really are - and I say this as a Labour supporter who will no longer vote for them.

I remember watching one of the SAS who dares wins episodes when they allowed females to take part. The toilets were outside cubicles but you could see people's head and feet when sitting. A male muslim contestant said he couldn't share these facilities with women so he handed in his armband before the course even started.