In Lincoln Park Michigan, 200 Muslim women with memberships at Fitness USA are demanding seperate workout times for men and women. They have signed a petition asking the gyms to honor what they say was a promise made to them. The women are asking that the chain restore single-sex exercise days or at least put a divider up so men and women can’t see each other while exercising.
"In Islam, there are codes of modesty for both genders," said Ammerah Saidi, 23, of Dearborn. "When you’re working out, you’re not dressed modestly, and you’re bending in provocative ways, so you can’t be working out with the opposite gender."
It’s difficult to tackle this without sounding like a gun-toting redneck American, but I’ll give it a shot. Ammerah, this isn’t Islam, or an Islamic country. This is a country that has people from every faith, country, and background. Somehow we all get along in a nice relatively peaceful manner. We have churches of every faith and restaurants representing every culture. If you wanna practice your particular faith you go to that church. If you want to eat your particular food, you go to a restaurant that caters to it. If a Catholic wants to pray, he doesn’t go to a mosque, nor does he demand that the mosque have Catholic services on certain days of the week and vice versa. I don’t go to an Indian restaurant looking for Italian cuisine.
Now I have heard of workout facilities that cater to seperation of sexes, but like places of worship, they are specific to that faith. There’s Jewish Community Center in my town, that provides days for women to workout alone. While I feel it’s rather stupid, I appreciate the fact that they provide that service and don’t demand it of a publicly owned business that services the general publlic.
Now if these Muslim women were promised this, then sure they have a case. But in a broader sense of the matter, what we have is a religion trying to impose their beliefs on a company with no denomination. I see this matter as a business opportunity for the Muslim community. As with the Jewish community here, the Muslims need to establish a place of their own to suit their specific needs without impacting everyone else in their community.
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There are businesses out there that can cater to just about anyone’s needs. As for commercial gyms, “Curves” is one example of a “women only” establishment that can give women wishing to jog on a treadmill outside the leering eyes of men a place to do so. It would save alot of time and court costs if people made the effort to see if a gym had the features they required before signing a contract. I don’t sue because my local Bally’s lacks a pool and steam room.
i grew up close to lincoln park mi – and the reason i never signed up for a membership at that fitness usa was *because* they had separate mens/womens days. but – i know that there were people who thought that was a feature.
if fitness usa has changed it’s policy – and the muslim people are upset about it, fitness usa should at least refund their membership dues or let them out of the contract. the business has a right to change it’s policy, and the customers have a right to complain or drop their membership.
harry potter is awesome!
Few people understand though that at that particular area of Michigan houses the largest population of Muslims in the United States, so it is not that uncommon for that kind of request to be made.
Indeed Megg. However, usually when there is such a large population of any ethnic group, development specific to that community usually follows. I just find it odd that there is not a workout facility that caters to this like the one I spoke of in my post.
why dont they just make a room for women, they’ll probably end up making more profit than they spend doing it considering it will be used so much. why are compromises not being tried instead of automatically ostracising a community. a seperate room will benefit the muslims and also create more income for the gym. on the contrary, it is rather silly for the muslim women not to gather funds to build their own gym, which is yes more logical. yet if they were promised, the gym should honour the promise.
“The gym in this Detroit suburb opened a new part of the center this month to both sexes every day.”
sounds like they open up a new part which dosen’t follow the usual set days for different genders. Just to echo what others have said. If they don’t like goto a gym which caters for your needs.
“It’s difficult to tackle this without sounding like a gun-toting redneck American”
It’s a sad state of affairs when one can not make his views known on issues such as this for fear of being called intolerant or whatnot. I see the same in my country.
Good article.
Someone needs to find a lesbian for this gym, to watch them all “bending in provocative ways” and not being modestly dressed…or is it only men because we have penises that attack hot sweaty middle aged women running on treadmills? As a sidenote…what do these women need to work out for? Do they plan on showing off their toned bodies to men or something? Or do they think they can actually defend themselves against men, who are obviously superior based on a vague reading of their bible? And furthermore, why are they dressing immodestly at all? Can’t they wear Burkhas while pumping iron?
Harry Potter was actually based off my cousin, Gerald. yeah we were out back one time raking leaves, and he was like, my dads arms are hairy. and my next door neighbor J.K. Rowling, she said Harry? Harry who? and I said no you dumb bitch he was talking about his dad’s hairy ass arms, and she went, “Harry Potter? What a cool name!” Then she moved to england, put a front of an accent, and sported some books like she was all up ons them c-notes.
Harry Potter was actually based off my cousin, Gerald. yeah we were out back one time raking leaves, and he was like, my dads arms are hairy. and my next door neighbor J.K. Rowling, she said Harry? Harry who? and I said no you dumb bitch he was talking about his dad’s hairy ass arms, and she went, “Harry Potter? What a cool name!” Then she moved to england, put up a front of an accent, and sported some books like she was all up ons them c-notes.
shit. double post. thats rank!
At the end of the day peoplle who have a problem understanding that we are all entitled to be different are racist and need to check themselves i bet they wouldnt have the nerve to admitt it to anyone they meet because it is a shamefull way to be. Muslim women want to work out to keep fit, look great for thie partner and themselves. How small minded have you all become to think to only put effort into your health and appearance to attract others. We are not that brainwashed by this sad and oversexed world thankfully and feel sorry that you dont think looking good for yourself first is not important. As for the veil if you dont like it dont wear it stupid and mind your own.
There is one thing that I disagree with in the article…
“If a Catholic wants to pray, he doesn’t go to a mosque, nor does he demand that the mosque have Catholic services on certain days of the week and vice versa. I don’t go to an Indian restaurant looking for Italian cuisine.”
This is a red herring. A Catholic doesn’t go into a mosque to pray, but they do expect that nobody will ask them to go against their beliefs when they go to stores. (In certain places, there are even laws against shopping on Sunday that come from this…) If the islamic people want to work out in seperated areas or on seperate days, and it was promised to them, then they should.
That being said, if it wasn’t, then they should not force their beliefs on others. If I’m a nudist, I’d never go into the gym naked. I may think clothes are abhorrant, and sweaty clothes even worse, but I wouldn’t subject everyone else to my beliefs. Now, if I was told in the recruitment speech “Yeah, we have nudist facilities”, well, at the least I’d expect them to give me my money back. At best, I’d expect them to give us nudists a separate area to work out.
I’d be willing to bet, from my experience with the ‘workout facilities’ that these women asked about seperate workout dates or facilities for women and men and we told ‘oh, yeah, we do that’, when in fact all that is seperated is the washrooms. Every gym I’ve ever been a part of has pulled out any lie they could to get you to join… and these women are calling them on it.
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In many Gyms there are classes only for women.
Have respect for other cultures. Secular woman like my self also prefer the these classes.
O, OK, I’ll respect the culture that cuts off the heads of non-muslims for being non-muslims. I’ll respect the culture that insists that women go veiled so that men can resist raping them. I’ll respect the culture that slices up the genitals of young girls with old razor blades and broken glass. I’ll respect the culture that endorses child marriage. I’ll respect the culture that disrespeacts ALL other cultures. Sure I will. Right. Bank on it.
Frankly you multiculturalists and equivalency freaks are getting very tiresome.
Rucker, you’re embarrassing yourself. What percentage of Muslims actually do or even endorse ANY of those things? I’m Muslim and I find all of them abhorrent. God dammit I’m so sick of all you people who are proud to show how racist you are. And if someone calls you out on your racism you say, “We have a right to our opinion!” or start dissing multiculturalists. What’s wrong with multiculturalism? AMERICA is based on the idea of multiculturalism for God’s sake. I agree that sometimes it’s difficult to draw a line on what is cultural and what is just disgusting, but that SHOULDN’T mean you should just GROUP more than a billion people into ONE Goddam category.
God I hate people like you. You make being a Muslim in America extremely difficult and painful on a daily basis. And just cause I said I’m Muslim, doesn’t mean I’m perfect; so I have no qualms saying: DO ME A FAVOR AND GO F**** YOURSELF, RUCKER.
Ponyboy, before I bother to respond I need to know if you are just another post-and-run person or if you will actually respond to my response.
“DO ME A FAVOR AND GO F**** YOURSELF”
that’s not helping your case, is it?
For the record I’m against EVERY religion, but I don’t discriminate against anyone based on race.
The problem is some people who identify themselves as muslim have declared holy war on the US and promote harming any and every american. The average US citizen still very cautious. It’s a knee-jerk reaction for self preservation.
It will take time but eventually the culture and lifestyle related with islam will become accepted as another way of life in the US.
It’s also worth noting the US has become far more accepting of other cultures. Only half a century ago we were putting japanese americans in internment camps simply because of the attack on pearl harbor.
I doubt Ponyboy will be back, but I have to address the calumny he threw at me and the dishonesty of his other comments.
OK, let’s get the most obvious stuff out of the way.
First, I am not at all embarrassed. I have nothing to be embarrassed about.
You ask, “What percentage of Muslims actually do or even endorse ANY of those things?” Go here to see how many muslims in America alone support some of the horrors muslims commit. http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=772 Then just survey muslim countries to see how many of them practice the horrors of FGM as just one example.
islam is a religion, not a race, therefore no remarks about islam can be racist. In fact, I would say that all of the people who accuse people like me of racism are in fact the racists, as it is they who assume all muslims are not white and that all critics of islam are white. (And, by the way, my impression of your post is that you are a white America convert to islam.) If I used terms like “rag head” and “towel head” you would have a case. But I do not use those terms or think in them, or in terms like “Jews are the descendants of monkeys and pigs”, which is deeply racist, right? And you know where that comes from, don’t you? Also, it never seems to occur to the people slinging the racist accusation that some of us consider it insulting and offensive to be called racists. But that probably means nothing to you since you stoop to the “fuck yourself” argument in your post.
Next, do you ever visit the sites of the jihadists and protest what they say there? Try visiting the site of Samir ibn Zafar Khan a jihadist in North Carolina and argue with him. Or the muslim woman in Florida, I think, who calls herself muslima wife. Read her post about how she would love to see all “infidels” killed. And then answer it by telling her how wrong she is.
What’s wrong with multiculturalism? Everything. Now try to keep in mind that I am in favor of multiracial and multiethnic society. I live in one. But one nation, one culture is what I want to see. So what do I mean? I mean have your Saint Patrick’s Day parades, your Indian restaurants, your kimonos, but leave your child marriages, female genital mutilation, and honor killings back in the homeland. America is based on the idea of multiculturalism? No, it’s not. Does the term “melting pot” mean anything to you? Not to mention that the first English settlers of the Americas were people fleeing religious persecution who came here to set up colonies where they themselves then banned other religions. Did you know that? Did you know that the Massachusetts Bay Colony had laws against Quakers? Just one of many such laws. Also the actual founders of the USA (Jefferson et al) never to my knowledge ever mentioned multiculturalism or anything like it. If they did, can you show me where? Was it “all men are created equal” except black men or women and children of any race? And I will leave it to you to contemplate the irony of a muslim defending multiculturalism considering the plight of non-muslims and their cultures in muslim countries.
It is not people like me who make it difficult for muslims. It is the fault of the muslims committing acts of terror and justifying them by accurately quoting the Koran and hadith. It is the fault of muslims committing honor killings. It is the fault of islamic countries that execute gay people, and imprison, flog, and kill women for the “crime” of BEING raped. I can go on, if you like or need the education.
Why is it every time a muslim comes on here, they tell us it is the fault of the reporters not the terrorists that islam stinks in the nostrils of much of the civilized world?Why can’t you all admit that it is muslims who give muslims a bad name? Is it because if you admit that, you have to admit those muslims are on solid islamic ground? It’s as if you are saying the United States started the war with Japan in 1941 by reporting that Japan had attacked us. Really, I tear my hair out in frustration at such willful blindness or deliberate dishonesty.
Do you deny the truth of all of the things I said in the post you are reacting to ? Do you really not know that all of those things are practiced in muslim countries? And as more muslims come to the west, those things start to become a problem in the west.
And what do you do to change any of that other than attack the messengers with bad arguments and sexual insults? Who can take you seriously when you are so lacking in seriousness?
So ponyboy, I guess you are just that: a boy not a man.
I think you are right Rucker. I think he was more concerned about offense to the Muslim race rather than the religion of Islam. Based on his post #20 he does not believe and uses Mohammad & Allah’s name in vain and he’s not afraid of Islam followers and curse’s them for such falsehood in Mohammad.
Maybe ponyboy and this federal minister guy are the same person – they think alike anyway in that they both seem to agree that the bad reputation of islam is the fault of anyone but muslims.
KARACHI: Federal Minister Senator Azam Khan Swati of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) said on Saturday that the flogging of the 17-year-old girl in Swat was a Jewish conspiracy aimed at destroying peace in Swat and distort the image of those Islamists who sport beards and wear turbans.
LOL
Yes, that gym (and any gym in the country) must establish separate work out dates.
Women are stared at and harassed in the gym every day, no matter how modestly they are dressed. This is a case of ongoing gender discrimination.
As to Curves and such: they have very poor selection of equipment and no real workout opportunities.
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you say it’s ridiculous for them not to act like we do when here. but you also complain about what they do in their own country, saying they should act like we do. so let me ask you, if you were to go to a muslim country, would you insist on doing the same things there as you did here? you’re a lot more like them than you think, except they’re probably more respectful and not as ignorant.
bob, is that you?
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