The latest outrageous assault on Men’s Rights? Well, according to more than a thousand upvoters* on Reddit, it’s this: some gym somewhere might be considering women only hours in its weight room to accommodate women who feel uncomfortable lifting amongst men.
A female MRA who goes by the name of stuck_at_starbucks came to the Men’s Rights subreddit with this tale of anti-male injustice from her local gym:
I was on the treadmill and saw two women start walking towards the weight room, then stop at the entrance and one if them said, “oh nooooo, we can’t go in there, there’s men!” They started complaining that it “wasn’t fair” that they “couldn’t use the weight room ” and took it to the front desk. The manager came out and told them that they were considering having girls only hours for the weight room.
Naturally, the Men’s Rightsers responded to this with the calm, reasoned comments for which they have become so famous. Ah, who am I kidding: they posted nearly 300 comments that ran the gamut from screechy outrage to, well, slightly-less screechy outrage.
Bilbuthehobbit won nearly two dozen upvotes by complaining that these “those bitches with 40 IQ should stop hitting the gym and hit the local library to get dem brain juices flowin.”
A number of commenters suggested that women-only hours would be the virtual equivalent of Jim Crow laws. Ghebert001 took it as a great opportunity to pull out the n-word:
![ghebert001 9 points 1 day ago (13|4) Essentially it boils down to "We can't use the weight room with those filthy niggers in there. We need a time that's only for whites". permalink save report give gold reply [–]carniemechanic 5 points 1 day ago (5|0) You've captured the essence of it.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/gher.png?ssl=1)
Others contemplated some kind of civil disobedience to fight this as-yet-nonexistent policy:
![Aaron565 7 points 1 day ago (7|0) Meh, I would just show up during women only hours. It would be great to watch their faces churn. permalink save parent report give gold reply [–]cynwrig 4 points 18 hours ago (4|0) Instead of a sit-in, you can call it a 'lift-in'.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/aaron.png?ssl=1)
Nightforker suggested that the complaining women were probably just lazy fatties anyway:
While Vaker extended a similar analysis to “most women.”
Gosh, I wonder why some women might see themselves as unwelcome in male-dominated gyms?
But my favorite exchange in the whole thread was this one, in which BlueOak9 argued that what the complaining lady needed was some good old-fashioned forced labor:
![blueoak9 14 points 1 day ago (14|0) Drag her out to work on a road crew. She'll get all the anaerobic exercise she could ever need. permalink save report give gold reply [–]Happypants 21 points 1 day ago* (22|1) And pretty much every guy will ignore the fact that she's a woman just like pretty much every guy in that weight room would have. I worked in garages for years. The only women that ever got sexually harassed were the ones up front who used their tits to sell tires. The women who came into the shop, worked, and showed the were worth their weight got the same treatment any of the guys did (probably a little bit better... never saw one get smacked in the vag as she came around a corner).](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/blue.png?ssl=1)
Yep, that’s right, 21 upvotes for a comment suggesting that the only women who get sexually harassed in garages more or less deserve it because they “use their tits to sell tires.”
Remember: the Men’s Rights subreddit by and large represents the more moderate wing of the Men’s Rights movement. This is what moderate MRAs look like.
* The post in question, last I checked, had gotten 1130 upvotes and 305 downvotes for a net 825 upvotes.
Stravinsky, for the win. I can’t stand the actual ballet, but the sound of Rite of Spring is fantastic. Yeah Bassoon, play that ridiculous upper octave!
The Sabre Dance, beloved by xylophonists everywhere. Although you’d probably have a heart attack if you tried to jog to it!
But my favorite bit of classical music to blast loud is the fourth movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Talk about a thumping beat.
Carmina Burana and I share no love. When I was a tyke, I was in a children’s choir that took part in that beautiful (yes, I can admit the pretty) monster.
We only sang for like 3 songs, but we had to stick around for hours.
Elementary school + biweekly 3 hour rehearsals = Uncool.
We ended up rewriting lyrics to pass the time:
Hmph, that Dvorak video has some jogs in it. Here is a better version featuring local treasure Gustavo Dudamel. Also, obviously, Ride of the Valkyries.
All of these classical music bits make me feel like a barbarian warrior in some crappy Tolkien knock-off, waving my sword around and going HUAAAARGH
It’s the Wagner.
Brahms didn’t write music for blasting through stereos. I’m not sure it’s fair to criticize other kinds of music for sounding best the way they were designed to be played.
There’s a point at which you get diminishing returns from turning up the volume, though. I’ve been to concerts where I loved the band, but the speakers were turned up way too loud, distorting the sound, and the music felt like an assault. It wasn’t enjoyable.
That’s probably just me though. I have really sensitive hearing, and loud noises cause me physical pain. Above a certain volume, I go from listening to protective cringing. Even club music sounds much better to me at a lower (non-hearing-damaging) volume.
Now all you dern kids get off my lawn. You’re interfering with Lawrence Welk.
The best alternate lyrics for Carmina Burana.
On a scale from Shirataki noodles to Udon noodles, how noodley are we talking here?
@kittehserf
Women’s only gyms in the USA are rare. Though there are the more frequent women’s only aerobic classes.
RE: vaiyt
I CONCEDE! That was indeed enjoyable. (Especially since I’m hard of hearing, so I need subtitles like that for freakin’ everything. It’s made for some interesting mishearings over the years.)
RE: Fibinachi
The pull-up is my sworn enemy, and even during my most exercisey period, I was only able to do one. I do believe that is pretty damn noodly.
Ugh, this reminds me of the Body Building Forums that I accidentally happened upon…
It’s funny, because my husband is a gym-rat of high pedigree — little makes him happier than some time in the gym. But he’s talked to me before about how weird he finds it that so many people seem to make exercise so UNPLEASANT. It’s full of shouting and nagging and mockery and pain, and he’s like, “God, if you’re going to do it every day, then at least it should be FUN.”
In terms of the noodly workout options, what are your goals? If you’re looking to tone and build a bit of strength rather than aiming for mega bulk then low weights + high reps may be an option.
It reminds you of a body-building forum?
It reminds me of the time we accidentally got insulted by a body-building forum. Ah, orion. What a strange chap.
Trigger warning for everything, ever: http://128.121.26.57/free_online_forum/music_movies_girls_life/me_tilting_windmills?id=5701652&pageNo=0
(Including a short story I wrote after signing up for that forum on a particularly badly inspired lark. I guess that’s what you call trolling? Man I must have had a lot of coffee that day. Past Fibi is such an terrible person, and I feel bad for being related to it)
Although the original thread he links to in his talk on that forum is fun, and worth a read if you have the time, and can stomach some cluelessness and ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS EVER, ALL OF THEM, EVEN THAT ONE.
http://manboobz.com/2013/05/16/hypergamy-how-the-harebrained-notion-of-white-nationalist-f-roger-devlin-took-the-manosphere-by-storm/comment-page-7/#comment-319692
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@LBT: Sounds more like spaghetti arms to be honest – a bit thicker than noodles q:
I just dug out my ancient barbell set and finagled around with it until I think it was at 4 kg. The internet tells me that equals ten pounds near enough (ten is 4½, so nearly).
So: Things you can do with a barbell that weighs 10 pounds, just tested about ten minutes ago by me. I am not a licensed physiotherapist or all that smart, so really, if anyone reading this takes the entirity of my advice without applying a bit of due care I’m not liable for any damages! The standard disclaimer applies ( http://manboobz.com/2014/04/04/i-will-be-giving-a-talk-at-northwestern-on-monday-on-the-mythology-of-the-friend-zone/comment-page-4/#comment-458772 )
(Note-note: A pull-up is hard. I can do sets of 12, after years of practice and with a body weight like a faint breeze and a puff of snow. You lift your entire body doing a pull up. Some quick googling tells me the danish military requires as a physical fitness standard that you are able to…. none. They don’t require you to be able to do any. I note that the Norwegian Marinejegerkommandoen, which is their elite marine commando corps (Think SEAL, for you Americans) would like you to be able to do 8. I think 1 is pretty damn dandy. I think people perhaps have an inflated view of how difficult pull ups actually are because of the popularity of parkour and free running, and they make it look so easy to just hoist yourself up by your arms? That’s 40-200 kgs for any given human! That’s a lot! )
You can do…
Kettlebell swings! A careful set with however many you feel you want to do is great for the posterior chain. Depending on the shape of your barbell (Mine is ancient, as in, 12 years old, and so it’s really big and bulky and easily graspable) it may be easier or harder to grasp. It’s nice because it’s deadlifting without the actual deadlifting spinal injuries.
You can do barbell pull-overs! That’s the chest, but more specifically, much more than the chest muscles than your arms and shoulders as in classical bench press. I think maybe you want to be careful doing that, because a second on google tells me that bit is called the “Pectoralis minor”, and it’s often much, much, much weaker than most other things in the body because it’s so seldomly used. A bed or any flat space raised off the ground will do.
You can do push ups! That doesn’t even require a barbell! The wonder! Use your knees initially, work from there. I think I started with… 3? From my knees. So, hey, set the bar where you want. You can vary exactly what you’re pressuring by adjusting the width at which you place your hands, from very wide to fingers touching under your chest – that’s, really all you need to do to train your upper body.
I guess you can do a barbell curl.
If you’re feeling particularly up for torturing yourself that day, you can do sets of Turkish Get Ups.
You do not want to do that with more than 4kg before you feel fairly confident anyhow, so that’s perfect. I was a fool, and I did sets of 20kg, and then couldn’t use my arms for a week. That’s not hyperbole, I could not move my arms for a week. The wonderful thing about this one is that it’s, in a way, very simple, and it stabilizes your shoulders while also training every part of the side you’re currently holding in the air, which means it corrects for left / right strength imbalances. I use it to avoid making my left side (I’m righthanded) weaker than my right, and it has helped me tremendously.
The good thing about having a 4kg barbell thing is you can do what everyone recommends for building strength without getting all bulky, just repetitions without adding more weight.
But you need surprisingly little to gain a lot. People try to make exercise oddly unpleasant, and often grunt and moan and laugh at others (Just eyeballing how many people mention either nagging or leering or grunting in this thread gives me a sad). Pick a goal like, “when i feel like it, I’ll do 5 push ups”, and then do it if you feel like it. If you want to! If not, then don’t! q:
Personally, I think self care is important, and every time I see Nutramino’s overplastered plastic slogan of “Get Fit or Die Trying”, I feel a spark of such vehement indignation and ire because that is such a shitty, shitty, shitty thing to plaster all over a chain of gyms and stores. No pain no gain my ass. Pain is bad. Being sore is fine and feeling strain is okay, but pain is never gain unless you’re into specifically consented relationships like that, and I just don’t have that kind of relationship with my gym equipment.
Random – for ab and back strength (rather than building visible muscles) I really like the Pilates plank pose, though if you don’t already have strong abs you’ll probably fall over the first few times you try the sideways plank. Pilates in general is pretty much the opposite of the grunting/leering/angry drill sergeant style shouting model of working out, so possibly worth looking into for people whose goal is strength and flexibility and tone rather than bulk.
Oooh, the Plank is lovely. So are hand stands.
RE: cassandrakitty
what are your goals? If you’re looking to tone and build a bit of strength rather than aiming for mega bulk then low weights + high reps may be an option.
Not gonna lie, I’d love to actually have some definition in my arms and shoulders. My goal is to be able to pull myself up onto a thing through sheer upper body strength, just in case I ever have to pull myself into a high-up window again. (I had to get a chair last time. It was embarrassing.)
RE: Fibinachi
All of these are handy, and a good few are ones I used to do! I shall reinstate them.
It reminds me of the time we accidentally got insulted by a body-building forum. Ah, orion. What a strange chap.
OH GOD MY SELF-PROCLAIMED GAY PORN MUSE. WHY DID YOU REMIND ME. “Well, LBT is all right I guess. Sucks that he was raped,” my eye!
Pick a goal like, “when i feel like it, I’ll do 5 push ups”, and then do it if you feel like it. If you want to! If not, then don’t! q:
Thanks, that’s what hubby tells me, but ED likes to make it, “You must do this every day or FAILURE!” It’s good to have the back up.
“Get Fit or Die Trying”
Aheheheheh. Been there. Not nearly as dignified or cool as people think it is.
I like spreading gay porn muses?
Wait, thatcomeoutwrong.
THIS. I’m very much “your right to play music in public ends at my ears, and your right to play music at home ends at your walls”.
Exactly. It’s practically a meme – whoever has the loudest headphones has the worst taste in music.
Not that I want to hear even my favourite music blasted out anywhere; it’s still a matter of not being given a choice. This relates to the “you wouldn’t complain about being hit on if he was handsome!” shit. No, it’s about not being subjected to things against my will, even if they’re things I’d choose at other times.
I’m with you on sensitive hearing, Buttercup. Only time I’ve had a full-blown panic attack was in response to music. I turned down my sister’s offer to buy tickets to Mr Springsteen’s concerts this year mainly because I knew I couldn’t take the noise levels.
You are being silly, Kitteh. Of course there is good music that’s best played quietly and good music that’s best played loudly. We’ve just given many examples of the latter.
RE: Fibinachi
I like spreading gay porn muses?
Orion will be one of those dorks I always remember just for sheer oddness — I think he was the first of our trolls to attach to me.
Gay porn muse. Honestly. I have PLENTY of people who have more claim to the title than him.
katz – I’m talking about music played so other people don’t have the choice of whether to listen to it or not. It’s not about the style of music at all. I already said I wouldn’t want my very favourite music blasted at me.
The thing about loudest music and worst taste is a joke I’ve seen on ads, which is why I said it should be a meme.
Which is funny, because I am in fact a woman who weight trains regularly. I invested in a home gym in part because of the men who enjoyed sitting at the cable machine, turned 180 degrees from how one would sit if one were actually using said machine, and watching me squat. Gross.