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Having discussed this briefly with D (WINOLJ) and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
barberio, I sent the following email to my gym's management:
As I told D, I don't have a very strong sense of gender identity, but I resent that ad staring at me on the way upstairs from the workout floor. I don't know whether women with strong gender identity will feel more excluded, or just ignore it as obviously not aimed at them.
Other than that, I had a fine long workout. I then met D at Penn Station, and we went down to Veselka for a filling lunch and good conversation. Not so much catching up on news--we've kept each other informed by apa and IM--but chat and being in the same place for a bit. We walked quite a bit, in a vain search for an anti-perspirant she was hoping someone would have on sale. I left D at Sheridan Square, and headed home.
Phenology: honey locust just beginning; lily of the valley were in bloom by yesterday. Many pleasant smells, all of which may be washed out of the air by a predicted heavy rain.
Workout numbers:
Cardio, 23 minutes, top heart rate 154
Chest press, 70 pounds, 2 sets of 12
Calf machine, 80 pounds, 10; 70 pounds, 9. I'd meant to do one set of 13, or as many as I could, at 80, and two full sets at 70, but didn't have the energy.
Adjustable row, 80 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Triceps curl, 45 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Seated leg press, 300 pounds, 3 sets of 14
Calf raise, with 90 pounds of weight on the leg press machine, 15
Wrist curl, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Crunches, 3 sets of 30
Back arch, 3 sets of 17
Tree, 4 sets of {3 on each leg}
Balance lateral raise, 5 pounds each hand, 2 sets of 15; 2.5 pounds each, 15
Balance quasi-fly, 50 pounds, 15 with each leg forward
Bicep curl, 25-pound bar, 2 sets of 25; 15-pound bar, 25
Hip adduction, 110 pounds, 13
Hip abduction, 95 pounds, 1; 90 pounds, 2. At this point I realized that something in/around the right hip was hurting, so stopped.
Stretches
barberio, I sent the following email to my gym's management:There is currently a large ad at my home branch, saying "If you aren't here because of a New Year's resolution, you're a Mitchum man." I am a woman who has been a gym member for six years. This ad makes me feel unwelcome. It implies that women who are serious about exercise either aren't coming to your gym, or aren't really women.
Sincerely yours,
Vicki Rosenzweig
As I told D, I don't have a very strong sense of gender identity, but I resent that ad staring at me on the way upstairs from the workout floor. I don't know whether women with strong gender identity will feel more excluded, or just ignore it as obviously not aimed at them.
Other than that, I had a fine long workout. I then met D at Penn Station, and we went down to Veselka for a filling lunch and good conversation. Not so much catching up on news--we've kept each other informed by apa and IM--but chat and being in the same place for a bit. We walked quite a bit, in a vain search for an anti-perspirant she was hoping someone would have on sale. I left D at Sheridan Square, and headed home.
Phenology: honey locust just beginning; lily of the valley were in bloom by yesterday. Many pleasant smells, all of which may be washed out of the air by a predicted heavy rain.
Workout numbers:
Cardio, 23 minutes, top heart rate 154
Chest press, 70 pounds, 2 sets of 12
Calf machine, 80 pounds, 10; 70 pounds, 9. I'd meant to do one set of 13, or as many as I could, at 80, and two full sets at 70, but didn't have the energy.
Adjustable row, 80 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Triceps curl, 45 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Seated leg press, 300 pounds, 3 sets of 14
Calf raise, with 90 pounds of weight on the leg press machine, 15
Wrist curl, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Crunches, 3 sets of 30
Back arch, 3 sets of 17
Tree, 4 sets of {3 on each leg}
Balance lateral raise, 5 pounds each hand, 2 sets of 15; 2.5 pounds each, 15
Balance quasi-fly, 50 pounds, 15 with each leg forward
Bicep curl, 25-pound bar, 2 sets of 25; 15-pound bar, 25
Hip adduction, 110 pounds, 13
Hip abduction, 95 pounds, 1; 90 pounds, 2. At this point I realized that something in/around the right hip was hurting, so stopped.
Stretches
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One somewhat related pet peeve, for instance, is that when T-shirts or polo shirts are given out at work as a team-building or reward thing, they're almost invariably in men's sizes. Yeah, some women can wear those, but on a lot of us they're far too big to wear professionally - and even on the women who are more or less the right size, the shirts are generally not a flattering shape. Yet a lot of men at my company seem to be able to put together work wardrobes consisting largely of those freebie shirts. I just think that when you're trying to send the message that every member of a team is valued, giving out a shirt that only fits half of them sends the wrong message.
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Mitchum man
Very irritating.
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Re: Mitchum man
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I saw one of these ads on the TV the other night. Something about "If you did nothing to prepare for your wedding, you're a Mitchum Man." That makes me one (so does the gym ad). I'm OK with that.
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I didn't quite do nothing to prepare for my wedding: as required by New York law, I went down beforehand to get the marriage license. And I told half a dozen people when and where.
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So I suppose that might be the strong gender identity you were thinking of - to me, it's clear that the ad has ended up meaning something it never intended to mean, because I so very clearly am *not* any kind of man, let alone one sponsored by...what the hell is Mitchum, anyhow? Tobacco?
Sometimes the assumption that the reader is male pisses me off. There's also the possibility that what they're assuming is that women never do or are any of the things they describe. If I thought that, it would piss me off even more. I don't like being pissed off, so I veer away from that interpretation; it's very self-serving. But it's so obviously not true, that I can't take it seriously anyhow. They can't believe that no woman has ever given up her seat. So they must simply not care about 50% of the people reading their ads. Apparently they're convinced that women never buy their product. I suppose they might be right. The ads, yes, amuse me slightly, but they also make me feel contemptuous. Even if I wanted a product like whatever the hell it is, after seeing their ads I wouldn't choose theirs. Just because I'm willing to view the signs with a certain tolerant amusement is no reason for them to make them. (If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it.)
Others of the ads piss me off for reasons for which gender is a secondary issue: quite aside from the obliviating sexism of the sign you describe, it's *rude*.
Anyhow, *rah* for your e-mail. I hope you get a good response. I'm always happy when people actually do things like that, instead of just thinking, "I oughta..."
I oughta do it more, myself.
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My favorite was the one that said “If the conductor has ever woken you up, you’re a Mitchum Man.” Chris took one look at that and said “Mitchum’s making deodorant for homeless people?!”
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Having the sprog is definitely encouraging my existing tendencies towards trying to figure out what kinds of trees/plants/birds/etc. we're seeing. He always wants to know. "[What] 'dat?" as he hands me something.
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