MIT adds single-sex hours at swimming pool
By adamg - Fri, 03/21/2008 - 8:48am.
The Tech quotes school officials on the difference between their program and a Harvard Harvard women-only period at a gym: It had nothing to do with religion, it's done after regular hours and men are offered their own hour, as well.
| 
| 
anyone else remember a day when boys and girls played together?
Nek also suggested that the difference in interest may be because women might feel more uncomfortable among men in the pool than vice versa. “Guys are more likely to ogle at women,” Nek said.
Women don't ogle guys? What a bunch of misandric bullshit.
Moore says single-gender swim program at MIT has nothing to do with sexism or religion. “We try to meet demands wherever they are,” he said.
Right, not sexist at all- they're just pandering to personal and religious androphobia and discrimination.
I like to play "The Substitution Game" with these sorts of things. Ie, flip the genders around- or for extra fun, substitute "white" and "black", and you see how backwards this "forward" thinking truly is.
Much of that initial expense included one-time costs such as the installation of curtains to ensure the privacy of swimmers.
You gotta be kidding me. We're turning into Puritans all over again...
What I remember
Is that the local pool had men-only and women-only hours when I was a kid.
what's the big deal?
They added an extra hour for each sex each week. They didn't take away any hours. I don't see why this should bother you or anyone else in any way.
Puritans?
I've got to say that I agree with Gareth and Ron on this one. It's truly not anything to get your shorts in a twist over.
While I agree with you, Brett, that some of the quotes might be absurdly wrong-headed, the logic behind seeing additional hours added for same-sex swimming as somehow a blow to freedom is lost on me. If anything, it seems to give all types of people the choice to do that with which they most feel comfortable. You're a guy who likes swimming with women, or a woman who likes swimming with men? OK, plenty of hours available. Oh, you just want to swim with those of your own sex? We've got some of those hours available now, too.
I don't see the problem.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Yeah, I agree, I don't see a
Yeah, I agree, I don't see a problem. I'm eagerly waiting for the white people only hours, too!
Damned Matriarchy is Opressin' my Boys!
Geesh, androphobic? Misandry?
Those are great words. The make it clear exactly what kind of person you are encountering - better than radioactive labeling.
Am I the only one who remembers "naked guy swimming time" at the pool at the Central Square Y?
You notice it always seems
You notice it always seems to be males who throw around words like that, making it abundantly clear that they have no concept of being in a segment of the population in which 1 in 6 has been sexually assaulted in her lifetime. (That's just in the U.S.)
Listen, guys, just because YOU wouldn't attack a woman you just swam next to doesn't mean every guy has the same concept of decency.
Of course, these are probably the same guys who can't figure out why women find catcalling so creepy...it's not just what they're saying; it's the implied (or explicit) threat of carrying out those words in physical actions.
And if you continue to not get it, think about it being your mother or sister or daughter who's being targeted and see if you're still OK with it.
(Incidentally, according to the same source, 1 in 33 American men have also been sexually assaulted; we just don't hear about it as much. Source is: http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims)
yeah... the nude swimming
yeah... the nude swimming common at ymca's in america, stopped just as i was about college age (early 1970's). the relaxed, natural spirit of "the old swimming hole" disappeared.
maybe the same-sex swims could bring this back?
i'll remain hopeful. yet i note the extreme reactionary puritanism that seems so unconcious, increasing in the past two decades or so. in the mens showers we now find many young guys showering both before and after swimming with their swim suits on! and i notice they don't reach inside their suits to soap or clean their genitals or anus. how much more bacteria are they thus bringing to our pools? and thereby requiring all of us to suffer the use (need?*) for more chemical treatments?!
a sad commentary on our culture. one doesn't find such psychological illness in europe, and most other cultures.
*another subject: can't mit establish a non-toxic water purification? and thereby allow a truly healthy experience.
Swim or Don't Graduate from MIT
MIT still has a swimming requirement to graduate.
Can't swim across the pool and back? Can't tread water for very long? You don't graduate!
Sooo ... say an observant Islamic or ultra-orthodox Jewish or other ideological minority not affiliated with teh Janzen Girl doesn't graduate because they cannot stay in good standing with the deity of their choice if they swim in mixed company.
I suspect that the administration, not wanting to remove the requirement for basic water safety, found it much easier to open up hours so those who are either shy or observant can get their laps in and graduate than face a huge lawsuit over a swimsuit!
And yes, there have been issues with this already, as many of the people at MIT who are from these minority groups don't come to MIT knowing how to swim.
When I was still a student
When I was still a student there, Columbia (College) had this requirement too. For some reason, Columbia engineering students (at SEAS) did not.
--
[VARiable expression] @ http://www.mvarmazis.com
Brandeis checks in
My sophomore year, the guy across the hall was a senior, and he was getting notes from the Dean of Stupid Graduation Requirements that he wouldn't be allowed to participate if he didn't pass the swim test (fairly minimal: Swim one lap and tread water for 30 seconds). He knew how to swim, he just didn't want to give in, or something, but he finally took the test the last week of classes.
Did the swirly headed one
Did the swirly headed one just say, in a swirly kind of way, that "brown skinned" people cant swim? That is a terrible swirly stereotype she is swirrily perpetuating.
*baffled* Uh...no. No, she
*baffled*
Uh...no. No, she didn't, at least not that I can see. Unless you're unclear on the difference between "ideological minority" and "racial minority" in which case I can see how you might be confused.
Differences
There is a difference between "can't swim" and "have never had opportunity to learn how to swim".
There have been a few articles about the swim tests and their effect on people from cultures where people don't typically learn to swim or where certain people are rarely allowed to swim, and thus don't learn.
I might say there is a correlation between anonymous log in and reading comprehension, however. That stupid "blacks can't swim" thing totally drowned under the considerable weight of Anthony Nesty's Olympic gold and bronze medals.