11 Comments
User's avatar
Timothy Fountain's avatar

Why in the world schedule cleaning during lunchtime when some working folks get in quick workouts or cardio? Sorry the dropped this on you. This stuff is nuts.

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April's avatar

Yes, it was quite annoying! And I'm sure the male staff don't love being forced to make women uncomfortable as a condition of their jobs. Maybe some women don't mind. I don't know.

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Jill's avatar

That sign your gym posted is only acceptable if it's on the ladies' room. If it's on the men's (as in, there are women there cleaning it), then they're endangering their female employees.

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April's avatar

It's just in my locker room for now. It would definitely be bad for a woman to be forced to clean the men's locker room but I wish I as a female did not have to be in the locker room with men. I don't think anyone is going to attack me - I'm no doubt safer in the gym than in most places - but it's still uncomfortable.

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S. Levin's avatar

From my friend who goes to a gym:

At my gym there are times when men are present in the women’s locker room cleaning And also, there are times when there are women in the men’s locker room cleaning. The gym provides a sign indicating that at the time. The gym also provides another sign when women are cleaning. I am not happy about having a man in the women’s locker room at any time when I’m there. If I have to change/shower, then I’ll bring everything to the shower stalls, which are private and have to change there if a man is present. The signs are color coordinated blue/pink, accordingly.

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S. Levin's avatar

Eewww!

I don't have a gym I go to, but a friend does. I will fwd this to her to get her reaction.

In Germany (well, at least that was the case ~50 yrs ago), it was always Herr XXX & Frau YYY (I guess that should have been the other way around, but I digress...), unless, after a considerable time of working together, one would say to the other, 'you can call me by my first name.' I admit though, that I do like informality in social or collegial situations.

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Leslie's avatar

In the many years that I was a member at various gyms, I have never heard of men going in to the women's locker rooms to do regular cleaning. Sure, they'll come in to do repairs, but it's always been female employees doing the cleaning, restocking the towels, etc.

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Richard Feinman's avatar

I searched for the urinal icon which I could not find. I did find this up-to-date gender neutral sign from the Stockholm Museum of Natural History. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Toilet_signs_in_Sweden#/media/File:Gender_neutral_toilets_sign_at_the_Swedish_Museum_of_Natural_History_01.jpg

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Richard Feinman's avatar

Gender neutral bathrooms are common in Europe. No? The economic advantage is obvious. In Sweden a couple of years ago, the bathrooms were gender neutral but there was apparently a question of whether any one had urinals. The solution was to post on the door an (abstract) icon of a urinal. It looked to me, more like a uterus.

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S. Levin's avatar

LOL

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Keith Korman's avatar

I didn’t realize, that there were any “actual” dudes left.

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