SAFE SPACES IN THE SNOWFLAKE GYM

Used to be the local gym was a sweaty, smelly place where guys with biceps the size of tree trunks punched each other around.   Gyms are different now; they’ve morphed into safe spaces for delicate snowflakes.

Having recently moved to a new community, I checked out the local gyms to continue my workout routine. At the YMCA I was greeted with this reassuring message.  The only groups they left out were illegal aliens and felons.

 At Anytime Fitness, I was reminded that the gym was a judgment free zone. Implied is that people might be sneering or laughing or making fun at that overweight woman. Maybe the skinny kid with arms like sticks who is tired of getting sand kicked in his face, doesn’t want to be laughed at.   I’ve been working out regularly in gyms for twenty-five years. Most of the time we make small talk with work out buddies.  Ridicule is virtually non-existent.

The poster at Anytime Fitness slipped into Marxist jargon, SHOUTING REJECTION of the notion, “That health and wellness are reserved for the rich, the young or the privileged.”  With multiple gyms within ten minutes of my house, one of which charges $12 a month, and with the senior exercise class at the Y crowded with well over a hundred seniors, why do the folks at the gym shine their halos and flap their angel’s wings, as they frown on youth and privilege? Answer: It’s an easy straw man to mow down.

Not to be outdone, Planet Fitness left no cliché unstated in pandering to the snowflakes. “Our planet wouldn’t be the same without you.”  I suppose that’s true, but implying that “you” make the planet better is another version of Mr. Rogers telling kids they are wonderful just the way they are, which is simply untrue.

Meanwhile, we are further relieved to learn that “anyone can be comfortable, accepted and respected.”  This pretentious pablum was recently exposed for what it is: virtue-signaling, hypocritical blather.  At a Planet Fitness gym in Fairbanks, Alaska, Patricia Silva, entered the women’s changing area to find a bearded man shaving.  Just to be sure the “transgendered woman” had a safe space to shave her beard, a Planet Fitness employee escorted the individual through the female locker room.

"I said 'Hey' and asked him to leave," Silva explained. "He said, 'I'm LGB queer, transitioning,' and I said, 'That doesn’t give you the right to be in the women’s locker room.'"  Silva reported “a little girl sitting in the corner.  She could have been [12 years old]…in a towel kind of freaked out.”

Silva photographed the man and posted the confrontation.  Planet Fitness took immediate action.  Did they kick out the woman with the beard?  No.  They kicked out Silva from the gym for breaking their rule prohibiting photography in locker rooms. Now we can all rest easy.

The transgender woman looked like a man, spoke like a man, was shaving for crying out loud, and had, I assume, a penis.

A spokesman for Planet Fitness explained, "As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment. Planet Fitness has a policy that allows members to use the locker room that aligns with their self-reported gender identity.” 

Hmmm.  So Planet Fitness’ stated inclusivity goal is that “anyone can be comfortable, accepted and respected.”  But not everyone. The bearded LBG Queer transitioning guy feels safe; a middle-aged woman and a 12-year-old girl, not so much. 

A few days later, Planet Fitness’s stock lost around $400 million. 

Safe spaces are everywhere, especially at universities, where sensitive young people can run for protection where never is heard a discouraging word… The term safe spaces

refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations.”   Of course, when they get into the real world they might be exposed to, bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions ideas or conversations.  Harvard University’s Political Review, explains that Room 13 provides “emotional support and a sense community for students in “distress.”  

Safe spaces are generally meant for “marginalized populations to have a space that is conducive to their physical well-being.”  (Emphasis added.) Does that mean they worry about being beaten up in art history class? Or because their hearts are beating too rapidly because someone in class is a Trump supporter?  Bring out more cookies!

Jewish students, of course, don’t need safe spaces.  Students on campus may be shrieking for the obliteration of Israel, but according to the Presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, it’s all about context.

“Today, safe spaces in college are meeting places and residential halls where students of like backgrounds can to some extent, segregate themselves from students of other races or cultural identities.”

( College Safe Spaces & Trigger Warnings: Are They Counterproductive? By Publisher | Last Updated February 15, 2022. College Safe Spaces & Trigger Warnings: Facts & Controversy (trade-schools.net)

Wait a minute.  Back-up!

I thought segregation was unconstitutional.  I thought segregation was divisive.  I thought all races and cultures had unique outlooks and experiences that we can all learn from. I thought it was racist to exclude other races and cultures from anywhere, including safe spaces.

Fortunately, there is still some common sense on the subject.  The publication below, explained with great clarity,

• Those who leave college with a victim mentality and a strong

yearning or expectation for intellectual or emotional protection

 are likely to feel constant disappointment in the real world.

Outside of college or university, people and employers generally

aren't too sympathetic to those who feel so easily threatened or

aggrieved.

• Success usually requires the recognition that your subjective

         feelings aren't necessarily a reflection of reality.

• So if you really want to understand the world, you have to immerse

yourself in it and stay open to the possibility that you may be wrong.

Your identity must be fluid enough to change when necessary. And

you must recognize that the world will always be filled with ideas,

 words, and people that you don't like and cannot control.

How did we get here? How did we devolve from “rugged individualism” to oversensitivity? How did we transform from “may the best man win” to “everyone wins a trophy? “ Why have (some) schools eliminated valedictorians from recognition because other graduates might feel sad or disappointed?

Answering these questions is part of explaining the Great Transition, to be dealt with in a later post.

Next stop in four days – Middle School Sex

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