sexist swimming pool!! epic story

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

I must say though it is this countries fault - we make up the rules to apparently 'accomodate' for other races and religions, i think to myself the poor ethnic minorities who get the stick for it when the majority of time they have not asked for these things. Just like the banning of Christmas decorations because it might offend other religions (!!!!!!). I can asure you that if you go to any country with a strong religious background they will continue to celebrate in front of you, and so they should too.

As others have mentioned it is political correctness gone overboard (massively).

It is an absolute joke that the swimming lessons are not called parent and baby. I was brought up in my early years by my dad only and he tells me we were unable to do hardly anything because it was 'MUM and Baby'. he used to have real problems trying to find places to change my nappy (lol). And the worst thing is my OH still experiences alot of these things to this day (with bubba's nappy not mine - i can assure you i dont wear one, oh no im really messing up now! Im going to shhh now before i start to embarrass myself more!) Priorities are definatly in the wrong place!

Justie

I have to say that the tone of some of the posts on this thread are making me decidedly uncomfortable. The OP has every right to be annoyed as the staff at the swimming pool treated her and her partner terribly. And there is a legitimate debate as to whether sessions should be mum & baby or parent and baby. To use the issue to make general swipes at the Muslim community or anyone not English leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. The MSE community as I have experienced it has been supportive tolerant and above all inclusive. I hope it stays that way and I'll now leave this thread and go and post on ones I feel more comfortable on.

heather38

i don't think anyone is having a go at the muslim community, i think that people are annoyed at so called political correctness that seems to blight this country, most ethnic communities intigrate into society and embrace 'our' country and values along side their own, but when exclusions like this are in place it seems stupid.
i work with asian people and i am interested in their views and it opens up interesting debate, but to be excluded from a swimming session on a might and a maybe is just rediculous, my husband was very upset by this.
i just read in the news that i primary school is banning the making of mothers day cards as it may upset children who don't have mothers!!! i really feel offended by this, my father died when i was a child but it never bothered me about fathers day, i just made one for my grandfathers.

Welshlassie

I read this thread initially yesterday and was amazed that this country had got to this point. The more I have thought about it the more outraged I feel. It is getting to the point in this country that many of the White Christian British born people are becoming a minority. We live in a Christian country and therefore should be able to celebrate our festivals and religious celebrations without having to worry about what other faiths and religions think. The same goes for going wherever we want when we want. If something is advertised as specifically for one part of the community eg Women/Men only swimming sessions, then that is fine, but they should be explicitly stated as such and acted on by everyone concerned, not just by a few jobsworthes who have nothing better to do with their time.

I am getting more and more concerned about this political correctness. I am a white straight woman in her mid 20's with no disabilities, yet I have a big problem with the fact that the company I work for (who has won many awards for the type of employee focused policies they have) seem to think that ignoring all the none diverse sections of society ie White, straight men, to encourage recruitment from the minority sectors ie non-white, women, disabled, gay, is completely acceptable. I think this method is very short-sighted.

The more this type of "culture" continues in our country the more difficult it will become for the majority to do anything without worrying about offending some random minority. I'm not sorry if this offends someone because it is my opinion, I am not remotely racist, but I do have a problem with the government and its agencies making people think this way, which in the long term will just encourgae racism.

nearlyrich

heather38 wrote:

i just read in the news that i primary school is banning the making of mothers day cards as it may upset children who don't have mothers!!! i really feel offended by this, my father died when i was a child but it never bothered me about fathers day, i just made one for my grandfathers.

What about the poor mum's who were looking forward to a lovely piece of art from their little one:rolleyes:

Who thinks up this ridiculous PC twaddle?:mad:

My view is that some people really try hard to take offence from anything and everything, they must lead such sad lives, on the other hand look for the bright side of everything and life is pretty good. Works for me;)

I think it's sad that parents feel excluded and I am sure that Bury Council will have a highly paid official probably called a "Diversity something or other" who would be only too happy to investigate. (Might give them something to do LOL.)

Acc72

Welshlassie wrote:

I am getting more and more concerned about this political correctness. I am a white straight woman in her mid 20's with no disabilities,

I'm not sorry if this offends someone because it is my opinion, I am not remotely racist, but I do have a problem with the government and its agencies making people think this way, which in the long term will just encourgae racism.

On the first point, it could be worse - yopu could be a white, able bodied, hetrosexual male .....


On your second point, I genuinely believe that 99% of the population fall into this category.

The vast majority of people are not racist, but certain agencies (who's jobs depend on it) actually go looking to try to find racism.

looby75

heather38 wrote:

i just read in the news that i primary school is banning the making of mothers day cards as it may upset children who don't have mothers!!! i really feel offended by this, my father died when i was a child but it never bothered me about fathers day, i just made one for my grandfathers.

That is ridiculous! My sister died 2 years ago and left behind her dd who was only 4 at the time. My niece makes a mothers day card every year and simply gives it to her gran or her auntie that looks after her now. It's no big deal if handled sensitively.

RibenaBerry_2

I agree with some of the posters on here. I think that there are two questions: (i) should you have women only sessions; and (ii) how should parent and baby sessions be treated?

I think that women only sessions are fine, provided that they are consistent. By that I mean that the whole area is women only, no male staff, etc. I also think that the same sessions should be available to men only (i.e. if there's a peak women only session, there should be one for me). My gym has a women only session, but no men's session. In addition, the instructors during that time are still mixed. I don't see how that helps people who for religious, cultural or, lets face it, pure self-esteem issues, don't want a mixed session. It's plain unfair to disadvantage men in that way.

For parent and baby sessions, I think that these should always be mixed. I really don't see that there is a reason to make them women only, and a line has to be drawn somewhere. There would not be enough demand in most areas to do 'father and baby' sessions, so I don't see why dad's should miss out entirely.

I also think that the pool's policy is muddled. If the main pool and areas that you have to walk through are still mixed, no "Asian ladies" (awful phrase - not all Asian women have the same cultural or religious beliefs) would want to walk through those areas to reach the baby pool, so it's not even helping the people that it's supposed to help.

Just my two pence worth...

Welshlassie

Acc72 wrote:

On the first point, it could be worse - yopu could be a white, able bodied, hetrosexual male .....
QUOTE]
I'm with you that was part of my point, even though I'm a woman I can still see the stupidness of some of the "policies" that many agencies and organisations are producing.

Carmina_Piranha_3

i do think this was handled badly and i'd be annoyed if it was me.

but is the 'no dads' policy really about asians or is that the opinion of a member of staff?

maybe they have had requests from some women who are shy about their post-baby bodies? perhaps they are killing 2 birds with one stone by also banning toddlers from the pool for this one session so small babies have a more relaxed time?

obviously nobody has ever complained about having adults in the same pool as the schoolkids. shall we all get offended and write to the pool? :rotfl: