Exercising in a male dominated world

I am no fitness fanatic but I do believe that one should strive to live a balanced life to the best of ones abilities.  This would entail exercising yourself physically, mentally and spiritually.

I enjoy non competitive physical exercise which I do in the form of gyming, cycling and occasionally jogging.

However I find for a woman to do everyday exercise in a male controlled world quite challenging.  Often when driving through suburbia I can’t help notice the number of male joggers and cyclists all of whom run and cycle with an air of arrogance knowing that just because they are male no one will interfere with them.

If women go out jogging or cycling there is always the risk of been attacked and raped.  And when some male does attack a female jogger or cyclist the male world tells her it’s her own fault for been out jogging or cycling by herself.

Then there is general harassment, men seem to think that when a woman goes by they can make all kinds of nasty sexist remarks and if the woman ignores them or rejects their sexism some of these assholes can get quite nasty.

So when men go jogging or cycling they can do so wherever and whenever they like.  While we women have to take into account all the above and make sure that the place where we exercise is safe. 

I did look at joining a cycling team in my area but it was really just a white boys club consisting almost exclusively of white males.  Even though there is no law in the club stating that women and people of colour can’t join it was not hard to see that if you where not white and male you would be made to feel like an outsider and never be properly accepted.

There were women members but they had pretty much conceded to the might white male.

In fact this sexism and racism does not just seem to be restricted to my area.  Cycling is very much a sport dominated by white males who have no desire to include women or people of colour with them.  Just look at Tour de France.

Going to a gym is not always helpful.  In fact it can be very daunting for many women who have to put up with the men leering at them and sometimes even trying to chat them up.

I often wonder how a woman traumatized by some form of male abuse be it rape, battery etc must feel surrounded by all these male assholes?

I guess most women who have had such a horrid experience would either avoid gym completely or try and find an all women’s gym which might be far from where she lives or works.

When I go to gym, I go there with every intention to have a work out.  I always feel relaxed and refreshed after a good work out.  But sometimes there are men there who think the reason a woman goes to gym is because she wants to find a man to have sex with.  

Because of this I have leant to go at non peck hours.  This does not guarantee a perfect workout but because there are far fewer men in the gym it reduces the chance of been ogled out our interfered with.

I have unfortunately had to on some occasions go at peak hours either early in the morning when many men go before work or in the evening when many men go after work.  At these times the gym turns into a horrid cesspool of masculinity, but I guess that is just something you have to learn to tolerate if you want to exercise in a world controlled and dominated by males.