Are women more insecure about using the gym's swimming pool than men are?
Are women less likely to use the swimming pool at the gym, for reasons of insecurities, than men are?
Do women feel more exposed and ashamed of their bodies in a bathing suit?
Why are women more likely to wrap themselves up in a towel?
Do women feel more comfortable, and therefore choose to swim, during off-peak times when there is poorer attendance at the gym?
It is very apparent (at my gym) that most gym members that utilize the swimming pool are male. This noticeable difference between male and female swimmers became very evident to me shortly after I started frequenting the gym. I am now interested to find out whether it might be women’s physical insecurities and low self-confidence that could be the cause of gender imbalance in swimming pool users. Perhaps men feel less shy about exposing their bodies to fellow gym members than women do. My aim is to find out whether I am correct in my prediction that women feel more insecure about their bodies in front of other gym members than men do.
Furthermore, I am interested to know whether a high attendance at the gym has a different effect on female gym members’ confidence and comfort levels than poor attendance does. Perhaps anxiety levels are reduced when there are fewer onlookers around, and heightened when the gym is full at peak-time. If this is the case, perhaps some women choose to swim in the pool at times when the gym is less busy, or opt for exercise outside of the pool (such as using the gym’s equipment or partaking in group classes) when the gym is well attended.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
10 Answers
I would say yes. I know I don’t want to be in a bathing suit around a bunch of strangers. Mostly because women’s bathing suits are not much cover, and at this age I’m not a HUGE fan of one piece suits, or wearnig a t shirt in the pool. lol
Probably. The media tells women that they must me be thin, and if you’re not thin, here’s how to get thin! And women judge each other, which makes it even harder to be confident and content with our bodies. The gym I go to has a wide range of women at every age and body type in attendance. But, I still see the snide looks and whispers when a confident woman walks by.
I don’t swim in a club, but at a public swimming pool in Seattle. It also has a sauna near the pool and some weights—all in the same large space. My experience is that men and women use it at the same rate, and I haven’t seen women hide themselves in towels (although certainly that is not an alien image that you describe). Maybe because this isn’t a social club, and women (and men) seem to be there just to swim and not meet and greet, it is different from clubs where an underlying purpose is maybe to meet a man.
Welcome to Fluther!
<————of some Mediterranean extraction. :|
Only if I haven’t used a depilatory or shaved.
I swim at a private swim club, and there is no difference in utilization rates based on gender. No one seems to care what they look like, either, judging by the number of different sizes I see. This makes me happy.
Some of the members think we should build a gym, but given what you just said…. Naw. We’d never be like that.
Where do you live?
I don’t think that women are more self conscious of their bodies. I think men stare and ogle at women more than women do at men. That can be a bit uncomfortable.
I think women are more self conscious to swim in a gym pool because wet bathing suits are so revealing to strangers. Not everyone wants to share what their nipples and genitals look like. This was something we girls used to talk about in high school.
Also, women have vaginas and sometimes those things are super sensitive to chemicals in pools and spas.
At the Y I’ve noticed more men than women by far. I wouldn’t even go in the pool at first and would just watch the kids. I feel very insecure about my body even though I lost some weight. But I’ve seen some really big women get in the water and not worry about it. So, I dug out my swimsuit and we go swimming a couple times a week. I really doubt I would go to the public pool tho.
My gym has more women than men in the pools, but the gym is oriented toward health and wellness for any size and shape, rather than having a hot body, so most of the members are older adults. They even have special classes for people with disabilities.
There are workout places like the Y and there are see and be seen places where you are on display in a giant window. Each appeals to a specific clientele, having nothing to do with ‘self esteem’. When I was able to swim, I preferred to participate in the water aerobics instead of the lap swimming and keep having to move aside for the speed demons. As far as covering up, again it comes back to the reason you are at the pool. Are you there for your own health or be on display.
As far as the kind of suit worn, I have always found a well-fitting simple one piece was much more comfortable and practical than a ’‘fashionable’ two piece that needs constant adjustment and diggind a piece of cloth out of one’s ass. Again it comes back to why you are at the gym.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
