Students raise concerns of sexism, lack of input with new gym dress code
VCU's cary street gym holds a meeting with students to have a forum about workout costume concerns. Photo by Becca Schwartz.
The Recreational Sports Division of Student Affairs hosted a forum on Sept. 13 to address student complaints about alleged sexism and lack of student input in the revised the Cary Street Gym dress code policy put into place this summer.
The new policy includes the definition of an acceptable “shirt” when using equipment, which requires the garment to cover the entirety of the midsection around the body, from the area directly below the pectoral muscles to the waistline. Cut-off muscle tees or sports bras are not permitted.
“When you don’t define what ‘shirt’ is, it’s unenforceable,” said Derek Hottell, director of RecSports. “You have to have some sort of reasonable limit.”
Hottell said RecSports rewrote the policy with help from the VCU Title IX coordinator, but some students still feel the new rule is unfair to both men and women who use the gym.
“I can see what they mean by gendered,”said VCU senior Joel Peron. “It kind of feels like you’re making this girl feel bad about herself because she put in the dedication to get fit, telling her to put a shirt on is a little ‘policey’ to me.”
Peron said he thinks the rule about cut-offs is “a little bit far.”
“I’m not trying to have it be a gendered thing, but I feel like even females would agree,” Peron said. “Is it that big of a deal?”
Hottell said the policy clarification was to improve the health and safety of the gym.
“Skin-to-skin, skin-to-equipment contact and the limitation of sweat has nothing to do with body image or anything else,” Hottell said. “It hasn’t happened recently, but there are actually more issues with skin infections from equipment, more specifically MRSA, ten years ago in our facilities.”
According to Hottell, the new dress code will not eliminate such health concerns entirely, but can help limit them.
“There’s always going to be that concern which is why we have you all deep clean,” Hottell said. “Which is why we have people do regular wipe downs, and ask people to wipe down equipment and it’s also why we’re going to buy more wipe down stations.”
The dress code revision also received criticism for not being widely advertised with students.
“My issue was that they didn’t talk to people before they changed it,” said junior Shaina Lapolla. “Having said that, they seem like they are taking into account a lot of the reasons people wear certain clothes and they are providing shirts.”
To avoid turning people with clothing violations away from using the gym, Cary Street is providing shirts to students who need them.
“One thing we need to make sure in the future is to have passive advertising, like signage that’s very prominent so people don’t have to engage with a staff person,” Hottell said. “We’re trying to figure out that best way to reach the student population.”
SaraRose Martin, Contributing Writer
