New female-identifying-only weight room hour at Gosman

■ Following the lead of other universities, Brandeis attempts to create a safe and relaxed atmosphere for the female-identifying population.

By SOPHIA DE LISI JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Gosman Weight Room will only be open to female-identifying people every Tuesday from 8 to 9 p.m. Spearheaded by Kyla Ginsberg ’25, this initiative will begin on Feb. 7. In a Feb. 2 interview with the Justice, Ginsberg explained her inspiration for advocating to the Gosman faculty for this hour, saying that she wanted to go to the gym with her friends, but many were hesitant because of concerns “having to do with the fact there are a lot of men there.” She then spoke of her friend who goes to the University of Vermont where they implemented a similar program at their gym, inspiring Ginsberg to try to implement it at Brandeis.

Ginsberg said the Gosman faculty were “quick to accept the idea,” and there were only a few days between her sending her initial email to Tom Rand, the senior associate director of Athletics, and printing out the official fliers advertising the hour.

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Above all, Ginsberg clarified that her intention with this new program was to create an inclusive space for people who identify as female to feel more “comfortable in the gym in general so that they’re more comfortable working out whether there [are] men there or not,” referring to the consistent majority of men in gyms — particularly weight rooms — and how being the minority in a workout space is a common source of intimidation for the female-identifying population.

This issue goes beyond Brandeis, and the reason why there is such a difference between gendered populations in part originates from the history of gym culture within American society. Katherine Page, a long time fitness coordinator at the University, recalled how wellness’ identity within society has changed through the generations, growing from the idea of gyms and heavy weight lifting associated with “the ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’s’ [or] the big gym bros” of her parents’ generation to being “for everyone.” This shift, Page explained, was in part brought about due to advances in scientific studies that revealed the importance of strength training for women. Page said that there has been an increase in female-identifying presence at the University’s workout facilities within her time at Brandeis. From Page’s explanation, it is reason-

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able to conclude that this increase comes from gym culture’s shift in mainstream media.

Although a female-identifyingonly gym hour is a new addition to Brandeis, the concept of femaleoriented gyms or designated female-identifying-only hours and programs within all-inclusive facilities have been around for decades. Long-standing women-only gym companies like Curves and Lucille Roberts — though not as popular as their all-gender counterparts — have been in business since 1992 and 1969, respectively. Even in 2008, Harvard University created set hours for female-identifying individuals only, per a religiouslymotivated request from Muslim students.

Even if this is Brandeis’ first attempt at implementing femaleidentifying-only hours, Gosman has hosted faculty-only and beginners-only weight room hours to create more relaxed spaces. In terms of the beginners-only time that the gym provided in the fall, Page said the program came from the idea that “[regardless of your gender identity], if you don’t know what you’re doing, or you’ve never been [to the gym], it can be intimidating” to be in an unfamiliar space without support. Thus, the Gosman faculty implemented a set time to allow beginners to grow accustomed to equipment without the

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