Harvard gym submits to Islam

"We live together in one community, it only makes sense for everyone to compromise slightly in order for everyone to live happily," said Ola Aljawhary.

Yeah, and how much in the way of compromise are you agreeing to?

Find a gym that caters to your cult, don't ruin one that functions fine for normal people.

"Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men."

Of course it does! It discriminates against men who need to use the facilities (due to schedule etc.) at those particular times!

What if I belong to Aryan Nations and 'working out' with black people makes me 'uncomfortable'. That doesn't discriminate does it?

I find this utterly amazing. I've been going to gyms most of my adult life. In all cases, the gyms are co-ed. Now, not being a woman, perhaps I'm just not aware of how oppressed they are, but to judge by what I can observe, none of the women I've worked out with seem the slightest bit unhappy. They seem, in fact, to act exactly like their male counterparts. They do their workout and go home. I am at a loss to figure out what aspect of being co-ed is unpleasant for them. In my gym (in all the gyms I've been in) like the men, the women range from totally fit and athletic to overweight novices, to the elderly. If they are suffering from male presence they certainly hide it well.

Giving in to Muslim demands on Harvard's campus will eventually mean that sharia is instituted as a way of life for all students to observe.

Instead of asking Muslims to adapt to American norms, the foolish Harvard school officials have let Muslims dictate the laws that should govern gymnasiums.

Where is are protests from the non-Muslim Harvards students?

I thought "separate but equal" was unconstitutional.

"Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men."

Definition: Non sequitur (logic), logical fallacy

Perhaps someone can suggest a whites-only gym period, as some white people might (just might, and I'm not speaking for them) feel uncomfortable working out with other races. There perhaps should be a differently-abled-only gym period for those who are, uh, differently-abled.

How soon before they demand gender seperate classes?

Just chalk this up to the overarching supremacist agenda ~ 2005 purchase of influence:

Saudi Prince Gives Millions to Harvard and Georgetown

Aren't gyms haram? Find some Islamic 'scholar' somewhere to issue a fatwa against gyms (after all, some of the air inside has previously been breathed by infidels; but maybe some of the equipment is made in Israel, or there is alcohol in the paint, etc.), and throw it back at these segregationists.

Look out for footbaths down the line.

This is a very sophisticated, nuanced way to deal with the creeping fascism of Sharia: yield without any resistance whatsoever and provide no sign to the fascists that you comprehend the grave conseqences of their demand.
This will disarm the Jihadists better than anything else that has been done so far. The Muslims will be lulled into a false sense of arrogant triumphal security, and will never expect the decisive blow when it finally comes. The decisive blow is coming...

Right?

Right? Earth to Harvard -- are you receiving???

I believe the last time this came up (involving no taxpayer monies) was about two years ago, involving a Fitness USA outlet in Dearborn, MI:

Muslim women fight to exercise away from men
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/011139.php

Fitness USA splits space for women
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/011235.php

Another incident, which DID involve taxpayer funds, can be viewed here:

Shari'a Swimtime
http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/004929.html

"This matter is simple: Can't we just display basic decency and show tolerance and inclusion for people not a part of the mainstream majority?"

Yes, but can Muslims do the same? And if not, why not?

I wonder if I got a group of Catholics together and went in asking for special privileges if we could get all the goodies that Muslims demand and get. And if not, why not?

"Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men."

And I add "Islam is a Religion of Peace".

It's an upside-down world.

"Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men."

Well, can they work out during the women only hours?

David Duke said that he does not believe that the white-only gym hours discriminate against non whites.

Sounds ludicrious when you put it in that context, doesnt it?

Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men.

The you-know-what will hit the fan only when those Muslimahs object to Infidel women being seen with their boyfriends/hubbies in the gym.

No creeping sharia problem

Harvard Dhimmi Progressives Newsletter Headline:

Toward the 7th Century, Progressing to the Past

More accommodations to the "let's put our differences aside and all come together and agree to do it.... my way" crowd.

"These hours are necessary because there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms not because they don't want to work out, but because for them working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward or problematic in some way," she said.

So, what? Sometimes life is uncomfortable. Live with it. If you're such a big baby you shouldn't be out of the house alone anyway. Oh, I forgot, that is part of the rules too.

Male victims of Harvard's religious oppression: file suit on the basis of sexual discrimination, religious discrimination, and the separation of church and state, and start working to have eligibility for federal research grants stripped. Do it relentlessly. Use the enemy's weapons or die by them.

If you live in a sack your whole life, what is the point in working out anyway?

I hope the Lesbian society takes full advantage of these female only sessions.

Women can go from the gym to the beach wearing this 'little' number:

http://www.publiuspundit.com/pictures/6.jpg

You can cut your work-out time in half! Not because it's a more effective gym suit, but because you won't have the strength nor the perspiration to go a full hour wearing this get-up; and there's also no need for sunscreen, because you'll be covered from head-to-toe in polyester spandex. OK - you have to give up on the suntan too, but that's so overrated anyway.

Ladies - look at what we're missing out on!

(you know I'm kidding, right?)

Isnt this the same Harvard that ran out the last president because he said men and women are different?

Champ,

I can't believe you are presenting that kind of smut on JW. That harlot has her seductive ankles showing!

Hi Isa! LOL!

I hope the Lesbian society takes full advantage of these female only sessions.

Viola !

But amadinjihad said there are no homosexuals in Islam I suppose this applies to Muslim Lesbians also ?

to accommodate religious customs that make it difficult for some students to work out in the presence of men.

Perhaps they don't want the infidels to see the results of Female Genital Mutilation ? Or is it the fact its hard to get a suntan when wearing a bhurka and being shut in the house all day. In any case what are these women doing being let out of the house in the first place AND attending a University ? I thought education for women was haram unless of course its the koran.

I am confused.

I hate to break this to everyone, but there *ARE* women-only gyms... ever heard of the Curves franchise?

I'm surprised Curves isn't more popular with Muslim women... maybe it is?

OK - but did the Islamic Society petition Curves to make a change? I don't think that they did, but I could be wrong. That's the key difference here.

The announcement -- full of insha'allahs and salamu alikums -- of Harvard's submission to Muslim demands for women's-only nights went out to Muslims on campus at the end of last month. And the writer (Ola Alhjawhary) carefully asks if anyone cannot come during those times (in order, presumably, to provide the basis for further hours).

This will be a great inconvenience, not only to men who will, three nights a week, be denied use of the gym for several hours, but to the non-Muslim women, who make up 98% of the women students at Harvard. For only those non-Muslim women will go who want to exercise in the company of the kind of Musliim woman who takes to heart the Shari'a strictures. One can well imagine the young Benazir Bhutto reacting with disdain at such an accommodation, and in her Radcliffe youth I am certain she'd have exercised at any hour, except those hours now set aside for"[Muslim] women only."

Here's that email to fellow members of the Harvard Islamic Society from Ola Aljawhary:

"Salamu alikum everyone,

The person coordinating the women's-only gym hours at the Quad gym has just gotten back to me, and here are the days/times that have been
finalized (they are not the same ones I had sent out before...):

1. Monday 3-5 pm
2. Tuesday 8-10 pm
3. Thursday 8-10 pm

I know there are no times during the weekend, but these are the times that ended up working out. If there are any major problems with these
times (i.e. you cannot make any of these time slots), please let me know.

These women's-only hours will be in place indefinitely insha'Allah, but the coordinators will check to how usage has been to see if they can continue. I think the first check will be around Spring Break insha'Allah (3/22/08). If you can make some of these times and are interested in working out, by all means please go to the gym then! (Quad gym: 66 Garden Street)

The gym can be used by any women during these times, so please spread the word widely!

Salamu alikum,
Ola

______________________

Note, incidentally, that Ola Aljawhary expresses no gratitude to Harvard officials for having made special provisions to accommodate Muslims that will now inconvenience everyone else, but instead invokes only Allah -- "[t]hese women's-only hours will be in place indefinitely insha'Allahinsha'allah."

Note further that Ola Aljawhary is careful to alert fellow members of the Harvard Islamic Society to the need to complain if they are still not satisfied: "If there are any major problems with thesetimes (i.e. you cannot make any of these time slots), please let me know." Presumably, armed with this ammunition, he will then go back to Harvard officials and try to get still another time slot.

But most significant is something else in his email to Harvard Islamic Society members:

"These women's-only hours will be in place indefinitely insha'Allah, but the coordinators will check to how usage has been to see if they can continue. I think the first check will be around Spring Break insha'Allah (3/22/08). If you can make some of these times and are interested in working out, by all means please go to the gym then! (Quad gym: 66 Garden Street)"

In other words, since Harvard authorities will be checking on usage, and "the first check will be around Spring Break" make sure, all you Muslimahs and fellow-travellers of those Muslimahs, even if you won't be regularly going, to show up for exercis "around Spring Break insha'Allah" so that you will be counted when Harvard "checks" on the situation.

Telling, is it not?

I know there are no times during the weekend...

Hugh: You omitted a word: yet.

I noted the demand for class hours rescheduled around prayer times in OZ (several articles down). How long before Harvard has to do this? )Inshallah?
/Islam, drinking your milkshake since the 7th century.

MP,

Sooner then you think.

The poor female muslim. The suppression is complete when they feel uncomfortable being human, generations of having to bear full responsibility of all carnal desires and to avoid at all costs whipping up the sacred libido of its male counterparts. Pathetic...

Telling, is it not?

Posted by: Hugh

Ola's response tells me that he thinks he's entitled to these adjustments; and now that they have their foot in the door, that they are entitled to even MORE changes.

Muslims sure do have a strong sense of entitlement. Hmmm - where did that come from? Muhammad? The Qur'an? Methinks so.

"I hope the Lesbian society takes full advantage of these female only sessions."

I was wondering what they will do about transgender, seeing how Harvard's anti-discrimination policy govers transgender. How will they handle that at the female only hours?

Pretty soon it will be for muslim-women only.

The Dean of the Harvard Divinity School is an "expert" on Islam -- William A. Graham.

Here are some choice cherries from his "Reflections on Islam in a Time of Global Uncertainty" delivered in 2003:

"Everyone, of course, posits September 11 as the watershed moment when Islam impinges on consciousness. That is a very sad commentary on our knowledge about this major world tradition of culture and of religion. What is also sad is the kind of attitude that has been furthered by my colleague at Harvard, Samuel Huntington."

"His thesis, begun as an article and then expanded into a book, is I am afraid becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"In large part, this happened because it felt good as a basic premise for those who like to think about the world in terms of "the West and the rest." "

"What I see, currently, is an unwillingness to think about Islam as anything except an "other" that belongs to some monolith that is the big, present danger in the world."

"We have the proclaimed new "Green Menace" that is supposed to replace the Communist Red Menace of our previous xenophobia. This one happens to be the xenophobia of the moment, and I fear that it may go on being that for some time."

Etc., etc., ad nauseam.

http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/bulletin/articles/graham.html

When I started High School in the USA, gym classes always separated boys from girls. Title IX was passed in 1972 and changed all that.

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleix.htm

My question is this: are male-only gym classes allowed? It is considered illegal discrimination to exclude women. Why is it legal to exclude men?

CTYankee - This does not involve gym class, but rather the ability of students, faculty and staff to access a university-wide resource at THEIR convenience. Now males will have to consult the schedule to determine at what hours on specific days the gym facility will be unavailable for their use. I assume that women will be able to access the facilities any time that they are open, not just at specific times. The men will have fewer hours of use vis a vis female gym users. All animals are equal. Some animals are more equal than others. Will male muslims now demand male only hours to avoid gazing upon tempting sweaty, buxom, buff (and quite haram) female gym users? Stand by for more shenanigans.
/That is all

are male-only gym classes allowed? No

It is considered illegal discrimination to exclude women. Yes

Why is it legal to exclude men? Political correctness.

How far into the tent does the camel's nose need to be before it starts to smell?

Did we miss that they want to change the class schedules too in Aussie.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23269447-12332,00.html

Someone needs to start a petition against segregation. I'll sign it. The non-muslims at harvard are too afraid to be called a "racist" to have any protests or even speak out at against this bullshit. After all those years women fought to become equals... the primitive Muslims bring us back to the old days and the students are too scared to do anything about it. Its a sad sad world we live in these days.
P.S. For all the Muslims reading: Mohammed was a phsycotic pedophile criminal. Nice prophet... no wonder your religion is so screwed up.

William A. Graham is mentioned in a posting above. How this apologist for Islam even got to be Dean, and with the deanship, though he had apparently been turned down for tenure by his own department, had tenure thrown in (oh, it's very hard for some people to get and very easy for some others) to sweeten the proposed pot, is a long story. He and Diane Eck, a friend of Karen Armstrong (who spoke at her wedding) and, though a supposed "expert" on HInduism(she turned her year in Benares into one of those books-for-tenure), has turned out to be far more interested, it would seem, in Islam, and in being a Defender of that Faith, without knowing any more about it than does the Lambeth Walk-and-Talker, Rowan Williams. Eck has been a tireless grant-getter (see "The Pluralism Project" which is designed to inform us of something we know doubt already knew -- that America is not just for Christians and Jews anymore -- and also designed to make us believe something that the well-informed will find unbelievable, even absurd (possibly on the old credo-quia-absurdum idea), that all "faiths" participate in, and support equally, the very idea of "pluralism" (hint: one faith does not. It begins with an "I" and ends with an "M." Five letters, across OR down). She's on all kinds of committees, and helps "edudate" on the subject of Islam, in at least one of her courses, the naive and unwary (including the Nieman Fellows, some of whom may be too trusting of her supposed expertness). Graham and Eck tried, along with Leila Ahmad (also of the Divinity School) to force through acceptance of the deplorable Omid Safi two years ago, but were foiled by sensible-minded faculty members who were not quite so easily buffaloed as, say, the boys at the Kroc Center have been by Tariq Ramadan.

There's a good deal more to say about the scandal of standards that the resistible rise of such people exemplifies. It will eventually all come out, for not everyone, including those who are right in the middle of it, and seemingly indifferent, are in fact not inclined to overlook, forever, what has been going on, what the Ecks and the Grahams and the Ahmads have been seeming to get away with.

their are female only gyms out there, like the curves franchise. Let the Muslim women if they do not want to go coed facilities get her membership in curves instead and says it's Muslims that are are bitching maybe they can get the Saudi Arabians to pay for the memberships and for that matter. Why our Western women dressed in revealing gem where for the most part stayed from unwanted advances of men ? The same women in a roomful of middle eastern men would be considered to targets for Rape and unwanted sexual advances

I wonder when the manufacturers of the gym equipment will be brought in to re-design their machines to accommodate moslem female garb. After all, we mustn't let their burqua's get into a twist on a treadmill or a bike chain. We must be ever-sensitive to the needs of moslems, but to hell with everyone else. Right? Right?

Lots of women would rather work out in a woman-only gym. I have no problem with that. But the Islam angle on this issue is unsettling.

As a general rule, college students are SUPPOSED to step out of their comfort zone. Why do these particular students have the right to no be uncomfortable?
Why does these particular students demand that other people make sacrifices so they can be true to their ideology?
Nobody is forbidding them from participating in activities due to their religion. If they feel uncomfortable, that is their personal decision. If they choose to self segregate in order to stay in their comfort zone, then they should be forced to accept the results.

As a general rule, college students are SUPPOSED to step out of their comfort zone. Why do these particular students have the right to not be uncomfortable?
Why does these particular students demand that other people make sacrifices so they can be true to their ideology?
Nobody is forbidding them from participating in activities due to their religion. If they feel uncomfortable, that is their personal decision. If they choose to self segregate in order to stay in their comfort zone, then they should be forced to accept the results.

If I were a guy at that gym and saw a muslim woman working out during the "men allowed" time; I would be so uncomfortable knowing that she was wigged out that I was there. I wouldn't want to go. Would I be able to ask for and get non-muslim women hours? That way I wouldn't have to worry about offending or being offended. Slipperiest slope ever but could it be done?

Nobody is forbidding them from participating in activities due to their religion. If they feel uncomfortable, that is their personal decision. If they choose to self segregate in order to stay in their comfort zone, then they should be forced to accept the results.

Posted by: sh217 at February 25, 2008 7:23 PM

I agree. As a matter of fact, I am quite uncoordinated and tend to bump into walls and fall down when I try to exercise in gyms. When I was 28 I Jazzercised and was ridiculed by an adolescent boy with Tourrets. He bobbed up and down in his chair screaming, "you suck, you suck, you suck". I never went to a gym again after that. I do however invest in the 10 minute mile, and other 'just-do-it-at-home-and-you-won't-be-embarrassed' line of videos.

Female moslems should either pay to purchase a do it yourself tape like I did, or just give it a whirl at the local gym and take your chances. Whatever you do, don't jog on a treadmill in a night gown.

Surely there are codes of conduct in the Harvard Student Handbook--or in whatever document these codes exist--that articulate reasonable protections for women who feel "uncomfortable, awkward or problematic" due to the behavior of men.

Has Harvard adopted the standard that the very presence of men in public areas, which men have a right to access, is " problematic".

What if the only time a man can access the gym is during these women only hours? That would not be discrimination when provisions already exist to protect women from unreasonable male behavior?

JTF: I would hope that the Harvard code of conduct protects both men and women, not just women from unreasonable male behavior.

I find this whole islamic 'modesty' thing totally pathetic. Pathetic, actually very *vain* women, who believe that every man is after them. Pathetic men who can't control their sexual urges.

I'm just a human being, for goodnes sake! I wear shorts and a little T-shirt all summer and if the occasional male considers me eye-candy, that's fine - I just expect him to 'look, don't touch'. I'll do attractive men the same favour.

Maybe it's very telling that the only time a stranger has touched me was on the top of Montmatre, when some stranger pinched my bottom. At the time I didn't understand why some young guy (there was a middle-eastern looking group of men behind me, it can't have been anyone else), would do such a thing.

Now I understand: they have been trained to see any non-shrouded woman as 'meat'.

We should be ashamed of ourselves in that we are forcing these muslim women to use the segregated gym facilities WITHOUT RITUAL FOOTBATHS.

I suggest we protest loudly until such footbaths are installed -- even if their installation means reducing/eliminating gym facilities for the rest of the student-body.

After all, isn't this what compromise is all about?

Shouldn't these Muslim women be praying, instead?

Exercise is a frivolous waste of time better spent kowtowing to their superiors-
Muslim men.

They can stay in their dorm rooms and do isometrics and isotonics, alone, if they want to stay fit.

Gyms are an infidel (Greek) institution.

And the very word means "naked" (gymnos), which should send these women away screaming in terror.

This is gender discrimination, plain and simple.

LOL, profitsbeard!!!

"Gymmitude", anybody?

"The you-know-what will hit the fan only when those Muslimahs object to Infidel women being seen with their boyfriends/hubbies in the gym."
Posted by: Infidel Pride

What these Muslimahs really want is Muslimahs-only gym time; they don't want the slutty infidel women around, but don't have the power or the means (yet) to keep them out. I'm personally hoping infidel women pack these women-only sessions so hardly any Muslimahs can get in. Beat them at their own separatist game. Oh, and they should take advantage of the single-gender space to be a little, uh, freer in their attire, or lack thereof, as well as their language and demeanour, and talk freely and frankly about their sex lives, of course. Also, pass a mickey or two around if they think they can get away with it. And play raunchy music. But seriously, what do Muslim women wear when they work out? If they don't want men looking at their bodies, can't they just work out in sweats and baggy long-sleeved T-shirts? With no men around, will they feel free to wear tanks and shorts, and doff the headgear, even in the presence of infidel women? If not, what is the point? And the bigger question is, of course, (from one who generally hates exercise), why do they want to work out at all, to tone and firm bodies that no-one ever sees? Inquiring minds want to know...

I'm sure that the gym would have a strict dress code, for safety sake.

Let's hope that's fully enforced.

Gym attire, not mosque attire.

Actually, gender segregation such as this doesn't sound all that outrageous to me. Some of us non-Muslim women out here don't like sharing gyms and pools with men all the time, either. It's all a matter of equal accommodation, though; facilities, services, equipment, staff, etc. for both genders must be the same. If men are given "men only" time at these facilities also, well and good. If not, that's discrimination and it should be stopped or the policy adapted to provide equal accommodation for both genders.

Fine! Then 6 hours a week when ONLY MEN are allowed. That would make it fair.

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
men should have less rights

http://absurdthoughtsaboutgod.blogspot.com/
.

"I'm sure that the gym would have a strict dress code, for safety sake.

Let's hope that's fully enforced.

Gym attire, not mosque attire."

Posted by: Abu_Lahab

Re. gym dress codes: if some fully-burkad ji-hag demands the right to work out on or near all the automated treadmills, cycles, and various other potentially dangerous machinery, where a stray bit of those 90 meters or so of black fabric could easily get snagged and cause a very nasty accident...well, maybe that would be poetic justice, but the gym still better make damn sure she signs a waiver.

Good point from Aby_Lahab.

I would take the issue one step further, combining this view with that of de Montjoie - it would only be reasonable and courteous for the Gymmi's at Harvard to ensure that all the fitness equipment is completely re-designed to render it safe for the use of women wearing hijabs. Air-con units need to be upgraded to deal with the resulting B-O implications.

Spare no expense, guys! If you are going to roll over, might as well do it properly.