Being a female college student is a challenging experience in itself. Many of the female students at Sonoma State University have shared experiences of discomfort or uneasiness, specifically when visiting one of the most popular buildings on campus — the rec center.
The campus Recreation Center, or simply “rec center,” as referred to by the students, offers an abundance of activities for Seawolves to partake in, ranging from rock climbing and indoor sports, to running on the track and using the weight room. However, it is the latter activity that has been stirring up uncomfortable emotions for many of the female students.
When asked about her experiences visiting the rec center and using the gym equipment, Maddie Green, a senior at SSU, expressed that although she typically enjoys visiting the rec center and using the available equipment, there have been moments where she and multiple of her friends have discussed having unsettling feelings or experiences when visiting the campus gym. Green expressed that she and her friends have all felt, “a little uncomfortable or on-edge sometimes.” Green has been at SSU since she was a freshman, and since then, these feelings of discomfort have remained the same. This suggests that this has been a popular concern among the female population at SSU.
Sonoma State University is known to have a population that is largely dominated by women. According to US News & World Reports, SSU has a gender distribution of 37% male students and 63% female students. Being that the school’s student body is primarily female, the university should ensure that female students feel safe and comfortable on campus at all times.
Green suggests introducing an all-female gym class taught on campus, where girls are encouraged to join and can learn how to perform proper exercise techniques and are able to “feel more confident.”
Many of these uneasy feelings are rooted in the fact that harassment tends to be a common issue in most gyms. According to Run Repeat, “56.37% of female gym members have experienced harassment at the gym.”
This statistic suggests that all gyms bring up some level of anxiety or uneasiness to women everywhere, not just to female students at SSU, and not just at the rec center. In fact, a feature in The Guardian suggests, “Being leered at, harassed or solicited in a gym isn’t just a nuisance. It is damaging, insidious behaviour that denies women the chance to exist in public spaces.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean everytime women go to the gym they will be harassed, but it does describe an ongoing issue in which women have to choose whether going to the gym is worth the possibility of being harassed. For many women at SSU, this means choosing not to work out, or exercising at home. For others, this means going to the gym with an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach, similar to the feelings Green described. Female students being uncomfortable working out at the university gym is understandable yet unacceptable. The issue provides an opportunity to open up a broader conversation about a larger issue that unfortunately affects a great number of women everywhere.
