Augusta and hypocrisy...
One story gathering a lot of attention today is that the Augusta Golf Club has now added two female members, whereas in the past it was male only.
A New York Times blog post asked Is Golf Unethical?, focusing in particular upon Augusta's male-only policies amongst other concerns its a piece arguing against golf's inclusion in the Olympics. It made the following assertion specifically in regard to sexual segregation:
No honorable person can play at a segregated club
If such is the case, what about all the women-only athletic facilities? It's not just one or two gyms we're talking about - it's numerous chains of female-only facilities. If Augusta's policy is an example of sexism, then I'd argue that these places - of which there are far, far more - should fall into the same category. (Incidentally the closest gym to where I live happens to be female-only).
If female-only spaces are OK there should be no problem with male-only spaces. To quote statements made in the past by Augusta's chairman:
Our membership is single gender just as many other organizations and clubs all across America. These would include Junior Leagues, sororities, fraternities, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and countless others.
Gender-exclusive events seems to have cropped up in Canadian politics recently. To quote the Province:
Clark has been a fierce critic of the NDP’s “gender equity” quota system, where some ridings have been designated for women-only candidates in the next election. She has called the policy gender discrimination that’s insulting to men and patronizing to women.
But that hasn’t stopped Clark from enthusiastically embracing a “No Boys Allowed” policy at her women-only socials.
“We kick all the men out,” Clark boasted proudly at an Aug. 3 women-only luncheon in Delta, where not even male waiters were spared from the Liberals’ gender rules.
“We have gotten rid of the male server and everything,” Clark said. “Because I notice conversations happen differently when it’s just women in the room.”
I suspect you'd hear a much larger uproar if the Liberals or NDP were to have hosted male-only events. Again, either gender-exclusive events are OK or they're not. You really can't have it both ways.