Gym Bans “Inelegant” Women

I don’t know about you ladies, but “elegance” is the last thing on my mind when I’m getting my sweat on.

Enjoy!

Gym faces wrath of the ajummas for trying to ban middle-aged women

June 14 2024, The Times (Sunday Times, UK)

A gym in South Korea has provoked an angry reaction by banning middle-aged women, drawing attention to the country’s lack of rules against discrimination.

The owner of the unnamed business in the city of Incheon has defended his decision to post a sign declaring it “out of bounds to ajummas” — a word meaning “auntie”, but which is applied to women of middle age, and has pejorative implications of gracelessness. “Only cultivated and elegant women allowed,” the notice says.

The gym denied it was being misogynistic. As reported in South Korean media, the gym lists the characteristics of the ajumma: “Ajumma have a tendency to like free stuff regardless of their age. Secondly, they get criticised everywhere but are the only ones who don’t realise it. Thirdly, they frequently take seats reserved for pregnant women on public transportation, though they are not pregnant.”

Furthermore, according to the notice, ajummas “order one coffee for two people at cafés and ask for an extra cup”, dispose of rubbish in public lavatories, and repeat themselves. “Lastly,” it concludes, “if they fall over, nobody helps them.”

The gym owner told South Korean television: “Ajummas bring baskets of laundry to the gym, use hot water for one to two hours, doubling the water bill. They also make sexually inappropriate comments to younger female members, like ‘You’ll have healthy babies.’”