Unsafe New York: Part Thirty Two

GYM WORKOUT: IMPOSSIBLE .COMMUNICATION WITH THE MANAGEMENT: NO OTHER FEMALES HAVE SAID THEY FEEL THE SAME WAY (ARGUMENT:LOGICAL FALLACY: APPEAL TO MAJORITY)
Having waited for two weeks before my call got returned by the manager of the Chelsea Recreation Center, I have finally received a call from him on December 19th, 7 days, one week time after I have submitted a third letter. I have returned his call on the 21st and have not heard from him until I called him again on January 2nd, 2007. Having scheduled an appointment for January 3rd, 2007, I have brought a copy of a letter with me, again, suspecting that Mr. Michale Cushing has not read it. Below is a copy of a letter, attached.
Mr. Cushing said that no one else complained and that to his knowledge there were no problems. "Perhaps it is you they are after?" he suggested with a mild smile. I suggested he read the letter and ensure that my Human Rights liberties not be violated.

December 13, 2006.

I would like to convey in this letter things to you that I would rather convey in person. But judging from my experience with you last time, I have observed it to be almost impossible. The issue that has recurred is a part of a bigger problem, a very definite barely concealed one. This conversation will take time and will require your attention and care, it cannot be wheezed through as you suggested we do on the previous meeting. Regardless of how busy you are, it is not my fault or problem you are busy, I would like to receive a normal treatment and interaction from you, as the head of this facility and the person who is responsible for what goes on in here. I have come to you last time to convey to you the problem I have encountered, for almost three straight days, not to count the holiday. This problem was an impossibility of a peaceful, self contained work out. I was numerously harassed by dubious and hateful characters who spoke about me and to me in derogatory terms and were furious to find out I had a will of my own.
This bespeaks an issue that is deep. These characters are not steady, reasonable individuals who are interested in harmony and fair treatment. They are continuously interested in receiving what is more than their due in a public facility. They do not allow for a female self contained member to focus on her work out. They do not interact respectfully and in an adult, rational manner. They act as if I owed them something and had to jump any time they told me to. The problem persisted to this day. There is a general sense of ill will towards anyone who minds their own business and wants to work out within the limits set up by the social and human regulations. The men at the gym seem to work in teams and bring a mafia like mentality to the work out room. They dominate the space, monopolize the machines, and use foul and false language to get their way. They have scared other female members either into silence or submission or support of their system through the usage of the same techniques, of which other female members are quite aware. Fear we experience is great and damaging to our person and bodies.
The men at the gym work out in couples and triplets but refuse the right of another member to work out in peace, for a shorter amount of time. They care little for regulations and care much for them getting always more, more, more. They use the pretext of violation of regulation against some person who does nothing wrong but observes the rules. It is not the time that they are contesting that is being spent on each machine, but the independent will and mind of a female bodied individual. The demand they place (but what right do they have any demands in the work out room at all, demands that are irrational and are not within the boundaries of what their expectations should be as members of a public facility?) on female members is that they flatter, smile, laugh and cajole them into using the machines that they have monopolized or somehow made “their” unwritten possession. They tend to harass those members that are polite, do not interfere with anyone else and desire open communication and peace. There is a consistent and irrational system of bullying and harassing that has been applied to me. It consists of interfering with my work out either physically: like in the instances of two previous men who have either tapped on my seat or put the sit down, or verbal. Often in the middle of my work out, someone demands to know how many sets I have left, and even after having received the answer, and observed me on the machine for literal minutes, he yet again asks me the same question. Often people that I don’t know and have never seen jump in and find something to say to me, accusing me of many different things. A third party interferes and at that point uses foul language and threats. The aforementioned techniques are not the means and measures of equal and free members of the Democratic society but bespeak the criminal intent and a mind state of mafia members. I have constantly experience a sense of ill will towards my person, even though I take very little time, am highly organized and always wait for the other members to finish their sets. Even if members work in triplets and doubles, I don’t harass them to give up the machine but patiently wait. It is not the case when I am using the machines. The members of the male gang constantly desire more than the rules of the public facility that the city gym is, can provide. I find it impossible to focus on my work out, to feel my body. Every time I start to really work out, I encounter ill will, people step on my feet, men breathe on my neck, often they stand around and watch for a long time and make comments to one another. To support their position they will talk to some female, to demonstate how liberal they are. But the fact that they gang up in public facilities instead of working out and minding their business demonstrates the ancient and outlived mentality of a patriarchal intent. The mentality that denies the growth and development to people under democratic state.
When people come to ask me how much longer, they walk away without hearing the answer. Or they hear my answer and are not interested in it. The question is used as a proforma to satisfy the appearance of observing the rules. They have no mind to comply with the rules of the facility and social decency, but only to pretend that they do, so that the person they attack will not have a defense. The knowledge of male domination in the gym is obvious, their bullying and outright hostility is impossible, and their pretentious acts of civility is nauseating. Without interference of a third party to watch or to observe the reality of the unjust and prejudiced interaction, it will be impossible to continue, for the male members seem to be under the impression they must be yielded the way and submitted to.
Only yesterday, some member was criticizing my work out style, and when I retorted, told me to “shut up.” He got up from his seat, where he was not working out but was lounging around, and took a few steps towards me. I do know who he is and can point him out. He told me to “shut up” repeatedly, as if he was the one to decide on my right to speak. He was highly upset when I continued to defend myself against his false accusations and threatened that “you will have to find another gym.” He then comfortably sat around on machines and took his time to work out, even though there is a time limit. But all the while he kept looking at me and watching my every step. He continued talking even after I stopped, attempting to provoke me into reacting, using words like “stupid” and “does not shut up.”
On the manner of asking me how long I have left: When a person asks, he waits a very short amount of time before interfering with my work out again and asking me again. He does not seem to truly interact with me but act by default: an independent female using the machine, she must get off, I must get on. His phrases are standard and his look is distant or hostile. The reaction to me as a nuisance seems to be already preconceived and prejudged on his part. It appears he thinks: If she persists, I will get my buddies involved. He looks around and some other male or female that is part of the gang jumps in. And often that happens: Two or three more people interfere, accusing me of “always doing that” – working out in peace, within the time limit, and people I have never seen nor had any interaction in jump in and angrily hiss that “you will get kicked out.” And, “who do you think you are.” They walk around me angrily, saying nasty things and waving their hands. They come closer to my face and shower some abuse.
There is a persistent ill will towards female people who have their own mind and desire to work out in peace and harmony with the surrounding individuals. The excuses to excuse it are profound, and the amount of stress I have received and illness I have developed is tremendous. I request the time allocated to speak to you on the subject. I also request either a camera or a presence of a third party on premises, or a set of uniform rules that will be fair, decided with female bodies individuals in mind, and with the desire to benefit all members and facilitate their growth and development,
Sincerely,
Dana Zakharov.