Today there were new signs in my building's workout room. They said all the usual things about being quiet and not damaging stuff, but there were two new clauses tacked on at the end. One said that everyone must wear proper shoes while using the equipment, and the other said that everyone must be properly clothed in a Tshirt or exercise clothing. I HATE the word proper. It can die in a fire.
My nipples are at fault.
I have been working out barefoot for almost three years now, so that isn't the thing that has prompted this new grasp at power by a bored bureaucrat. The difference is that over the past few months I have occasionally gone shirtless while lifting in the weight room. Normally I am alone, and sometimes I get so sticky and hot during my routine I shuck my shirt. A few people have walked in, and while none of them have said anything, obviously somebody was extremely frightened and offended at my nipples and they complained to the authorities.
Nipples are terrifying as fuck, y'all.
Before anyone starts excusing this nonsense let us be clear: My shirt, by the end of my routine, is soaked. My bodily goo is getting all over everything no matter whether or not I have a shirt on. Women often wear sports bras as their only top, and nobody is complaining on that account. This is purely a nipple issue.
I know what will happen if I protest this. I have been down this road before. They will make noises about 'safety' and cluck disapprovingly about disease. This is the standard nonsense people spew when anyone does something outside social norms, because it masquerades as concern, when in fact it is purely classist bullshit. We don't want *those* sorts of people in our building, they think, and those undesirable types must be full of disease and filth.
It is the same whether or not I am trying to go without shoes, be polyamorous, or not wear a shirt. People assume that because it is weird that anyone doing it must be filthy and dangerous, and they don't even bother with a cursory examination of their reasons.
But you can't fight city hall. They can enforce any bullshit ruleset they want, and nothing I say is going to convince the condo board that my right to dress how I like is as important as other people's right to tell me how to dress.
One good thing though is that when you are replete with rage, full to the brim with fury, and consumed with a desire for righteous vengeance, doing your workout routine is easy as hell. I tore through those reps like they were NOTHING.
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