Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Maine Law Review

Publication Date

2000

Volume

52

First Page

97

Abstract

(Excerpt)

Recently, the debate over single-sex health clubs gained national attention when a patent attorney, James Foster, sued for admission to Healthworks, a Massachusetts all-women's health club. One day in 1996, Foster entered the club, which was located close to his Boston condominium, and asked for a tour and an application for membership. The club employees, however, refused him a tour, informing him that Healthworks did not admit men. Shortly thereafter, Foster filed a discrimination claim with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination contending that Healthworks had violated the Massachusetts public accommodations statute. He won at the administrative hearing, and Healthworks appealed to the Massachusetts Superior Court. In court, Healthworks argued that its women only policy was necessary to protect the privacy interests of its members and that it should be granted an exemption from the public accommodations statute based on this right to privacy. Some members were recovering from sexual abuse; some members wanted all-women's exercise for religious reasons; others simply did not want to be stared at by men. The club argued that exercising involves wearing less clothing than one normally would wear on the street. Additionally, Healthworks claimed that their members' privacy rights were implicated because doing certain exercises requires awkward motions that some members would find embarrassing. An expert testifying for Healthworks management estimated that the single-sex quality of the club was important to approximately eighty percent of the Healthworks clientele.

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