The YWCA, where I swim each morning, has been a life saver! I have psoriatic arthritis and have tried every exercise I could find. There has been no exercise that my knees could tolerate. When I started water fitness at the Y it was the most wonderful solution for my knee problem. I could tell a difference in my pain level on the days I exercised, as opposed to the the days I missed. Soon water fitness at the Y was a part of my daily routine.
Shortly after joining, I noticed a woman who was swimming in a camisole, out of fabric about the thickness of women’s panties--see through. I mentionied it to one of the women in the class. The lady replied that the woman always swam in that get-up. I asked if anyone had reported her for not wearing “appropriate and modest swimwear,” as the Y literature rules required. The lady said, “Well no one knows her name.”
The next time I was swimming and encountered the Nude Swimming Lady (NSL) I said hello and asked her, her name. She looked at me and said, in perfect English, “I do not speak English.” Okaaaaay. That must be why no one knows her name. I continued to see her daily. Talking to the life guards and instructors there was the same response from each of them. “Oh yes I have noticed her, but I cannot say anything to her because I do not know her name.”
In the meantime I had been telling everyone of the benefits of the water fitness program at the Y. Several months had gone by when I got a call from my bible study teacher asking about the water fitness classes I took at that Y. Her son had fibermialgia and was looking for an exercise solution to keep him more mobile and pain free. I talked to him and strongly recommended the water fitness program. The day after talking to him while getting in the pool, the NSL came walking by me in “All her glory”. It struck me, I have recommended that my bible study teacher’s son swim here and there is a woman who swims in the nude!!
After swimming that day I found the Aquatic Education Director, Tommy, and reported the NSL. He said, he knew about her but nothing could be done because he didn’t know her name. I told him I could find her name, since on that particular day there had only been two people there before me. I looked at the sign-in sheet and there was her signature.... an up an down squiggle, a line, an up and down squiggle and a line. Totally illegible. I went back to Tommy and told him what I had found. He then asked to me to describe her, I floundered, the only thing to describe her by were her naked physical characteristics--it was not like I could describe her swimsuit after all, so after stammering I finally said, “Well she is a small Asian woman in a see through camisole.”
Finally in total desperation I decided to write an email to the executive director. I explained the situation about the NSL . I told her I had been asking that someone address the problem for almost a year, and would she please check on the situation.
The next day I received a reply from the executive director. She said she wanted to address the problem......WITH ME! She told me about the Y’s motto of “Empowering women and eliminating racisim.” She noted my “Racist attitude for singling out a woman by calling her “Asian”. She told me that I needed to be more sensitive to the cultural barriers I placed on people.” GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! I was asked to describe a naked woman...no clothes to refer to, ONLY intimate body part details to describe.... I thought saying she was a small Asian woman was the most decreet description I could give!!!
I hope I don’t get thrown out of the Y, I have really gotten a lot of benefit from being able to swim every morning. On second thought, maybe they won’t throw me out if I swim nude.......
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