Earlier this week, when Sophie Tabatadze was at her community pool – Vake Swimming Pool and Fitness Club in Tbilisi, Georgia – she noticed a sign on the wall in the women’s changing rooms.
Tabatadze was furious. She found the rule, which forbids women from swimming when they are on their periods, to be incredibly misogynistic and didn’t refrain from expressing her discontent online.
She even sarcastically asked if women could get a “preferential price” compared to men because they would inevitably be barred from swimming in the pool about five to six days each month.
One of the comments on her photo notes that the sign has been in place for the past eight years.
The Vake community initially instated the rule after one woman “contaminated” the pool with her menstrual bleeding, suggesting that women on their periods were unhygienic.
Tabatadze responded to this statement by clarifying that menstruation had “nothing to do with hygiene,” and that other pool-goers who weren’t on their periods also introduced plenty of germs, fecal matter, urine, sweat, and even beauty products into the pool on a daily basis.
Menstrual bleeding, at least, could be kept out of the pool if the woman wore a tampon or menstrual cup. These other sources of contamination cannot be kept out of pools – unless the individual is simply asked to not enter the pool.
The gym and community at Vake has not responded to Tabatdze’s subsequent response.
