There is a gym in our main street which has, in letters over a metre high, the words 'Ladies Only' painted across the front.

I dont understand why if men want to have a men's only club it is sexist - if women want to have a women's only club it is a right. Can someone please explain what looks like an obvious case of double-standards to a poor old logician.

And it is not because the gyms are places for work-outs I remember a team from 60 Minutes going all the way to England to hassle the Lords Cricket Club about the sexism of their 'Men Only' policy.

Also the perv argument is weak because that happens whether the sexes are separated or not. A friend of mine who attended a Korean Bathhouse where the participants had to move around naked and the sexes were segregated said she had to walk past a whole line of lesbians who were blatantly checking out all the naked women as they walked past.

These stubborn and annoying people should leave these men's clubs alone. If these men want to have a club and they dont want to invite women then that is their business and choice. If you leave them be they will eventually soften and evolve, most already have, and even if they dont then so be it. Nobody likes to be told what to do.

There are many other clubs around why do these women specifically want access to this one?

If members of clubs dont have a right to run their business place as they choose then we do not have freedom of choice as our thoughts are being controlled.

Rob I think it is a matter of feeling comfortable as well as a touch of the 'perv' argument. I think you will find that most woman that attend 'ladies only' gyms are trying to deal with weight problems and are probably hoping to avoid the types that turn out at gyms hoping to be looked at - both female and male. Not all of us look great in a skimpy gym outfit! There is certainly nothing wrong with men only clubs either.

Woops I said mens and it was womans. For sure there would have had to once been a mens Tattersals club for me to have become confused?

Thing is that it doesn't matter whether it is men or woman club. Why cant people running a service or buisness discriminate if it is for a reason that is not fueled by malice or spite? Why are we forced to treat everybody the same no matter what we think or feel?

No-one has actually answered the question - why is it accepted as sexist when men have a men's only club? And why is it accepted as a right when women form a women's only club? That is the discrepancy that needs to be explained.

Personally I would have no interest in being part of any club that excluded people on the basis of sex. While I feel it is obvious both sexes should be treated equally - either both sexes can have exlusive clubs or neither can - that is not the question that interests me. I want to know why this double standard passes without an outcry from the community and the media particularly that so frequently champions any discrimination against women so vehemently.

The weight argument is not relevant because it is more fundamental than that. The rationale for the exclusion is not an issue. If women have the right to exclude men on 'whatever basis women deem justified' - men should have the same right to exclude women on 'whatever basis men deem justified'.

So far as the law is concerned, it is quite legal to have men or woman only clubs/gyms. For example, the NSW Anti-discrimination Act 1977 provides:

“…Nothing …… renders unlawful discrimination by a registered club against a person on the ground of sex if membership of the registered club is available to persons of the opposite sex only.”

Can you give specific examples of where men only clubs have been barred from being established? Otherwise your belief about it being accepted as sexist when men have a men's only club is mere hearsay.