Going to the Gym--Together

I didn't need to pee, but we had to go together. I was in the second grade--seven years old, and very insecure. I had a few random friends, but I mostly followed the crowd at this point in my life. When one girl had to use the ladies' room, of course, we all had to go. This female ritual didn't change throughout junior high school, high school, and even into college. However, my confidence level and attitude toward the habit did change. By the age of twelve, I found it absolutely ridiculous that we need to hold each other's hand to pee like I hold my six-year-old sister's hand. Needless to say, I no longer follow the crowd. Yet, in spite of my conformity-rebellion, the habit hasn't changed in others, and the stereotype persists. Many a man has mocked this strange tendency of women to flock in support of one another.

But the odds were evened when I noticed men have a flocking habit of their own. At the gym, like my solo flying, some men go to work out on their own. These individuals work quietly from machine to machine either trying to go unnoticed, or being too self-absorbed in their own muscles to notice anyone else. Yet, there is another kind of gym goer--the kind that travels in groups. They surround each other and take turns on one machine while the rest watch. After each set is completed, they rotate and draw attention with encouraging hoots and congratulatory "manly" slaps on their groupies’ rear-end. So, next time a group of women walk to the bathroom together for their gossip fest (while this remains something I disapprove of), just think--at least they don't have to slap each other's butts on the way.