Q&A: Mixed Sports Class
Mixed Sports Class
Question
Good week, Rabbi,
I wanted to ask whether it is permissible to participate in mixed sports and fitness classes where there are women present, some of whom are dressed immodestly, and sometimes the instructor is also a woman (in classes like yoga, for example).
Best regards,
Answer
It is hard for me to speak in terms of forbidden and permitted. In principle, there is a prohibition against looking at parts of a woman's body that should be covered, but nowadays you can see that even on the street. There, however, it is when she is moving (as in dancing), and then it seems there is more reason to refrain. And certainly if there is a female instructor whom you are looking at in a focused way.
Discussion on Answer
Yes. Exactly like reciting the Shema in the presence of nakedness, where some halakhic decisors wrote that nowadays there is no obligation to be stringent about this, because women in the street go without head coverings.
It seems to me that there is a slight difference between women without head coverings in relation to reciting the Shema, and exercising together with women in tight tank tops and with their stomachs exposed.
It also seems to me that there is a difference. So what? I wasn't comparing them, only bringing an example of that kind of consideration.
Why is it hard to speak in terms of forbidden and permitted?
If "in principle, there is a prohibition against looking at parts of a woman's body that should be covered," then does the fact that you can see that on the street make the basic prohibition permitted?