Pool bans women from swimming during their periods
A high-end gym has been accused of misogyny for telling female members not to use its swimming pool during their periods.
The expensive fitness centre in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi informed members of the rule on a notice in the women's changing rooms:
Member Sophie Tabatadze posted an image of the notice on Facebook, accusing Vake Swimming Pool And Fitness Club of misogyny.
"Do you even realise how offensive this is?" she asked them.
Women generally use tampons or menstrual cups to swim during their periods and from a hygiene perspective, swimming alongside women who are on their period is safe.
However, the club denied the rule is sexist. It said it is "preventative" and claimed that the water had been "contaminated" by a female member on her period.
It was "protecting" its members, it said in a public response to Tabatadze.
The cleanliness of swimming pools has come under scrutiny in a number of studies.
In 2010, the US Centers for Disease Control found that the average swimmer contributes at least 0.14 grams of faecal matter to pool water
One in five US swimmers admitted to peeing in swimming pools in a 2014 survey conducted by the Water Quality and Health Council
Tabatadze said that menstruation has "nothing to do with hygiene."
"When you go into a public swimming pool you should accept certain level of germs. And since when are men exemplary clean creatures?" she wrote.