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Date Posted: 12:38:14 05/07/04 Fri
Author: ck
Subject: Re: This makes me sad..
In reply to: Kiki 's message, "This makes me sad.." on 14:57:40 05/04/04 Tue

>A friend of mine emailed me this article from San
>Francisco Chronicle the other day. I was wondering
>how other people felt about this? I was a member, I
>found there to be great benefits from attending
>Curves, but I cancelled my membership due to this.
>
>What's wrong with Curves?
>Ruth Rosen
>Thursday, April 29, 2004
>©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
>
>
>URL:
>sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/
>2004/04/29/EDGAB6C1IO1.DTL
>
>
>Clarification: A Ruth Rosen column Thursday -- "What's
>wrong with curves?" -- stated that three "pregnancy
>crisis centers" that received $5 million from Curves
>owner Gary Heavin were "supported by Operation Save
>America." The column was referring to Operation Save
>America's verbal endorsement of the centers, not
>financial support.
>
>
>FOR WOMEN of a certain age, Curves -- a
>physical-fitness chain -- seems like a blessing. No
>men, no mirrors. No expensive membership fees, no
>complicated dance-step routines.
>
>Just walk in and change into your frumpiest sweats.
>Get a 30-minute complete workout on a circuit of
>hydraulic machines, arranged in a sociable circle so
>you meet other women. Nothing to remember: A
>pre-recorded voice tells you when to switch machines
>and do aerobics on rubberized mats. Get dressed and
>you're out the door.
>
>What's not to like? Curves is inviting, rather than
>intimidating. Unlike many gyms, Curves fitness outlets
>don't feel like "meat markets" or look like
>nightclubs. By offering easy and accessible exercise,
>Curves helps some 2 million overweight and overworked
>middle-age women lose weight, get fit and improve
>their health -- just what public-health officials
>hector us to do.
>
>Not surprisingly, Curves is wildly successful.
>According to Entrepreneur Magazine, it now boasts
>7,500 outlets and is the fastest-growing franchise in
>the world.
>
>There are 68 outlets within 25 miles of downtown San
>Francisco. Most of them are tucked away in nondescript
>strip malls or office buildings, which keeps monthly
>membership fees as low as $29. Such modest locations
>also enhance the profits of franchise owners, who pay
>$29,000 to open a Curves outlet, plus a monthly
>royalty fee of $395. (For many women, it's a
>relatively inexpensive and convenient way to start a
>small business.)
>
>So is there any reason why you shouldn't rush out to
>join this Wal-Mart of gyms that's helping so many
>women improve their health?
>
>Well, yes. The owner, Gary Heavin, has given at least
>$5 million of his profits to some of the most militant
>anti-abortion groups in the country.
>
>Heavin, like his next-door neighbor George W. Bush in
>Crawford, Texas, found redemption as a grown man.
>Before founding Curves in 1992, he went bankrupt, lost
>custody of his two children and served a six-month
>jail sentence for not paying child support. In prison,
>he became a born-again Christian.
>
>In 2003, Heavin and his wife gave away $10 million --
>10 percent of their company's gross revenues -- to
>charities. At least half of that money went to three
>Texas organizations to fund "pregnancy crisis centers"
>supported by Operation Save America -- the same
>organization that blamed the Sept. 11 terrorist
>attacks on God's retribution for abortions and whose
>purpose, as described on its Web site, is to
>"unashamedly take up the cause of pre-born children in
>the name of Jesus Christ."
>
>By offering the same health services provided by
>Planned Parenthood -- except abortion -- anti-abortion
>activists hope that privately financed alternatives
>will force the closure of any clinics that don't
>insist "you must carry your child to term."
>
>Heavin, as he explained in a recent Christianity Today
>article, is proud to support these organizations. But
>at a few Bay Area outlets, both members and owners
>seemed surprised to learn this.
>
>Leslie Warren, an Oakland hair stylist, quit a Curves
>outlet Wednesday because of Heavin's support of
>anti-abortion activism. In response, the franchise
>owner told Warren that Heavin does not use profits
>from Curves to support such organizations.
>
>Some members, of course, share Heavin's religious
>beliefs. At 5-foot-3 inches, Brenda Hadley, a student
>adviser at Texas A & M University, had ballooned to
>165 pounds. "If it wasn't for God sticking with me and
>the special relationships I've made with the Curves
>ladies," she told Christianity Today, "I'd still be
>sitting in my apartment watching movies and stuffing
>myself with Big Macs." Hadley said she lost 32 pounds
>at Curves.
>
>Annie Lamott, a Bay Area writer whose last book was
>titled "Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith,"
>had a different response to Heavin's anti- abortion
>contributions. "I like Curves a lot but I love women's
>rights more. I hate the idea that this right-wing
>fundamentalist is making a profit on these places that
>make it easy for women to exercise. I don't see how,
>in good conscience, someone like me, a staunch
>feminist and progressive, can in any way contribute to
>any organization that undermines women's rights."
>
>Here, then, is a feminist dilemma. Curves targets Baby
>Boomer women -- many of whom consider themselves
>feminists -- precisely because it offers a refuge from
>gyms that cater to musclemen or singles. Yet Heavin's
>contributions to anti-abortion groups goes against
>many women's deeply held belief that they should have
>the right to make their own reproductive choices.
>
>What to do? Your decision. There are alternatives,
>including just plain walking.


I guess it makes me sad to think you would rather have a man who supports and donates money to further allow the butchering of the innocent who didn't ask for this.....

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