ACTIVITY 6 - Gendered Spaces by Caitlin Butler

The only place that I found for evening clinics for working families is, The Center For Working Families. It is located on 1133 Broadway in New York City. They work on issues such as Healthcare, Green Jobs, and Taxes Reforms, etc. They also have and gather events for people to meet together and have meetings, when of course they are not taking care of their children, etc. There is also Daycare Clinics where parents can drop off their children off while they are at work. I found a couple. One is located on 410 West 40 Street and the other one I found is located on 420 West 42nd street. That one is called, Nylahs Miracles Family Daycare. I think it is really vital that families have places where they can go to and drop off their children while they are trying to work hard to pay the bills and provide food on the table for their children and themselves. And it is also vital for parents to go to an evening clinic after work where they can relax and have some time to themselves, without constantly having to be with their children 24/7.
The males places in m neighborhood which is Midtown, Manhattan I discovered was a cigar shop called Midtown Cigar located on 562 5th Ave. This is a place where all the men go to hang out and smoke cigars without having females there. This is their own space. This is good because they can bond and talk about male things only. It is important for men to have places such as these because they can escape their wives or girlfriends for a little while, while they relax and smoke with other males their age. It is good for them and keeps them out of trouble. Now as far as women spaces go, there’s this place called Rita’s in my neighborhood right on 38th street and 6th Avenue. It is a haircutting place where they cut hair, wax, do eyebrows, etc. Whenever I go in there, which is a lot, I have never seen a guy come in at all. It is only women that come in. I do not know why this is, but that is what I noticed and discovered. Maybe it’s because the name of the place that throws the outside men off. Maybe they think to themselves, okay this place is named Rita’s, which must mean only it is only for women. So maybe if the place changed it’s name, they would do better business. Now, for places where gay people claim the area for themselves I would have to say that would be in the Chelsea area. A particular place that I know where gay people go to meet one another a lot is at the Barracuda bar. This is located on 275 W. 22nd Street. This is where they have drag performances and gay people meeting one another there, mostly 20-30’s age range. I think the gay men pick these particular spots in Chelsea because they know that they are safe there and no one will really bother them there, since it is considered to be the gay area anyways. They feel like this is where they fit and belong. I think that’s very important. To go to a place where no one will bother or make fun of them. So, I did a search on Google of gay map of New York and I go this, http://www.nextmagazine.com/files/imagemisc/CLOSEDBARS.jpg This particular map lists of all the places where the gay people go for bars and clubs in New York City. It lists some bars in the Chelsea area, The Village, Midtown West, Midtown East, and Murray Hill area. I thought this was so cool. Everything is right there on one map. This was located in Next Magazine. This is good for someone who has no idea where the gay bars are. Now they can go to a new one each weekend and see which one is their favorite! I think this gay map is very helpful, colorful and friendly. It’s the perfect attraction.
The only place in my neighborhood that I could find where people are engaging in “private” activities in public is OTB, which is called off-track betting. It is located right near Penn station on 7th avenue. OTB is a popular gambling spot where mostly men go in to gamble their money away on horse races. This is private because they do it secretly, where they write down their bets on a piece of paper and then watch the horse race and pray that their horse wins the race, so that they can win the money afterwards. They are doing this here because it is inside where the men can be discrete about their gambling. Men will go right after work sometimes to gamble or even gamble during the day. You see a lot of poor looking men there gambling, trying to win big money. And then you also have middle class men go there as well. So, there are different groups of men that go there. But you will rarely see women there, except once in a while. I am sure there are other places where people engage in private activities in public, but one seemed the most obvious one to me, because some of the men are standing right outside the OTB building waiting around for the horse race to start. Most of them will be smoking and leaning against the building, talking to other gamblers there. The only reason I know all this is because I had a friend who’s dad used to do this like almost everyday. My friend would tell me how she did not like this because her dad was losing so much money. I guess that is the consequence sometimes to this sort of activity.Another place where people engage in private activity in public is this spa place right on 38 street between 5th and 6th Avenue.This place used to be a frozen yogurt place, but it changed to a spa place. Even though this place says spa outside, men who get massages inside, also get sexual things done to them like hand jobs, etc. I think is is gross and disgusting. The police department called the Vice Squad finally closed down this place. Thank god, because it is right near where I live and I personally don't want this type of hooker joint around my neighborhood.