If you see a woman working out, leave her alone. She could be jogging, speed walking or squatting and this still stands: Leave her alone. She doesn’t need a complete stranger to randomly start jogging with her or for someone (who looks like they haven’t done a leg day since 2018) to tell her how to squat better. Whenever this topic is brought up, I find men either get it or they don’t. Some guys understand a workout is a workout and getting in the ‘zone’ is a real thing for everyone. Whilst other guys seem to think of it is ‘sweet’ that a stranger is admiring you. As someone who has been proposed to by a stranger (without the ring) in the gym I can assure you it is far from ‘sweet’. And I’m pretty sure once you’ve been looking at someone for longer than 3 seconds it’s no longer admiring — you’re just staring at someone, which is creepy.
The sad part is that, I know I am not alone when I talk about my experiences whilst working out. Research suggests 57% of women feel inappropriately looked at in the gym and 78% fear being harassed in the gym. This fear is not random, it comes from shared and individual experiences that can be irritating, but more importantly scary. I understand that when it comes to the gym, the number of males usually outweighs the number of females. It seems this ratio has given some men the confidence to behave how they currently do. And quite frankly, it is not okay. It is not okay to behave like you have never seen a woman squat, stretch or sweat. It is most definitely not okay to interrupt my workout to tell me ‘how beautiful I look’ when all you’ve seen is the back of my head for the last 30 minutes. I am not saying don’t talk to a woman if she is giving you clear signals that she would like to talk. Just don’t make someone feel uncomfortable in a space that they have to share with you. If you want to speak to a woman, how about when she’s finished her set and putting the weights away — not mid squat.
Globally, women are less likely to get enough exercise compared to their male counterparts.Of those women who do get enough exercise, they are faced with the possibility of being harassed every single time they workout in public, creating an unnecessary fear for some. A £40 membership for a man is still a £40 membership for a woman, if we are paying the same, why isn’t our sense of security the same? The issue doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of males who behave this way but also on the gyms, who don’t do anything to help.
Currently, our gyms are not doing enough to ensure women feel comfortable to come alone at any time. Women shouldn’t have to consider men in the gym as something that effects whether they go or not. We need more female only zones and more female only gyms, so that those who don’t feel comfortable can still have abs (if they want). And to the men that are running around the gym disturbing women, give it a rest…please.
