For those who are starting a fitness journey, gyms can often seem like intimidating places. Because while most of us understand why it’s cruel to shame people’s bodies or distasteful to gatekeep spaces for self-improvement, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still people who do those things.
But as we can see in a lot of women’s reports, gyms can also present an additional hazard for them in the form of men hitting on them or engaging in even worse behavior . Controversial as they may be, this common experience goes a long way to explain why women-only gyms exist.
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But while these stories of women dealing with annoying fellow patrons are often clear-cut enough that there isn’t much room for argument, the interactions captured in one video seem to be the subject of much more debate.
While she was stretching on the ground and recording a YouTube video, TikTok user @avreyovard was approached by a man whom she estimated was in his 40s.
At first, it seems like he’s just a passer-by who’s curious about the fact that she’s filming herself.
However, he soon returns after entering the physical therapy facility that’s also included in the gym.
While she’s looking at her phone with her headphones in, he motions for her to take them out and asks for her name.
After this, he starts talking to her about something inaudible before mentioning why he’s in physical therapy. And as we can see from her caption, this wasn’t a conversation she was particularly interested in.
But it seems that it was all a preamble for him to say, “When I’m able to get out, you might not be here. I wanted to get your number for…dinner.”
Not interested in what he’s proposing, she replies, “Oh I’m sorry, I’m too young for you.”
And without missing a beat, the man responds to this with, “Well, I’m too rich” before walking away and leaving her with an awkward laugh that gives way to this shocked expression.
And while you can see the video for yourself to get your own read on the context, it’s these final two lines that have prompted most of the debate about this video.
According to Bored Panda , some comments saw the man’s response an attempt to soothe his “fragile” ego.
As one person put it, “The way he gets immediately defensive when you were perfectly reasonable…ok fully grown man child.”
However, others didn’t agree that what she said was as reasonable as they thought, saying, “Telling him ‘I’m too young for you’ is insulting the man. She could have just said not interested or something without taking a personal jab at someone who’s said nothing rude to her.”
However, another person saw nothing wrong with the way she rejected him because the entire interaction was unsolicited.
In this commenter’s words, “It’s so interesting that people think she was rude. She doesn’t owe him any niceties. She could have easily said Eww gross. And I’d find that perfectly acceptable as she owes him nothing. No nice let down, nothing. He interrupted her, she was direct.”
From the sounds of it, this person agreed wholeheartedly with the woman’s caption: “Leave women alone!!!!”
Now that you’ve seen the clip for yourself, what do you think?
