Over the years, gyms have become a very social place, but not in the traditional sense. More and more people make their gym-going experience public via social media, sharing their routines online for others to use and draw inspiration from.
When one gym attendee was questioned for recording herself, she proved that you don’t have to respond to hate with more hate, and dismissed the vitriolic tone used against her.
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If you’ve ever been to a gym, you know it’s impossible to go one session without seeing someone take a photo or video of themselves while there.
And good for them! They’re feeling confident and want to document the moment, be it for progress updates or just because they know they look good.
When one woman was recording a video of her routine, a stranger walked up to her and started being very demeaning. Luckily, it was all caught on camera.
The video was uploaded by Bethy Red, or @bethyred on TikTok, a plus-sized influencer with over 500k Instagram followers.
She posts workout videos on a couple of accounts, known mainly for her fitness content, so she’s grown perfectly comfortable with recording herself while at the gym.
Others seem surprised by it, as seen in one video that now has almost 7 million views and over 1 million likes.
The video begins with Bethy tying her hair up in front of the mirror.
A large white box is overlaid to protect the identity of the other woman in the video, who soon comes up behind her.
“Girl, what are you doing?” The stranger begins, sounded shocked and confused. “Are you taking videos of yourself?”
Bethy turns her head, simply responding, “Yeah?”
Again, the woman sounds stunned, “You are?”‘
Bethy confirms, “Yes.”
“Well, why?” The stranger continues, “For your own documentation or what?”
“For my blog,” Bethy says, remaining calm and polite.
The woman then laughs for a good moment.
Bethy decides to ignore her and turn back to the mirror to continue fixing her hair, noting that the other woman spends this minute of silence packing her things.
“Well, have fun,” the stranger says sarcastically in parting before beginning to walk out.
Bethy thanks her, the woman laughs once more, then leaves.
The comments were furious for Bethy, appalled at the behavior of this stranger.
“I will never understand how people like this exist. Just absolute bitterness in their souls. You handled this with grace,” read one.
Another explained how this was definitely pointed. “This is [a] misogynistic microaggression and she [knew] exactly whats she was doing. Her intent was to make sure you left feeling insecure.”
“She was projecting her jealousy so well, even in the tone.”
Though many comments were urging her to remove the censor and expose the woman, Bethy didn’t want to.
“PLEASE! Stop looking for the person!! […] The point of the video was that you can stop a bully with kindness! Don’t lower down to their level! Know who you are! You are more [than] just a body & how you look like!!”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
