Social media has recently led to a troubling trend in gym culture: the acceptance of videotaping and humiliating people in the gym.
These recordings, which frequently show innocent gym members being labeled as creeps, perverts, or losers, can harm not only the people who are the targets but also the gym culture as a whole.
They create an environment of hostility and fear, making it difficult for people to interact with one another and making newcomers feel unwelcome.
One recent incident in which a woman accused a man of making advances toward her in the gym is just one example of the negative consequences of a poisonous gym culture.
The woman claimed that the man had approached her in a weird manner as she was getting ready for a lift while she was filming in the gym and posting the video on social media.
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Yet after seeing the footage, it was obvious that the man had only asked about her use of a nearby machine.
He wasn’t even trying to get her attention; he was just being courteous.
Fortunately, there are individuals like bodybuilder Joey Swoll who are working to change negative gym culture.
In the past few years, Swoll has defended innocent gym members who have been caught on camera and shared online with the intention of embarrassing them and gaining likes and attention.
Swoll’s reaction to the event between the man and the woman is a brilliant example of how we should work to make the gym environment more inclusive and positive.
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The first thing Swoll said was that there was nothing wrong with the man.
He merely wanted to be courteous by asking if she was using the machine.
Swoll speculated that the man might have asked because some of her belongings were close to the gym’s equipment or because he was unfamiliar with the facility and felt disoriented and confused.
The assumption of good intentions is a crucial component of creating a friendly gym atmosphere.
People are more inclined to approach each other with openness and understanding than with suspicion and hostility when they assume that the other person has good intentions.
Swoll added that the woman’s choice to record the man and humiliate him was harsh.
She was not only breaching his privacy by calling him a gym creep and accusing him of hitting on her, but she was also promoting the myth that men are always the aggressors in these scenarios.
This may lead to the development of a bad stereotype that unfairly targets men and fuels sexism.
Joey Swoll had this to say about the video:
So I want to share my perspective on this video, this gentleman walks up, he is looking for a machine to use and he asks you : are you using the machine behind you? Why does he do this? Well maby some of your stuff is close to that machine, we carry these big bags, these water jugs, these belts, all this stuff. Maby some of it is close to the machine and he just want’s to be kind and polite. Also it looks like he might be new to the gym, he looks lost, confused, it looks like he might be a little intimidated. It’s even to the point where you make fun of him for not knowing the name of the machine. Let me ask you this: If he were to jump on a machine you were using and he didn’t ask you and you caught that on film, would you post that to make fun of him? Something to think about. You know it’s really sad that you took this interaction and you had to post it and you had to shame this man to make him out to be a gym creep and that he is trying to hit on you, just for attention and likes. The gym is a shared space, people are going to interact with you, this is harmless, this man asks you a question, you say no and he moves on. This video never needs to be posted. You need to do better, mind your own business.
Woman Accuses man of “Hitting on her” for asking her if she was using a machine (video)
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