#GymCreep, the movement that is sweeping TikTok and close to stalkers – Spain’s News

You may have heard of the #GymCreep trend making the rounds on TikTok, with thousands of women reporting the harassment they’ve experienced while trying to exercise. At the end of January, Nora Love posted a video on social media that changed her life. It was a short clip of an older man in street clothes sitting on a machine in the gym. “I kept wandering from machine to machine looking at the girls while they worked out,” he says in the voiceover. In the time that followed, she said that he did not do a single exercise. The 39-year-old mother of three posted it on TikTok with the hashtags #GymTok and #gymcreep, along with thousands of videos of others using those hashtags. A week later, thousands of people harassed her on the internet claiming that she was to blame for filming a man without his consent.

@iamrayysyymone This is honestly getting out of hand. #gymtok #fyp #GetCrackin #gymetiquette #greenscreenvideo #dobetterbebetter ♬ Mind Yo Business – Lakeyah

In another video, a girl shows how a man stares at her while doing squats to make her feel really uncomfortable.

@fit_with_heidi Don’t sit there and tell me you’re not doing something when I have proof. ???? #gymtok #fittok #influencer #viral #trending #tiktok #fitness #gym #gymgirl #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #gymcreeps ♬ Real As It Gets – Lil Baby

Sometimes, the cases are as extreme as the one denounced by a young man on social networks who assured that his girlfriend had been offered 10,000 euros for “certain favors at the Gym.” In his post, he said: “My girlfriend lifts weights and has an Instagram page where she posts videos and images of her lifting weights in the gym and offering fitness advice. Recently, a guy wrote to her on Instagram and offered her €10,000 if she would let him. put your face under your groin while deadlifting. He’s not expecting sex, he’s just asked that when she bends over to deadlift, he can lie under her and watch.”

Some users were disgusted with the offer, although many others found it very tempting. But in addition, these denunciations have generated an authentic debate in networks that divides users between those who see it as necessary to expose this type of incident and denounce any type of sexual harassment and those who They are radically against allowing recording in gyms and they consider that these women violate the privacy of many other athletes.

What exactly is the #GymCreep movement?

For months now, TikTok has become a kind of wall of complaints for many girls in which it is revealed that harassment and sexualization are still a reality today in public spaces such as the gym. But What exactly is the #GymCreep movement and why have women felt compelled to take action both online and in the offline world?

The trend is for women to share clips on TikTok of men they’ve caught on camera harassing them at the gym, or just videos of themselves generally talking about their experiences. The hashtag currently has nearly 70 million views.

What is the #GymCreep behavior? Many women have complained about staring, being followed, inappropriate comments, or something more serious. TikTok user @nicoleferrierfitnessFor example, has reported that a man once looked at his chest in the gym and asked: “Are they real?”

It goes beyond a simple trend. Natalee Barnett, 23, who has also shared her experiences, assured that this movement goes beyond a simple trend: “The hashtag is important. It shows that women are steeling themselves to speak publicly. We need to educate people about what goes on in gyms.”

Footage recently showed a woman being attacked at a Florida gym by a man who was eventually apprehended. “My advice would be to never give up,” she said on social media, showing the video of the man finally getting tired after she defended herself.

This bullying is not new

Women being harassed at the gym is not a new phenomenon. A 2021 study found that 76 percent of women feel uncomfortable exercising in public because of harassment, reported The Guardian. About 56.37% of women have been harassed while exercising, suggests the study by RunRepeat. This is 2.68 times more than men (21%). Women’s who have been harassed, 25.65% stopped using gyms altogether or changed centers.

But while the data revealed that 92 percent of cases go unreported, the rise of TikTok and people recording their workouts has made this trend a true “Me too” fitness. The hashtags #GymCreep and #GymWeirdo they have more than 100 million views, according to the BBC. and the hashtag #weirdguysatthegym has already amassed over 18.8 million views.

In fact, faced with an increasingly alarming situation, Barnett plans to open The Girls Spot gym to allow women to train safely and comfortably. After announcing it on networks, almost 7,000 women were interested and she received requests to bring her exclusive women’s gym to Los Angeles, Atlanta, South Africa or Dubai.