The recent uptick in social media videos of women filming random men in gyms without their consent and accusing them of heinous behavior really pissed me off.
Whenever I go to the gym I’m there for one reason and one reason only: to get a hard workout in. I don’t go to socialize nor to check out women.
Now there have been a few rare scenarios where I have encountered and talked to attractive women in the gyms. However I sure as hell never sought that out nor interrupted someone’s workout. I usually don’t talk long myself because I got my own job to do. The conversation usually happened in passing scenarios. However nowadays I won’t talk to any women in the gym period just out of paranoia.
The problems I have with women in the gyms are the following:
- They often get in the way. For example some girls will hog a squat rack with doing an exercise that can be done almost anywhere else in gym. Also I can sometimes “work in” sets on a crowded machine if the other guy is similar in strength (less plate racking and reracking). But that is almost never an option if a woman is using a machine.
- Women can be distracting (now perilously so). As a man I am hardwired to notice a female body. That doesn’t mean I will stare for over a minute or say something creepy and stupid. But if she’s got a nice body and wearing yoga pants and sports bra then I will subconsciously glance an extra moment before my brain yells at me to get back to work and avoid looking like a creep. But there is that extra moment I will reflexively glance. Women unfortunately have strong intuition to pick up on that. However I do NOT apologize for glancing at a woman who dressed in manner that is obviously revealing. That doesn’t mean I will engage the thought or worse go say something to her. But nowadays guys risk being recorded for just doing for glancing for a split second.
Could a male only gym legally exist nowadays? Women only gyms still exist. But can men have this?
