Nothing heralds the arrival of summer like bees buzzing, clematis blooming and conversations involving phrases like ‘bikini body,’ ‘gym rat,’ ‘skinny legend,’ and other eye-wateringly cringe terms to describe the desire to get in shape.
Aside from the inevitable surge of well-meaners picking up dumbbells and tackling treadmills in January, summer is the peak time when many begin exercising again.
But increasingly, the gym has become a battlefield in the war of the sexes, where hostilities and misunderstandings have flourished.
Are Men Misunderstood?
Five months ago, I wrote an article about why fewer women are taking up exercise. The main culprit seemed to be the fact that men are making them feel uncomfortable during workouts, whether the cause is mansplaining or jeering. This behaviour has been caught on camera in thousands of videos. But how we judge these encounters is based on perspective. Did the bloke who told a girl she was lifting weights incorrectly do so condescendingly, or was he genuinely trying to be helpful? Was the man who dumped his equipment behind a female gym instructor trying to put her off, or was it an innocent mistake? And did the guy who watched a woman whilst she was squatting ogle her lecherously, or glance at her indifferently?
It is practically impossible to tell. But many gents have taken to social media to express their outrage that the men in these scenarios are being accused of inappropriate conduct in the first place. Some rightly point out how an innocent man’s behaviour may have been mistakenly perceived as menacing by a woman. Others, like influencers ARAKO TV and Joey Swoll, go on the attack. Their hugely popular videos, which have been accused of peddling misogynistic views, often involve ‘destroy[ing] a toxic gym girl’ or bullying a lady who they claim ‘dresses inappropriately to get attention at the gym.’
These videos are accusatory and suggest that women are not victims of harassment, but are actively seeking it out. Their stance is to point out that women are the ones who are in the wrong. And it’s not just men who think this way. Certain women, including columnist Zoe Strimpel, also believe that women are to blame for the behaviour they endure at the gym:
‘If you can’t take the leers, don’t dress the part,’ she says. ‘[Don’t] be dressed to kill, in tiny crop-tops.’
She also references a study published by the Public Library of Science, which surveyed over 270 female British gym-goers. It found that some respondents spent up to 40 minutes applying make-up before workouts. Perhaps, Strimpel argues, this proves that some women are far more preoccupied with preening themselves and trying to appear attractive than actually exercising.
Women Face a Genuine Threat
But these figures do not tell the whole story. Yes, some women are so preoccupied with their looks that they will spend a ludicrous amount of time getting ready for the gym just to become a sweaty, frazzled mess twenty minutes later. Yes, some women are so self-centred that they believe everyone’s eyes are on them, even when they are not. And yes, some women are so desperate for clout that they will purposefully antagonise men at the gym for views online. But the majority of women who work out at the gym are there for that reason and that reason alone: to work out. And many of them have to battle unsolicited advice or sexual advances more times than they care to name.
‘Just because you’re in shorts and a sports bra doesn’t mean you’re “asking for it,” ’ argues one Reddit user. Adding: ‘That’s just standard gym attire for women. Men would literally stare at you even if you had sweats and a baggy T-shirt on.’
To blame men’s bad behaviour on the clothes ladies wear is indefensible. And to claim that every woman who calls out inappropriate conduct is just ‘doing it for views’ is insulting. It takes a lot of courage to highlight misogyny in a male-dominated environment like the gym. Downplaying the seriousness of harassment by dismissing the victim as ‘attention-seeking’ reduces the likelihood of that woman ever attempting to speak up again, for fear that she will only be met with a similar response. As a consequence, this bad behaviour will continue to happen and go unchecked. And that’s a really scary thought when you realise that 60 per cent of women have been harassed at least once by a man at the gym.
The Rise of Women-Only Gyms
The perceived danger that men pose to female gym-goers has forced many women to alter their behaviour to avoid unwanted male attention, ‘like only going to the gym at particular times, wearing loose clothes or avoiding the weights area completely,’ says author Eleanor Morgan. A 2024 report adds weight to this, revealing that mixed gender gyms have simply become ‘off limits’ to women.
Hence, the rise of women-only gyms. According to PerfectGym, the number of searches for women-only gyms has risen by 69 per cent in 2025, and on TikTok, the hashtag now has 18 million views. If women are ‘overreacting’ about the threat men pose to them at the gym, then why has interest in workout spaces exclusively for females consistently risen year on year? Perhaps, it’s because their main aim is not to provoke men, despite what Joey Swoll or ARAKO TV would have you believe. Instead, women want a judgement-free space where they can prioritise their fitness without fear — something which traditional gyms clearly cannot guarantee.
Harassment at the gym is a genuine concern for women, and they have every right to feel uncomfortable and call out inappropriate behaviour. At the same time, we should sympathise with men. The aggressive alpha behaviour of a few bad apples makes women more suspicious of the opposite sex. But unless men start listening to women’s concerns and taking them seriously, the gulf of misunderstanding between the two genders will only keep widening.
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