Going to the gym as a woman can sometimes be a dubious task. We get hit on, our form gets corrected, or sometimes we just get starred at. One TikToker thinks she’s hacked her way to peace and quiet.
One TikToker may have hacked her way to being left alone by strangers at the gym. Going by the screenname @blackmarketbagelsociety0, she revealed drawing a fake hickey on her neck with brown eyeshadow was a “life hack” for a peaceful workout.
“No man has tried to correct my form since smearing brown eyeshadow on my neck like hickeys,” she joked, adding “guess my form is just better this week” in the caption. The video has gained over 198,000 likes so far.
The comments section was aflame with praise for the move, with others sharing their experiences of being harassed at the gym.
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Others sympathised with her and lamented that this sort of move was even necessary: “I absolutely with all my heart hate that you had to go to that length to get men to not give unsolicited advice,” wrote one.
Another commented: “I’m impressed that you thought of this but sad that you had to if that makes sense.”
Women being harassed at the gym is a widely reported occurrence. According to one survey of 1,797 women, more than 70 percent reported having an uncomfortable experience or interaction at the gym.
Of that 71 percent, 75 percent reported being watched, while over half had received unsolicited advice on how to use machinery or exercise.
It’s why the popularity of women’s-only gyms has skyrocketed in the past several years.
“I’ve had multiple occasions where men have stared and then approached me, calling me beautiful and asking me out for drinks. These men were of all ages, but mostly older than 30 from my observation which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, as at the time I was no older than 19,” one of our readers told us in 2018.
Another told us: “At my gym, there was this one male PT who always used to ‘mansplain’. I would happily be working out and he’d come over and give his unsolicited advice about what else I could be doing. It made me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.”
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