Body shamed – This woman was asked to leave her gym because she was wearing a sports bra
The woman in today’s story is from Alberta, Canada. Shelby, a 26-year-old woman, described being forced to leave her gym because she was wearing a sports bra that exposed her stomach.
Shelby, while sitting in her car, made a TikTok video detailing the traumatic and upsetting situation:
“So I just went to the gym, and the lady at the front desk said they have a policy, you’re not allowed to wear sports bras to the gym, that you ‘can’t be showing your belly,’”
“She said it’s fine for this time but just so you know for next time,”
“So I was like, ‘OK, that’s fine,’ and I went to do my workout.”
Unfortunately, this didn’t stop the gym personnel from body shaming her and making her feel inferior to the other gym members.
Shelby went on to say:
“I’m 15 minutes in on the treadmill, and the program coordinator came up to me and asked me to leave.”
Shelby went on to elaborate:
“So there are two things that were problematic in how this interaction went down, and neither of them has to do with their policy regarding the dress code,”
“One is how the lady at the front desk spoke to me. First of all, I said, “Oh, we’re not allowed to wear a sports bra?”
“Well, we can’t just have our bellies hanging out” in a belittling tone. So that already is not OK.’”
“Problem two is that she told me that it was OK to go into the gym, that it was OK for this time but next time, to wear something else,”
“So I went into the gym with my wristband on that she gave me, saying that it was OK for me to go in this time, and then to have somebody come up to me after I’ve already been there for 15 minutes walking. On the treadmill…”
Shelby, teary-eyed and distressed, described why she believes she was body shamed:
“I genuinely believe that if that was a smaller woman standing there at the counter that they wouldn’t have said that “we can’t have our bellies hanging out” to her. I genuinely believe that wouldn’t have been said.”
This is unacceptably bad. Our bodies are unique, and we strive to become better versions of ourselves in the gym – but not if the gym is also working against us.
Shelby has our best wishes, and we hope she finds a gym with a better and nicer staff who understand what it’s like to be body shamed. Shelby, more power to you! Don’t let it get to you, you brave and strong woman!
