For some women, the gym can be a scary place due to the perceived pressure to look a certain way. While it is a fear shared by both men and women, women are far more likely to find themselves being subjected to body shaming from men in conventional gym settings.
Some women say they are choosing to stay away from the gym which could impact their physical and mental health. In Cardiff, women-only gyms are popping up to help women feel safe. Last year, one such gym opened in Grangetown and has been growing its member numbers ever since.
Founder Shauna Driscoll previously told WalesOnline: "There are not many safe spaces for women. I feel like especially with the women that come to our gym I think it's a common theme that they don't feel safe anywhere else.
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"They only really feel safe at home but then they lack that motivation and they don't have that support of other like-minded women in their home so our space is perfect." More on Shauna's gym can be found here.
A 2019 report by Sport England found that a fear of judgement is one of the reasons that can stop women attempting to get active. With 40% of women aged over 16 not active enough according to the report, the impact on people's health could be significant.
Recently, Guinness World Record holding strong woman, Sam Taylor, who lives in Aberdare, took to Twitter to condemn a sports coach for body shaming women. His post read: "If you're a size 14 or above STOP working out in just a sports bra. Absolutely sick to death of seeing protruding bellys wobbling about in the gym. Wear a top."
Responding on Twitter, Sam had some choice words to the trainer and urged women to be themselves in the gym.
She said: "Welcome to women in the gym in 2022, still objectified by Neanderthal man and what they think women should dress and look like... Ladies wear what the f*ck you want in the gym... Men (not all) just get on with your training and mind your business!!!"
When asked why the post vexed Sam so much, she told WalesOnline that the stigma and society's expectation of women's bodies is a huge issue.
"I don't think he cares, which is extremely sad, firstly he should know better, being a 'coach' and secondly the gym is for everyone," she said. "I think there is still a stigma towards women in the gym, and this is down to societies expectations as to what a woman should look like and behave.
"Women feel like they should already be 'skinny' before they can even step foot in a gym, and when they do take the step of entering the gym they feel like they are judged by more seasoned gym goers. This isn't always the case but this perception still exists."
Fitness influencer 25-year-old Kate Jones from Cardiff is no stranger to receiving online attention for her fitness ventures. However, she told WalesOnline that a situation in the gym has stuck with her throughout the years.
Having tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, Kate explained to WalesOnline that inappropriate messages from men online were common for her, but she never expected to hear them to the face.
“When I first started going to the gym I definitely felt inferior and intimidated by all the men, especially because the gym was male dominated," she said. "There was this one time at the first gym I went to when one man made me feel so uncomfortable. He kept staring at me from across the gym and when I was doing squats he came over to me and made some foul comments and was being really creepy.
“He was saying foul sexual things to my face and it got to the point where I became too embarrassed to go the gym. I definitely should have said something to a PT or a member of staff at the time, but for some reason it made me feel like I didn’t have a voice.
“After this happened I started going to the gym in big t-shirts and I didn’t wear shorts anymore because I didn’t want him to come over to me. Not all men are like that, obviously, but that’s one memory that’s stuck in my head still.”
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