A woman has gone viral on TikTok after she had to confront a man who she said was staring at her in the gym while she was working out.
The clip was posted by TikTok user @fit_with_heidi and she explained in the text: “This creepy old guy at the gym kept coming over and staring at me”.
In the video, a male in a green t-shirt was seen approaching the area Heidi was working out in and began to look in her direction. Heidi explained what occurred next in the text overlaying the footage.
Heidi said she was feeling uncomfortable, so told her husband about the man staring at her. Her husband came over to work out with her in an attempt to make the guy go away.
She alleged: “Even after he [her husband] came over he continued to stare. I decided to stop working out and stare back.”
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While at this point the man was off-camera, Heidi can be seen standing with her hands on her hips facing the direction of where the man was previously.
Heidi thought her hard stare had worked and went back to her workout. But, before she could finish her set, she got “fed up” and went to confront him.
The interaction took place off-camera, but she claimed: “I told him if he’s going to work out in this corner he needed to stop staring and making me uncomfortable.
“His response was, ‘I’m just looking around’. I then told him I record my workouts and I have him on film. He shut up real quick.”
The clip has been viewed 2.9 million times and received almost 1,500 comments.
A debate began to emerge with some TikTok users victim-blaming Heidi, while others defended her right to work out without being harassed and to share what she wants to on social media.
One person wrote: “Wear pants like that and expected something different??”
Another said: “I don’t want to be stared at, but I’ll post my workout on social media for all to see.”
Others came to her defence, writing: “She’s wearing normal workout clothes. Quit victim blaming.”
Someone else said: “It’s the fact you have him deadass staring at you on film and the boys in these comments are saying he’s just opening his eyes.”
Another supported Heidi, saying: “She’s choosing what parts of [her life] she wants for herself and which parts she shares.”
