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Woman sparks TikTok debate after accusing a gym trainer of being a 'pervert'

Woman sparks TikTok debate after accusing a gym trainer of being a 'pervert'
'No breaks, no excuses when you are dating a gym trainer '
Indy

A woman has sparked a debate on TikTok after she accused a man in a gym of being a "pervert" for appearing to stare at her while she took a t-shirt off.

The controversy began after user @adrianaafariass shared a video of herself preparing to work out in a gym featuring the text and voice overlay saying: “Trainer gets caught on camera being a pervert & when I stand up for myself he threatens to call the police and revoke my membership."

In the original video, which has since been made private, the creator slows down footage to show that a man behind her was staring as she took off her t-shirt to prepare to work out in her sports bra.

At one point a caption reads: "Oh damn" while the footage is slowed down to show the man's reaction. The woman then sparks a confrontation with the man in question and asks him if he "needs something?"

The man appears bemused by the question and denies that he was looking at her but the woman tells him to “keep it pushin." He then tells her: "If you’re getting rude you can leave. Nobody was looking at you any type of way.”

The clip has since gone viral and has been reshared on numerous high-profile accounts on TikTok, many of whom feel that the man was not doing anything wrong.

Joey Swoll, a popular account that fights against toxic culture inside gyms, claimed that he talked to the man in the clip, who works as an overnight gym attendant and had done nothing wrong. Joey added: "Just because somebody glances at you briefly when taking your pump cover off doesn’t give you the right to post a video on social media labelling them as a pervert.”

@thejoeyswoll

There are perverts in gyms that harass women. He is NOT one of them. #MYOB


Fellow TikTok creator @realraywilliam shared this sentiment and felt that the situation was "handled poorly."

@realraywilliam

She must burn a lot of calories from jumping to conclusions 😅 (source vid is by @adrianaafariass)


The debate has since continued in the comments on TikTok with many discussing what they believed actually happened in the clip.

One person wrote: "If you look closely, he only turned around because the guy he was training was looking in that direction. She definitely was reaching with this. Not taking nothing away from women who do get harassed this was a bad reach."

A woman added: "Ok so I’m not the only female who thought she was overreacting? Sweet."

A third person said: "The dude on the bench clearly looks her direction, the dude standing looks like he's turning to look and see what the bench guy's looking at."

Although in the minority some people have tried to defend the woman in the video: "I love how all the men is this coming aren’t defending her because she’s a women working out in a men's gym. I agree with what she did because they do that all the time.”

The original TikTok creator has since gone private on the platform.

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