Shane Gillis's recent Saturday Night Live monologue included a "joke" about women's gym attire, prompting criticism that such comments are both puerile and pernicious. The comedian said: "I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dressed like whores now."
A morning in the weight room
In response, a columnist spent the morning observing gym wear: eight women in leggings and T-shirts, six in T-shirts and trackie bottoms, five in shorts and vest tops, and one in a crop top and leggings. The writer noted this is hardly provocative, questioning what level of undress might be considered "whorish."
There is a long history of women facing barriers to exercising in appropriate clothing. The #gymcreep hashtag documents men staring, propositioning, and commenting. Fitness writer Mikala Jamison shared a message from a man she considered a friend, saying a gym had "whores everywhere."
Impact on women's sport participation
Such comments are more than offensive; they alienate women from sport. Research by England hockey player Tess Howard found many girls were put off sport due to clothing requirements and concerns about sexualisation. Women in Sport found more than 1 million girls in the UK "fall out of love" with sport in their teenage years. Women are less active than men, with 38% still not doing 150 minutes of exercise a week.
The columnist, aged 51, notes her own positive gym experience, including wearing a crop top and feeling proud of her progress. However, she acknowledges younger women face different challenges. Sport England research published this summer found 19% of women aged 16-34 felt uncomfortable or unsafe in fitness centres due to the possibility of harassment; 86% reported experiencing physical, verbal, non-verbal, or online harassment in the last three years.
The right to enjoy movement
This kind of comment feeds fear and emboldens aggressors, making it not just unfunny but depressing and enraging. Everyone should be able to enjoy moving their body unmolested, and also enjoy wearing short shorts, second-skin leggings, and spaghetti-strap tops—to look in a gym mirror and find themselves, yeah, a bit fit.
