Woman gets on treadmill next to ‘bigger girl.’ She didn’t expect to offend her just by existing: ‘She thought I couldn’t hear her’
A woman got on the treadmill next to a plus-sized woman and thought nothing of it. She didn’t say anything and worked out on her own, but then she overheard the woman’s comments. That’s when she realized that the girl next to her had a problem with her being skinny.
TikToker Kai, a fitness enthusiast, detailed a situation where a person made a negative comment about her weight in the gym. Except that the person making the comment was skinny-shaming her.
In her video with over 2.7 million views, she described how the woman said that Kai was making her look bad just by being in the same area as her.
What happened at the gym?
Kai was having a fairly regular day at the gym when she decided to step up onto a treadmill. In her gym, there are only two treadmills in the entire space. For that reason, she ended up next to a woman who was already there, who just happened to be plus-sized.
Kai didn’t really care about this, putting her headphones down and starting her routine like normal. But, the woman thought Kai wouldn’t be able to hear a snarky comment she made once she got started.
Kai heard the person next to her say, “ Ugh. Of course, it’s someone like you.”
But Kai could definitely hear it. She ended up taking her headphones off immediately and asking her to clarify what she meant. That’s when the woman doubled down on her statement, saying, “ Of course, someone like you with a skinny little perfect little body came over here to be next to me on the treadmill and make me look bad.”
Internally, Kai was thinking that the woman had a lot of shame and self-loathing, which caused her to react that way toward her. But, she didn’t like how the woman was trying to belittle her for her body just because she happened to be around her.
Kai ended up replying, saying, “ I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve by speaking to me like that,” a de-escalation in some ways.
The conversation escalates
Despite Kai keeping the conversation relatively civil, the woman continued making belittling comments. The next was that Kai “clearly” hadn’t had children before, implying that her body would be more plus-sized if she ever did.
Kai decided to lie in that situation to get her to stop talking to her, saying that she actually was married and had two children waiting for her at home.
“ And when I tell you that snarky look wiped right off her face,” Kai explained. “I said, ‘Yeah, you can do it too.’ I said, ‘You can look just like me too if you tried hard enough.’”
She waited for about 30 seconds to see if the woman would respond to that final callout. She didn’t. So, Kai slipped on her headphones and continued her workout.
She ended up finishing her video by adding that she’s never experienced anything like that despite working out regularly and experiencing skinny shaming.
“ I’ve never had anybody like, say some [expletive] like that to my face or be bold enough to think they could get away with being nasty like that,” Kai said. “So. I don’t know. Have any of you experienced something like that? Because I thought that was really odd.”
Why do people feel comfortable skinny-shaming?
Many people feel more comfortable commenting on skinnier women because, by all accounts, it’s harder and less socially acceptable to be plus-sized. Therefore, it’s easier to make a quip or comment about someone who happens to be thin because they already fit within a certain ideal or status quo and don’t necessarily face the brunt of injury from body shaming on a day-to-day basis.
Thinner people are expected to take comments about how thin they are as both a compliment and an insult. It’s both an attack against the person for being “so skinny” and a callout of the fact that they often fit within society’s standards for weight. For that reason, many people think it’s socially acceptable to comment on them, as they can technically take quips as something “positive.”
For that reason, it’s best not to comment on anyone’s body.
Commenters add their conclusions about the situation
If there was one thing that commenters agreed on, it was that no one should feel judged when they go to the gym. Viewers considered it the golden rule of exercise: Treat others the way you want to be treated, and don’t make negative comments about other people directly in front of them.
“Y’all agreeing with the other girl clearly don’t know the first rule of the gym. Never judge or make fun of anyone working out in a gym,” one viewer said.
Other commenters shared that despite this, they’ve experienced similar or identical situations. “Skinny person here: I have 100% been through this SO MANY times and believe you. People are projecting in the comments,” another viewer shared.
Then, some commenters accused Kai of making up the story, to which she replied with an update video. In it, she said the situation was ridiculous but real. It wasn’t necessarily unusual, though, as by that point, she’d lived her entire life being skinny-shamed.
@h8.k8 this happened 5 hours ago and i’m still so confused ?? ? #storytime #gymgirlies #gymtok #karen #carvlog ♬ original sound – kai?
The Mary Sue reached out to Kai via email for more information.
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