Roughly 5 years ago I wrote an article for this very platform discussing the challenges and frustrations of going to the gym as a woman. This was after a string of harassment incidents I had experienced in my local gym. After sharing the piece on my Instagram story I was inundated with messages from women and girls who had experienced the same. The solidarity was comforting, but the stories shared with me were truly devastating. Since then, it’s safe to say a lot has happened in the online fitness community. Most notably, the rise of run clubs and the ‘pilates princess’ aesthetic. 

Before discussing the ‘pilates princess’ epidemic (not a criticism of pilates, but what the movement is an indicator for), let’s revisit the summer of 2020. Gyms had just reopened in the UK after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and like many I was excited to return. However, when returning to the gym I realised that being locked inside for several months had caused some men to lose all sense of decorum. Shortly after this, in 2021, a fitness influencer Natalee Barnett (nataleebfitness) also spoke about her own experiences in the gym and her desire to open a women’s only gym. Her posts expressing her plan to open the gym were well received by many women who wanted a space to exercise free from the male gaze and harassment. The Girls Spot playfully nicknamed the g-spot) has come to fruition funded by her own personal savings, a £20k donation from Gymshark and crowdfunding. With the gym expected to open this year, excited soon-to-be members asked whether this is a space that would welcome trans-women. When asked in 

2021, the answer was a resounding yes. Now the opening is imminent Barnett has changed her tune stating the gym will be a “single sex space for biological women”.

In the video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on March 9th, Barnett references the original tweet saying that in the time since she has decided to focus on creating a safe space for women. She then goes on to say the gym will offer self-defense classes, workshops surrounding working out on your menstrual cycle and PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and these affect biological women. This is disappointing for many reasons. Trans people experience violence at rates that actually exceed that of cis people. Moreover, there will undoubtedly be some who donated money towards the space's creation having been misled into thinking they had a stake in its creation. It has not been made clear how they can get their donations back. But more than that, this move is indicative of a wider societal problem of womanhood and femininity excluding trans-woman. Since 2021 there has been a further shift towards right-wing ideologies in the West. Many of these sentiments have been repackaged into various trends and aesthetics we see on social media platforms, most notably on TikTok. ‘Quiet luxury’, ‘old money’, ‘divine feminine energy’, ‘clean girl make-up’, the general desire to be ‘soft’ and ‘demure’ and the rise of modesty culture all point to conservatism. The ‘trad wives’ movement popularised by Nara Smith is significantly less subtle. More than fleeting hashtags, these trends are a sign of the times. They represent the normalisation of ‘traditional values’ which are inherently racist, misogynistic and transphobic. 

Social media trends and a TERF gym may seem unrelated but these things go hand-in-hand. I can’t say that Natalee is a transphobe, I don’t know her, but I can say that this move isn’t surprising given the current climate on social media. Days before posting the video (which has sparked much debate on TikTok) she posted clips from the interior of the gym and it may be the pinkest place I’ve ever seen, think Barbie's dreamhouse with weights. The influencer described it as ‘so girly pop’ another term that has become popularised in recent years. All of these terms and aesthetics ‘girly pop’, ‘clean girl’ and ‘pilates princess’ represent a very rigid structure of femininity and what it means to be a woman. Petite, soft, seen and not heard, passive and requiring protection. But what is it we need to be protected from? In my opinion it isn’t trans women. As a Black woman I feel more threatened by a society that further normalises marginalisation. Especially if society’s duty to “protect” me is on the condition I mould myself to its expectations. An increase in transphobia will invariably cause harm for cis-women. In the sport and fitness space there have been many examples of biological women who’s womanhood has been questioned because of how they present. Caster Semenya, Barbra Banda and Imane Khelif have all had their gender questioned because they don’t perform femininity in a ‘girly pop’ way, despite all being born female. These women, and many others like them, have been demonised and had their success undermined because it has become more socially acceptable police gender. In addition to transphobia, the masculinisation of Black and brown women is also at fault for the vitriol these women have experienced. 

So where do we draw the line between social media trends, ideological indoctrination and the personal choice to create a single sex space? There isn’t a line to be drawn. These things inform each other. Social media trends reflect social attitudes. Businesses use both to determine which stances are most palatable to maximise sales (or gym-membership), without care for who is harmed by these beliefs. Endless culture wars and political scapegoating around transgender people makes excluding them effective PR and favourable to a consumer base that is increasingly bigoted, if election trends are anything to go by. Reading through the comments of Natalee’s ‘explantation’ video posted on TikTok (March 11th) shows just how many cis-women feel comfortable expressing their joy at the exclusion of trans-women. Statements such as ‘well done for protecting real women’ with thousands of likes truly highlight where we now find ourselves. Moving forward, however, those who want to push back against these beliefs must continue to advocate for the marginalised and interrogate the language used on social media. Further, questioning “what it truly means to be feminine” hashtags on TikTok. Many terfs have suggested that those who oppose Barnett’s stance should make their own gym. Ironically they are right in the sense that this situation points to the importance of genuine safe spaces and community. Moreover, it highlights the value in giving our money to people, organisations and brands whose values align with ours (as best we can when people's stances are so transient) At the very least, let's endeavour to offer society more than ‘resting in our divine feminine energy’. 

Article by Josephine Ewoma