Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only

[fromorbit]

A black woman Natalee Bennett who is setting up a woman only gym in SE London is being targeted because she has said the gym will not include men which legally she can do under the equality act. She had said 4 years ago "trans" males would be allowed to enter, but she has now changed her mind.

The Girls Spot operates as a female-only gym for biological women, tackling harassment, sexual assault & violence that women face inside the gym.

The tweet circling was made 4 years ago and I was in the very early stages of creating a concept.
https://x.com/nataleebfitness/status/1898805670339899593

She is now facing a massive swarm of misogynist and racist abuse against her including multiple death threats. The post about the gym being for women only now has 51 million views.

See some examples of the abuse:
x.com/babybeginner/status/1899060758664896691

I suspect the abuse will peak a lot of people and prove the need for the gym to exist. Interestingly I suspect a lot of it derives from the US.

If you are in South East London you can register your interest in the gym here
https://thegirlspotgym.com/

Article about the gym from a few weeks ago before the controversy broke:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14355163/women-female-gyms-fitness-influencers-gymtimidation-rise.html

The US site Newsweek has picked up on the drama:

https://www.newsweek.com/gym-trans-women-ban-girls-spot-2042133

Of course it ignores the entirely different legal background in the UK.

I've been following this; the amount of abuse she's getting is insane, and the fact that a significant amount of it is coming from women is baffling.

My gym used to have a women only corner and I miss it so much and was actually looking for female only gyms today. I have not been harassed in the gym, but find it intimidating to go into the lifting area because it’s mainly men.

The sad truth is women are often the first to put down other women. However that hasn't stopped the advance of women's rights.

I think the gym is just going to get a huge popularity boost. More people will peak!

I saw her gym post on IG (maybe a few weeks ago?) and did notice the comments from Men were quite ridiculous, ignoring single sex spaces laws here. I really hope she keeps going and doesn't buckle to pressure.

Anyone is free to set up their own gym and allow who they want in it.

I note the Newsweek article uses the phrase "trans-female"
Are they not satisfied with "trans woman" anymore?

Are they really women though. There's the rub.
(Probably literally).

I used to go to a gym that had a women's only area, but it was a joke. The creepiest of creepy men would loiter on the periphery. I'm not sure what they thought they were going to see. Then the gym started letting men work out in the women's area, if they were with a woman, "helping" her.

I hope she doesn’t capitulate. I’d love a women’s gym

Thereby proving why her gym is so needed
i hope she doesn’t bow under the social media pressure

The live and let live crowd not so keen on the "let live" part when they have to adhere to it.

I used to go to Women's only swimming sessions, then they became 'all types of women' sessions, then they got cancelled altogether, now I rarely go because I get fed up of splashy, kicky, overly aggressive men taking over the lanes.

If there was a Female Only gym near me, I'd sign up in a flash.

Women's only gyms have been a thing for many years.

What I would like to know if all of the influences will go, or whether they will continue the 'leery men' videos.

I can only hope that this acts as a "spotlight" for the subject, and it gives a chance for women like us who care to make known WHY we need women-only gyms.
I guess that in a perfect world we wouldn't need them, but it's no good men (& women) claiming that we should be aiming towards that perfect world by banning single-sex gyms.
LOTS OF THINGS REGARDING SAFETY AND MISOGYNY need to be sorted out before we can do that.
I for one am a passionate supporter of women-only services, not just for gyms, because I know only too well how we can suffer in shared spaces.
Neither would I be against men-only spaces, provided they weren't funded or operated with any greater support or powers than our spaces, but I doubt they would be wanted or needed anyway.

I feel so so sorry for her. All her hard work is getting torn apart from the 'be kind crew' who are absolutely anything but kind.

Neither would I be against men-only spaces, provided they weren't funded or operated with any greater support or powers than our spaces, but I doubt they would be wanted or needed anyway.

There have been attempts at starting male only gyms but they have suffered similar abuse to the abuse that the woman in the article has suffered.
And I would say that the trend of filming and accusing men of harassment where none has taken place shows that single sex gyms are very much needed and wanted.

I go to a woman's only gym and it's wonderful. Lots of ladies of all ages and sizes, supporting each other and not a leery man in sight. Nothing on earth would induce me to go back to a mixed sex gym. Single sex exercises facilities serve an important purpose. I hope Natalee Bennett can weather the storm.

Sadly I'm in the wrong part of London. If I lived closer, I would be joining like a shot! Bloody good for her, I hope she can tough it out

She says she supports trans women but it’s never enough for the mob is it?

I suspect that part of the issue is that she no longer does.

Also interesting that it’s a-ok to go after a young black female business owner. Intersectionality who?

I came to see if there was one about this.

I 100% agree with her stance, although I think it is a shame she didn’t market it as a single-sex space since the beginning. It does again highlight the turning of the tide though (which I suspect is what the TRAs are so angry about). She’s only 25 and the abuse she is getting is absolutely vile.
Best of luck to her.

Does anyone know where in SE London this will be?

I used to go to a women only gym near Highbury and Islington and it was so lovely.

It is so so annoying to have single-sex spaces removed because of the garbage that "Transwomen are women."

There's nothing illegal about a single-sex space. Transwomen can set up their own gyms!

If I lived in her area, I'd join in a flash. I'm too old to get unwelcome attention at my gym, but it'd be great to train in a women-only space.

Been watching this and there is the usual how are you going to police it ‘genital checks’ etc? It really is about crossing boundaries - setting a policy which people will intentionally try to break. I hope it all works out for her.

There are loads of men-only gyms in London. Bodyworks is one. Yelp even has a top 10.
How on earth do you know that women who complain of harassment are lying? What a strange thing to say.