A mother-of-one sparked a debate after claiming that she was fat-shamed at the gym for wearing a sports bra.
26-year-old Shelby Rodriguez from Alberta, Canada, is a mother-of-one who broke down into tears as she recalled an “embarrassing” and “humiliating” experience that took place at her local gym when she decided to give working out as a new mom a try.
According to Shelby, she was met with mockery at the reception where a female staff member told her she couldn’t enter the gym in her sports bra because it violated the dress code.
“So, I just went to the gym and the lady at the front desk said that they have a policy that you’re not allowed to wear sports bras to the gym, that you ‘can’t be showing your belly,’” the mom explained while sobbing in her video.
“She said, ‘It’s fine for this time but just so you know for next time.’ So I was like, OK that’s fine, and I went to do my workout.”
After just 15 minutes, however, Shelby was approached by a program coordinator who allegedly ordered her to leave the gym despite getting permission to enter from the receptionist.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she added.
After her story went viral, thousands of viewers voiced their support for the aspiring gymgoer.
“Time for a new gym, I’m so sorry that happened to you,” someone wrote.
“Oh honey do not be embarrassed. I would name and shame them. Don’t cry, just remember [you’re] beautiful and strong,” another encouraged.
Some viewers, however, said the gym was in the right for enforcing their dress code.
“Sounds like they have a strong dress code and that it has nothing to do with you personally. I don’t understand why you are so upset,” one person suggested.
“I get why you’re upset but most gyms have a dress code. Now if other girls were wearing sports bra[s] and they don’t kick them out that’s a huge problem,” another said.
After a wave of responses, Shelby once again spoke out to clarify the reasons why she was so upset with the gym’s approach to handling the matter.
“So there’s two things that were problematic in how this interaction went down and neither of them have to do with their policy regarding the dress code. The dress code is what it is, I can’t change that,” the mom-of-one added.
“One is how the lady at the front desk spoke to me. First of all I said, ‘Oh, we’re not allowed to wear a sports bra?’ and she said, ‘Well we can’t just have our bellies hanging out’ in a belittling tone. So that already is not OK.”
Shelby continued: “Problem two is that she told me that it was OK to go into the gym, that it was OK for this time but next time to wear something else.
“So I went into the gym with my wristband on that she gave me, saying that it was OK for me to go in this time, and then to have somebody come up to me after I’ve already been there for 15 minutes walking on the treadmill.”
After thanking her supporters for their kind words and advice, Shelby also hit back at her “fat-shamers” saying she believed this wouldn’t have happened to her if she was slimmer.
“Lastly, the only reason why I tagged fat-shaming is because I genuinely believe that if that was a smaller woman standing there at the counter that they wouldn’t have said that ‘we can’t have our bellies hanging out’ to her. I genuinely believe that wouldn’t have been said,” she concluded.
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