A woman has told of the horrifying moment she felt “invaded” in a Pilates class as a man secretly tried to film their workout.
Alisha Marie was ready for her regular Pilates class. It was a fairly small studio, with about a dozen reformers in the room, and it was filled only with women.
The space was meant to be a safe and comfortable place to train, but during a recent class, Alisha felt scared.
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“This guy broke into the classroom and watched.”
“So, we’re doing glute training,” Alisha began. “Handling the spoils.”
Alisha explained that these training moves “should not be sexualized.”
Her Pilates instructor made a beeline for the door while Alisha completed her reformer moves.
“I don’t know how I didn’t notice this,” she said in the video.
As the instructor was walking towards the front door of the Pilates class, everyone in the class turned around and saw a man standing near the door.
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“There are people who walk into the class and sit on the benches at the front and just watch,” she said.
To make matters worse, the man was “holding his cell phone and pretending to be talking to someone.”
“But it was obvious he was filming us,” she said.
Alisha and other girls in the class felt “violated” by the incident, and said the entire class felt “very uncomfortable” with the uninvited man’s presence.
The instructor “kicked” [the man] Please leave immediately,” and then locked the door and apologized to the class for the inconvenience.
“The instructors did a really great job,” complimented Alisha. She added: “Shout out to the fitness instructors who have to endure this on a daily basis.”
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“It is mandatory to lock the door after class begins.”
The video, which has been viewed more than 100,000 times, featured women sharing their own “creepy” experiences while working out.
“I’ve worked at several gyms and the number of creepers and complaints received against them was insane,” one woman wrote.
“I’ve been filmed and followed at the gym before! I had to hire staff,” said another. “It was scary and I really hated it. I felt completely disrespected and violated.”
“I had something similar happen to me in my volleyball class,” a third person wrote. “The man was outside the studio and was pushing his face into a student in the class. It felt very violating.”
The clip also sparked important conversations about keeping women’s spaces safe.
“I’m so sorry that this happened to you and your classmates!” read the comment. “At the studio I go to, if there’s no receptionist at the front desk, we lock the front door.”
“It is mandatory to always lock the door after class starts,” said another student. “There are people who sexualize everything.”
“I really appreciate that every class I go to has a lock on the door or a PIN code to get in.”
Originally published as “I was practicing Pilates when I saw something terrifying in the corner.”
