With vaccines humming along at a steady clip across the US, the return of some semblance of life before the virus has begun to feel possible.
Many of our favorite crowd-based activities are, of course, still far away. But indoor activities like restaurants, movie theaters, friends' homes if you're all vaccinated, and even gyms have begun to reopen, albeit with mask requirements and reduced occupancy.
And when the gyms come back, that means one other part of life is right around the corner: creepy dudes ogling at girls working out.
A recent TikTok posted by a fitness influencer was proof that at least that upsetting aspect of life has already returned.
Her caption for the video primed viewers to expect the worst.
"was honestly gonna post this on here when it happened but it was a bit too sensitive at the time lol. genuinely curious what you guys think"
Posted by TikTok user @juliaapic, the video showed her taking a mirror selfie video as she demonstrated a leg workout. But it's what occurred behind her that unfortunately stole the show.
As she completed her leg lifts, a stranger could be seen pacing back and forth behind her. He then suddenly squatted down, pulled out his phone, and appeared to snap a photo of what most definitely would have been her butt.
After snapping the pic, the guy walked over to his friend and they both huddled over their phones.
Overlayed across the clip, she included
"Was filming a workout back in january when this happened. I was watching myself in the mirror so that's how I saw it."
"He denied that he took a picture which made me feel crazy for thinking it."
"So I'm curious, what do you think?"
Of the 17.6 million people who've seen the video, plenty of them certainly had some thoughts to share.
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Others noted that it was a clear illustration of a problem that impacts so many more woman.
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Eventually, she circled back to give viewers a longer explanation of what happened, and all that occurred following the incident.
"I honestly wasn't going to report him at first because I was scared at first, I didn't want to make a scene, and I wasn't 100% sure of what happened.
"But then I saw him eye up the girl on the machine next to me and I was like, 'yeah, if he did that to her and I didn't say anything, I would hate myself.' "
She then explained that, upon reporting him, the gym's staff confronted him, he stormed off, and they put a note on his account.
But the creepiness only continued when she went on to explain that she originally posted the video to Instagram, at which point the dude sent her a direct message.
She wisely chose to say nothing in return.
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