A woman who had reportedly been groped at her gym in a distressingly regular occurrence finally managed to catch it on film.
The 22-year-old fitness enthusiast who calls herself Fern was recording herself doing squats when a man sexually assaulted her from behind, touching her buttocks.
Another person passed through the camera's view surrounding the incident but did nothing to help.
Fern shared the video on her TikTok account and it quickly went viral.
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Image credits: fernvillaceran
In a series of follow-up videos, Fern explained that she's been harassed before, which allegedly includes the same man at her gym. After receiving accusations that the whole thing was staged, Fern tearfully clarified that the man is neither her husband nor her boyfriend and that he's been seen in some of her videos before because he actually worked there.
"I already talked to the owner about this," Fern said, adding that it "wasn't enough."
There were, however, a number of commenters that fiercely supported the TikToker, defending her from the people who claim the video was staged and pointing out that similar things are commonly experienced by women at gyms all over the world.
"So what if it's staged?" one TikTok user asked. "This happens in real life, filmed or not, now go cry about it boys."
"Don’t ask why she’s filming while working out or y she didn’t respond or if she didn't know how to,” another one added. "NO MATTER THE SCENARIO KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF."
Some people were saying it's staged
But others defended her
There is a range of behaviors that constitutes harassment. According to Dr. Bianca Fileborn of the University of Melbourne, "staring at someone, making sexualized comments, trying to engage someone in unwanted conversation or touching someone without their consent" definitely belong to it.
Fileborn told The Guardian that it's common for women to modify their behavior to avoid their harassers: they will only go to the gym at certain times or avoid areas such as the weights section, which is typically male-dominated.
We need to do better, guys.
Later, the woman uploaded a few follow-up videos to paint a more detailed picture of the situation
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Image credits: fernvillaceran
Eventually, the man was fired
Image credits: fernvillaceran