Inside the movement against 'gymtimidation': Women are heading to female-only gyms in their droves after being harassed and sexually assaulted by men

A growing number of women, cheered on by fitness influencers, are signing up for female-only gyms - to get away from unwanted attention by men. From being laughed or jeered at - to having lewd comments made about their appearance - six in 10 women have been harassed while working out in mixed gyms, a study by OriGym found. As a response to 'gymtimidation', women avoid certain areas of the gym that are perceived to be male-dominated such as the weights and the flexible floor space.

And, according to Girls Spot Gym, 79 per cent of women said they would transfer to an all-female gym where men are banned from the area entirely. These statistics - as well as unpleasant personal experiences - have been spurring on founders to set up safe spaces for women just wanting to exercise. Emily Williams, from London, had her first experience of sexual harassment in 2015 when she was just 24 years old. A man in the gym repeatedly made comments about her figure when she was working out.

'He came up behind me and said something to me about my bum. I didn't take to it very kindly. I was in the gym, I felt a bit alone, I was at the leg press and there weren't that many people around,' Emily said. 'I said to him "What's your problem? Why do you keep making comments?" and his response was "I'm a man, that's what we do."'. Emily Williams (pictured) first experienced sexual harassment in a gym when she was just 24 years old.

Sadly this is not the only instance of sexual harassment at the gym that Emily has faced. 'I recently left a gym because I was filmed,' she said. 'I had someone taking pictures of me. 'On one occasion, the guy was on FaceTime and I was training and he was turning the phone around to film me.'. Fed up, personal trainer Emily started an Instagram page called Gym Safe Ladies dedicated to calling out sexual harassment and sexism happening in gyms across the nation.

In 2022, she met with London mayor Sadiq Khan and various commercial gyms such as The Gym Group as part of their Lift Me Lift campaign. Also raising awareness about gym-based sexual harassment on social media is fitness influencer Natalee Barnett, 25, who has more than 2.5million followers combined on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. The young mother said that she has been filmed in the gym before without her consent, inspiring her to start her own gym.

Fed up, Emily started an Instagram page called Gym Safe Ladies dedicated to calling out sexual harassment and sexism happening in gyms across the nation. Natalee told FEMAIL that she has experienced 'the full scale' of unwanted attention at the gym. 'The staring, mansplaining, being touched, having my space invaded and feeling intimidated - women deserve to be in the gym as much as any other person,' she said.

'I also experienced sexual assault inside the gym when I was 18 years old.'. Natalee previously told MailOnline that she headed for her workout at around 9pm - her regular time - and while the gym wasn't busy, there were familiar faces around including a male gym-goer she had 'known for a while'. 'As I laid back on one of the benches, he touched me really inappropriately. I don't want to give exact details as it's too upsetting,' she said.

'It was so rapid that at first, I questioned whether it had happened at all. I couldn't believe a man would do such a thing to a woman in a public space. 'Experiencing sexual assault when I first joined is absolutely harrowing. I should have never have had to go through that.'. As a result of her experience, Natalee decided she wanted to join a women-only fitness club but found they were too small or had inadequate equipment for her training needs.

Fitness influencer Natalee Barnett (pictured) has more than 2.5million followers combined on YouTube , Instagram and TikTok. Natalee told FEMAIL she has experienced 'the whole scale of sexual harassment' while working out in mixed gyms. 'Women-only spaces inside of gyms are very malnourished,' she said. 'They consistently follow the narrative that women can't lift heavy and that women don't want to lift, they're just there to lose weight.

'I went to one and I think the highest dumbbell was 20kg and they had a lot of cardio machines. It reinforces the belief that women only work out to lose weight. 'This means in order to be away from harassment and intimidation, I now have to limit my own capabilities which I think is wholly absurd.'. With the lack of suitable women-only gyms, Natalee felt 'forced to stay' at the gym where the assault took place as 'there was nowhere for me to go'.

But she soon realised there was a 'gap in the market' and decided to open her own ladies-only gym with a variety of classes and equipment galore that men would be banned from using. 'It's not an agenda against men,' she clarified. 'It's about the safety and protection of women. 'I've thought about whether there is another way to tackle gym harassment without segregation and there isn't. That's why I say you have to take men out of the equation, that's the real solution here.'.