When a woman goes to the gym, she expects not to be harassed by any man there. This is what gyms promise, but a gym in Iowa didn’t keep this promise. At a fitness studio in Coralville, Iowa named HOTWORX, a woman was in one of their saunas. Her session is supposed to be over at 7:30, but a man stood by the door and started harassing her. He claimed that her session was over despite her stating that it was until 7:30. He then said that his session is at that time, so it is a “common courtesy” that she leave. Mind you, it is still 7:23 when he starts harassing her. The woman wasn’t even planning to sit until the end. She told him to wait until 7:25, and she would leave, but he refused.
Instead of being a decent man and waiting outside, the creepy Iowa guy enters the sauna, saying that he won’t wait. He then tells the woman to scoot over so he can set up. Simply disgusting. “That’s how it works then,” he tells her as he walks past her to set up. No gym should allow this kind of behavior, but HOTWorx did just that. They posted a video on their HOTWORX Coralville TikTok account where they shaded the woman. They also defended the man for how he acted by saying that they love all their members and that members should leave so others can come in. Well, why would you make them book a session if you plan to kick them out before it ends?
The Iowa fitness studio kept messing things up for themselves. In an update shared by the innocent woman, she shared that they only contacted her back after her video went viral. They sent her an apology email, but the owner ruined this nice gesture (which is the bare minimum). When the woman went to talk to the owner in person, who is also a female mind you, the owner didn’t sympathize with the girl or take her side. She then threatened her, saying that she either take the video down or they would revoke her membership. That’s insane. The member decided to cancel the membership on her own. What they did is a good way to ruin a business, especially since their Yelp reviews are now at 1.4 stars. Yikes.
The woman also made sure to write that the guy was yelling at her as she said, “For the record: I wasn’t stopping this man from entering the sauna—he was demanding that I leave so he could come in. I didn’t get up right away because he was standing outside yelling at me, and I was scared.” No woman should feel like this in a space where she is supposed to be safe.
People Reacting to the Creepy Iowa Man
People, especially women, weren’t delighted with how the creepy Iowa guy treated the woman. It’s easy to imagine yourself being in the same unfortunate situation. One woman commented on how the guy was behaving as she said, “He’s very hysterical.” That’s true. Another woman talked about how crazy it was that HOTWORX decided to defend the guy in the post that they now deleted. “Hotworx defending him on their most recent post is messed up‼,” she wrote. One person also wondered why the girl would have to go out at 7:25, as they said, “He has it at 7:30 and its 7:23? Why do you even have to get out until 7:25?” This made someone else clarify, “Yeah the last 5 minutes are for you to cool off and clean up so you can be done at exactly 7:30.”
Others kept defending the Iowa woman after what she went through. Some also told her that she was right for standing her ground. “I wouldn’t move until 7:30,” one person wrote. Another person also said, “Sooooo he’s talking about common courtesy yet he’s FORCING himself in 7 minutes early?! I wouldn’t let this go… ever.” There was one woman who joked by saying, “I would have farted and walked out.” That’s one way to deal with the situation. The seriousness in the comments continued, though, as another woman pointed out that the guy would never treat another guy like this. “It’s just wild bc he would never have approached another man that way,” she wrote. Along with the terrible reviews left, a lot of women went and cancelled their memberships with HOTWORX. Now that is a PR nightmare.
