Getting to the gym can be a hassle, but the feeling after a work out is always worth it. When I get ready for the gym, I usually throw on a t-shirt and Nike shorts or leggings. A big determining factor for me is what’s clean and how it feels outside. My decision to wear leggings is not to impress people at the gym, male or female. It is a decision I make because I think leggings are comfortable and I feel good when I wear them.
I’ve never felt the need to dress up to go to the gym. In a New York Times opinion piece, Honor Jones talks about how they miss the good old days when women could go to the gym in sweatpants and not receive funny looks for doing so. She speculated on whether the concerned looks she was receiving were fear-based that she was going to get her loose sweats tangled in machinery. This is one of the main reasons that I don’t wear sweats to the gym. Although the statement was said in what I assume to be a sarcastic tone, I don’t like wearing sweats to the gym because the sweats that I own are big and baggy. I wear them while lounging around at home if I am cold and want to be comfy.
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She says that we’re not wearing these workout clothes because they’re cooler or more comfortable, instead because they are “sexy.” But for me and many other females, I am sure this is not the case. They ARE comfortable, and I am not trying to attract attention. The majority of the time I am wearing leggings and an oversized t-shirt. Some people may go to the gym and dress provocatively to attract attention, but please do not assume that’s every female’s motive.
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I agree that there is an enormous amount of pressure to look good and that often times people base their opinion of women on how we look not who we are, but I do not think that something as simple as wearing baggy sweatpants to the gym is going to change this.
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