“I haven’t been in the gym in so long that women just dress like whores now.”
Translation: “I believe women exist for the male gaze and I get offended when I can’t openly gawk at them.”
Do you see the problem?
It’s not that the joke is offensive. The problem is that a man can go on the #1 broadcast comedy series in the country and openly call women whores as a punchline. Because, yes, that was the punchline of a joke that Shane Gillis made last weekend on SNL. Women dress like whores at the gym. They wear little neon shorts but you’re “not allowed to look at them.”
Can you imagine a woman going on SNL and calling men whores for being shirtless at the gym? No, you can’t.
Because we have been conditioned to believe the female body is inherently sexual, but the male body is perfectly natural.
We have been conditioned to believe that the worst thing a woman can do is own her body and dress however she wants.
We are conditioned to believe the absolute worst thing a woman can be is a whore.
There are a million reasons a woman might wear “revealing” or “tight” clothes at the gym. Comfort. Extra movement. They can’t stand the feeling of a big t-shirt clinging to them from sweat (just me??).
But the thing is, women don’t owe anyone an explanation for how they dress at the gym. They don’t owe anyone an explanation for their behavior period.
This is so much bigger than Shane Gillis. It just shows where we are right now as a culture. Purity and modesty are constantly being preached to us, yet it hasn’t stopped men from taking ownership over our bodies.
I am convinced that the same people who laughed at Gillis’s joke are the same people who praise the now infamous Sydney Sweeney sports betting ad. Why? Because the female body is only acceptable when it is presented for the male gaze. It’s not about modesty, it’s about ownership.
That’s why there is so much discourse about what women wear to the gym. Some people genuinely cannot see female body parts without sexualizing them–-even when they are not presented in a sexual context. This world treats women’s bodies as public property, and when that property is not there for the pleasure of others, people like Shane Gillis cannot comprehend it. It’s not that they’re “not allowed to look” as he put it in his monologue. It’s that our bodies are not there for them. Also, why do you so desperately want to look at women in the gym anyway?
To any girl that saw the Shane Gillis monologue and is now questioning what they wear to the gym: I’m sorry. You do not have to change your behavior because of the misogynistic opinions of others. You do not have to feel ashamed of owning your body and doing what feels comfortable to you. Your body does not exist for men to look at. You are not a whore if you like wearing a sports bra and shorts to the gym. That shouldn’t even be a question. I am baffled that we even have to have this conversation in 2026.