Sarah Villafañe, a 19-year-old South Carolina college student, has expressed her displeasure after university staff members kicked her out of the campus gym due to the crop top she was wearing, saying she needed ‘full coverage’ while exercising.
Villafañe, a sophomore at the College of Charleston, described the situation in a Facebook post where she shared a photo of the outfit that she wore to the gym that day.
‘So I just got kicked out of the College of Charleston student gym for wearing this outfit. Like not allowed to work out. Not allowed to because of THIS OUTFIT THAT I BOUGHT SPECIFICALLY TO WORK OUT IN. I’ve worn this same outfit all day. Went to 3 classes and spoke personally with each of my professors today and they didn’t have a problem. But when I walked into the gym they asked me to put on a different shirt.’
https://www.facebook.com/sarah.villafane/posts/10212453761201200
According to the Post and Courier, the dress code at the George Street Fitness Center stipulates that gym-goers must wear “athletic attire,” which includes T-shirts, running shoes, sneakers, shorts or pants. Clothing or jewelry that “compromises the safety of a participant or may possibly damage the equipment” is banned.
Mike Robertson, a spokesman for the College of Charleston, said the fitness center’s rules and dress code are posted on a bulletin board near the front door doesn’t explicitly mention midriff-exposing shirts. Roberston mentioned a study conducted by the National Athletic Trainers Association that warns of skin diseases that can be contracted at a gym.
During an interview with TODAY, Villafañe said she believes there is a double standard when it comes to gym attire at the university.
‘Many people have told me that they have seen girls wearing similar outfits to mine in the CofC gym, as well as men wearing muscle tees that expose their midriffs,’ she said.
‘It is interesting to me that the men I have seen wearing jeans in the gym (a quite obvious violation of their one dress code rule, ‘Athletic attire must be worn’) were not bothered or kicked out for not abiding by the dress code rules.’
