Woman got kicked out of her gym for this outfit

What is appropriate workout attire?

Sarah Villafañe thought she was dressed appropriately when she hit up her local university gym last week in a pair of ankle length leggings and a midriff-baring top, but to her shock and embarrassment, she was turned away.

The student from South Carolina, took to Facebook with photos of her outfit to vent, and the post has since gone viral.

“I literally bought this outfit to work out in because it’s COMFORTABLE,” she wrote.

“What is the issue? Why can’t I work out in this outfit? Is my belly button distracting to the general 85% male demographic that your gym serves? I’m forced to leave, WHY? Honestly I’m so floored that I just got kicked out for this.”

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Sarah goes on to explain that she’d been wearing that very same outfit through all her classes that day without incident, “but when I walked into the gym they asked me to put on a different shirt.”

Without a spare shirt handy, she tried to continue as if it hadn’t happened but was soon confronted by an employee and a manager. She says a back-and-forth ensued over whether what she was wearing counted as a shirt.

“He says, ‘Are you gonna put a shirt on?’ And I said, ‘Well if this isn’t a shirt … no. I’m not gonna put a shirt on,’” she recounts.

According to the local ABC affiliate, the gym’s dress code is posted near the entrance and states, “Athletic attire is to be worn. This includes T-shirts, running shoes, sneakers, shorts, or pants. Footwear must be worn.”

Though midriff-baring shirts are not specifically mentioned, they are prohibited — not for fear of distracting belly buttons, as Sarah surmised, but to prevent the spread of disease, Mike Robertson, the College of Charleston’s senior director of media, told Yahoo Style via email.

The National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) in the US issued a statement years ago warning of the infectious diseases that can thrive in athletic settings.

“Because of this possibility, the College of Charleston and many other Colleges and universities follow best practices that require people in the gym to wear a full shirt while working out in order to minimize skin exposure to possible infectious agents,” Robertson said.

NATA does not specifically suggest clothing as a preventive measure, but it does recommend that institutions do their utmost to maintain a clean, hygienic environment to guard against the likes of herpes simplex, impetigo, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA.

Nasty rashes aside, Sarah’s post has renewed the debate over whether dress codes protect students or subject them to body-shaming.

Women have been booted for dress code violations at other gyms in recent years — after all, and it’s not usually about germs.

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