Aly Raisman has spoken out about body shaming before, but a recent incident that she aired on Twitter was particularly egregious.
On Wednesday, the two-time Olympian shared on social media that TSA staffers made comments about her muscles while making her way through airport security. While the female employee asked if she was a gymnast because of her muscles, her male counterpart reportedly said to Raisman, “I don’t see any muscles” and continued to stare at her, which she called “rude” and made her feel “uncomfortable.”
“I work very hard to be healthy and fit. The fact that a man thinks he [can] judge my arms pisses me off,” Raisman wrote in a series of tweets. “I am so sick of this judgmental generation. If you are a man who can’t compliment a girl’s [biceps] you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are you kidding me? It’s 2017. When will this change? ”
She concluded by noting again that he was “very rude.” She added, “Staring at me shaking his head like it couldn’t be me because I didn’t look “strong enough” to him? Not cool.”
In a statement regarding the incident, the TSA noted that it “conducts screening at security checkpoints when departing from a U.S. or U.S territory airport, and it appears that Ms. Raisman was traveling from a foreign airport. We have reached out to Ms. Raisman via Twitter, requesting more details of her experience. If the incident occurred at any of our security checkpoints in the U.S, we look forward to hearing from her to look into this further.”
Many were quick to defend Raisman on social media.
The gold medalist has been outspoken about her body in the past. Raisman, who posed in the 2017 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, said of the photo shoot that it was “empowering to be out there and just, you have insecurities just like everyone else, your body’s not perfect, but you feel confident and beautiful.” She added, “I used to be so insecure, I thought my arms were too muscular, but now I’m growing to like them.”
She also told Yahoo Style recently that she works really hard for her body. “I believe that all women should embrace how beautiful they are, no matter their body type.”
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