Aly Raisman took to Twitter to detail an “uncomfortable” body-shaming incident that happened while she was going through airport security.
The six-time Olympic medalist, 23, said a female airport employee asked if she was a gymnast and commented that she recognized her by her biceps. Raisman claims a male TSA worker stared at her and replied, “I don’t see any muscles.”
Lady at TSA: “Gymnast? I recognized u by ur biceps”
Man at TSA: “I don’t see any muscles” & continues 2 stare at me
How rude & uncomfortable— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017
I work very hard to be healthy & fit. The fact that a man thinks he judge my arms pisses me off I am so sick of this judgmental generation.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017
If u are a man who can’t compliment a girls ?? you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are u kidding me? It’s 2017. When will this change?
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017
He was very rude. Staring at me shaking his head like it couldn’t be me because I didn’t look “strong enough” to him? Not cool.
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) May 24, 2017
Raisman added that the man was “very rude” and was “staring at me shaking his head like it couldn’t be me because I didn’t look ‘strong enough’ to him? Not cool.”
The athlete went on to say that situation was “uncomfortable” for her. “I work very hard to be healthy & fit. The fact that a man thinks he [can] judge my arms pisses me off I am sick of this judgmental generation,” she tweeted. “If u are a man who can’t compliment a girls you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are u kidding me? It’s 2017. When will this change?”
TSA responded to the incident in a statement to Us Weekly. “TSA 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,” the statement read. “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.”
The Dancing With the Stars alum, who is dating NFL player Colton Underwood, is currently taking a much-needed break before she decides if she’ll start training for her third Olympics. “I definitely need a break just to kind of take time,” she told Us Weekly after the Rio Games. “I’ll probably take a year off like I did last time and then we’ll kind of regroup and see from there.”