The Girl’s Spot London female-only gym faces backlash after CEO reveals it will exclude trans women
As a girlie who enjoys a dumbbell workout every now and then, I was so excited when I first spotted a video on my TikTok FYP about a new women’s only gym opening in South London. Founded by fitness model Natalee Barnett, The Girl’s Spot was branded as an inclusive safe space for women to exercise without fear of judgement or harassment. Thousands of women joined the waiting list and celebrated each one of Barnett’s regular updates on the gym’s construction. But then, the influencer posted a video to her X account clarifying that the girl’s spot would operate as a female-only gym for biological women.
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@thegirlspotgym_ women deserve privacy when working out‼️ #fyp #womensonlygym
♬ original sound - the girls spot🎀
Welcome back to Explained By a Blonde. This week, we’re talking about a topic that I, as a cisgender woman, find tiresome—so I cannot even imagine how frustrating it must be for trans individuals. I’m of course talking about society’s continued refusal to recognise trans women as women.
In a post shared on X on Sunday 9 March 2025, which has since been viewed over 34 million times, Barnett directly addressed a tweet she had written back in 2021. In that post four years ago, the influencer had stated her explicit intentions to include trans women in her gym and told anyone who had an issue with that to take their transphobia elsewhere.
Addressing my tweet from 2021.
The Girls Spot operates as a female-only gym for biological women, tackling harassment, sexual assault & violence that women face inside the gym.
The tweet circling was made 4 years ago and I was in the very early stages of creating a concept. pic.twitter.com/R4i6iUCMLA
— nataleebfitness (@nataleebfitness) March 9, 2025
However, it’s clear that the gym owner has well and truly backtracked, claiming that her vision for The Girl’s Spot has evolved, with intentions now to focus on creating a space where women do not have to deal with gym harassment, sexual assault, and sexual violence.
Barnett goes on to say that the gym will also provide self-defence training, Muay Thai, and boxing classes, as well as activations around polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and training on your menstrual cycle. The activations in particular seem to be one of Barnett’s primary justification for keeping the gym accessible only to biological women.
Now, it would be hard for me to try and list the amount of issues I have with Barnett’s video, but I’ll try. For one, how dare she insinuate that biological women are the only ones facing harassment and violence in the gym? Trans women face hostility, verbal and physical abuse, and discrimination daily, which makes it incredibly frustrating to see Barnett disregard this in one fell swoop.
A lot of people, myself included, immediately dropped support for The Girl’s Spot following Barnett’s recent post, with numerous women expressing their upset online:
fuck that lady and her jk rowling gym
— ethical hater (@DijahSB) March 9, 2025
“The Girls Spot” will forever just be known as “The transphobic gym.” What an absolute disappointment. I don’t know who advised her on this, but she listened to the wrong advice. This is insane. Especially in 2025. Girl… https://t.co/XkxLDribNs
— TV Tweets🇵🇸🇺🇦 (@TVTweets2026) March 10, 2025
Gonna open a trans-inclusive women only gym and call it The Girl’s Girl’s Spot. https://t.co/crmjw9ZoSd
— Neon Genesis Evelyn-Gaylion 🏳️⚧️💕 (@CaptAmazo) March 9, 2025
Plus, as so many of the true girlies were pointing out, how is Barnett planning on policing this exclusionary policy? Because from where I’m sitting, that just screams suss. If a new gym member doesn’t fit into the Eurocentric definition of beauty, will they also face discrimination?
If I have to press my vulva against a gym door like Rick scanning his eyes to access his lab, I’m not going.
— LT🦋 (@tezillionaire) March 9, 2025
@nayyeeohhhmeee transphobia is not just unnecessary cruel to one of the most vulnerable groups of our society but it’s also weird because there is really no need for it. also- white women, esp gnc people are also victims of transphobia- ik it’s not just woc (& most importantly trans women) that are impacted by it but i was half asleep walking to the gym. #nataleebfitness
♬ original sound - naomi el 🍉
It was International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March, and it served as a reminder that marginalised women are in desperate need of support. Barnett’s decision to exclude trans women from her gym feels like a slap in the face to this mission.
Barnett did later post another video, trying to further explain her positioning. However, it didn’t have the outcome she desired—with netizens standing firm in their upset over the gym owner’s decision to ostracise trans women.
@nataleebfitness Clearing up recent online discussions about The Girls Spot operating as a single-sex space.
♬ original sound - nataleebfitness
I was so excited about The Girl’s Spot’s grand opening. I was excited for the pink walls, the tinted windows, the cutesy gym equipment, and the feeling of community. But creating a pastel dreamland and then going out of your way to ostracise a crucial group of women who also deserve to feel safe when they’re working out, that’s not giving girlhood to me.
