We gotta look out for each other in the age of misogyny

It makes it clear what the random girl is trying to do, and allows the girlfriend to reply with anything from “not yet, let’s take a break over there” to “yeah I’m ready let’s go”.

How many times have you thought of the perfect response to someone hours after the fact?

It’s good that she stepped in to offer help at all.

That sounds much less organic and believable.

"Hello my dear friend, your excessively muscular husband is outside asking for you. They won't let him in on account of the firearms he is carrying. Oh hello fine sir, I did not see you there, pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm an heiress of the McDonald laminate empire (no relation hahaha), and have a black belt in karatay, charmed I'm sure. We know each other (pointing at the woman)."

I prefer this because it makes the physical threat more present and believable (and doubly so, bc of the inclusion of the black belt) while also establishing personal dominance.

It's better than no line I guess.

On one hand, there is a chance she would've wanted to accept the date and this would be blocking her.

On the other hand, it's genuinely much more funny lmao.

Nah, this reinforces the idea that men only ought to behave when there's another man to keep them "in line".

Understandable when necessary for physical safety.

I reckon that gym woman's original wording was perfect.

Another woman gave her an easy out if she wanted to take it - that's all. The woman didn't accuse the man directly of anything and she apparently left them alone once the offer was refused.

It's bad that it is so commonplace for this to happen that women feel the need to look out for one another in this way. I wish it wasn't the way the world is, but it is and it's not bad to try to protect each other.

You're not smart. You're not helping. You're paranoid weirdos.

Do you often express this sentiment to women trying to avoid being sexually assaulted and raped?

I make the assumption that it looked creepy, specifically because that girl stepped in. She had much more information about the situation, so almost certainly made a better call than anyone here could.

Well, and if the boyfriend is making a joke, he's going to overdo it for comedic effect, too.

Unfortunately, society is at a place where enough men have posed a risk to women that we are all a perceived potential threat.

And women are stepping up to protect each other. Instead of asking women to not step up, you should be asking men to step up and stop normalizing things like locker room talk and porn consumption, things that are proven to increase misogyny and dangerous attitudes of entitlement around sex.

Hitting on people at the gym is tacky. At best.

No it's not bad to assume that, because some men are extremely dangerous. There's a medical term for what's going on, prophylactic.

It's the kids who are wrong still huh? There's no hope for you guys.

You got some good points, people too often assume the worst and jump to defensiveness.

It's a fictional vignette with a contrived twist. You should argue that the boyfriend reveal doesn't make sense.

The original sentiment this is a variation on is showing up for a stranger who seems uncomfortable or feeling harassed in an unwanted social interaction by giving them an invented out. That's what most people are assuming the context is.

You make the point that not all men who hit on women at the gym are rapists/creeps, they just need to learn social norms. Well, this is a social norm: going up to a stranger with no context/prior conversation and saying "Your body part is appealing to me, want to go out?" Is not socially okay because it's perceived as leery and objectifying, like you're shopping for a car, not trying to form a connection.

Here's another social norm: Chat people up at the gym and see if they're even open to having a normal fucking conversation with you like you're both human beings. Learn something about them if they are. Then go from there.

TL;DR: Hit on people in a humanizing way, not in a creepy way.