A bodybuilding influencer has hit out at a woman on TikTok after she offered her assessment of his body in a before-and-after clip.
In the stitched video, Kevin Clevenger films himself looking in the mirror with a fairly regular physique before it cuts to a later shot of him looking substantially more ripped.
Suddenly, he switches to a recording taken by a fellow TikToker (@healthyalternativemom), who says: “This is a perfect example to me of female gaze versus male gaze. Technically, what the female finds attractive is in the first picture.”
Clevenger then interrupts with a fierce rebuke of her comments, saying: “This is a perfect example of ‘how about we keep our thoughts to ourselves’.
“What if, maybe, I did that not because I wanted you or anyone else to find me more attractive,” he continues.
“What if I did that because 1) I personally did not like the way I looked and 2) I was training for a bodybuilding competition in which I was judged on my physique?”
Mimicking a female voice, he goes on: “‘Oh women don’t find that attractive’, before fuming: “You think I f***ing care what other women think about my body?”
He then suggests that plenty of his followers seem to find him attractive but, anyway, he’s married so doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about how he looks.
Then, he urges viewers to “flip the script here” and imagine how people would react if he were to make similar remarks about a woman’s body, insisting it would – rightly – be deemed “misogynistic”.
“Here’s a thought,” he continues: “Maybe let’s stop using other peoples’ bodies as an example to say this is what’s attractive and this is what’s not.
He ends the furious tirade, shared with his 6.1 million followers: “Do better.”
Clevenger’s video racked up more than 5.9 million views and 1.4 million likes on TikTok and more than 54,900 upvotes after it was shared on Reddit, as fans praised him for lambasting the woman for what they took as a promotion of double standards.
However, other TikTok users turned to her original video (which is protected by privacy settings), in which more context is offered on her controversial evaluation.
In it, she reportedly says: “Don’t get me wrong, that gentleman looks great both ways, right? He looks like he worked really hard to get his body the way he wanted it and you know, no disrespect to him, he looks [chef’s kiss].
“But technically, what the female finds attractive is in the first picture: solid, strong man, strength that looks like he could provide for you, and he’s not just looking at himself as the centre of attention.”
“Am I the only one that thinks she wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, if you watch the whole video it seems like she was trying to explain something,” one TikToker responded, according to Daily Dot which has access to the full clip and comments.
While another said: “That guy’s a tool and took this WAY out of context. And so many people jump on with him without even seeing your stitched video.”
The creator, who was clearly distressed by the whole debacle, replied: “Genuinely sorry he took this the wrong way … He butchered my video.”