I went to a new Zumba class at my Y last night. 20 or so minutes into the workout, I saw a young man walk into the class and sit down on the chair that's up front. Outsiders do not normally come in during exercise classes at this Y that I've been in, so I thought it was unusual, but nobody said anything about it. I thought maybe he was the instructor's child or the boyfriend of someone in the class. I was not comfortable having a spectator in the room, but whatever.
After a while, I noticed that he was holding his cellphone in a way that made it obvious that he was video recording the class. I was definitely not okay with that, so I stopped, grabbed my jacket, and walked out of the class. I wasn't going to interrupt the class. I went to go use the treadmill and some weight machines to get the rest of my workout time in. After another 10 minutes or so, the young guy left the Zumba class I had been in and walked out of the members area of the Y.
I had been debating whether I should check with Y staff or wait and speak to the instructor when class was over about what had been going on, but when I went to the front desk for something, I noticed that the guy who had taken the video was sitting just inside the front door, so I mentioned to the woman at the desk what had happened. She was surprised that someone who was not participating in the class would be in there and taking video to boot. She said she would speak to him and she headed over to him as I left for the night.
This was unusual, but was it rude of him to take video of our class without asking or telling us? I know it is sort of public, but you do have to be a member to get in the building unless you are a guest of a member. And it is an exercise class, so we are not exactly looking our best while sweating. It took me a long time just to get up the nerve to exercise in a group let alone have someone video record me, so I was extremely uncomfortable. But is that my problem? Am I overreacting?