“This man has, for over four years now, created probably 20 new accounts and sent me the same thing over and over again,” she told Morning Chalk Up. “So the very first one I’ve ever gotten, I get probably every other month. I’ve gotten it every other month for four years now.”

Speegle’s story is all too common, and CrossFit women are not immune to it. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are breeding grounds for sexual harassment towards women, and perpetrators can be relentless.

Instagram’s community guidelines do not directly talk about sexual harassment towards woman, and only briefly touch on things like “offering sexual services” and not allowing nudity on the platform. Instagram has a help centre where users can report bullying or harassing behaviour, however, it’s well known the only thing the social media platform can do is delete an account.

A 2018 piece in The Atlantic detailed that for some, Instagram has ruined their lives. Sources talked of filing numerous complaints through the site and receiving standard responses, if any. Police find themselves in a predicament; sexual harassment is so rampant, and online actions so difficult to track, let alone prosecute, that perpetrators operate in a grey area somewhere between free speech legislation and the anonymous nature of the digital world.

Snorri Baron, who manages CrossFit superstar Sara Sigmundsdottir, showed how harassment comes in all shapes and sizes. He shared an email to Sigmundsdottir from a “sugar daddy” who offered her money for sex.

The specific issue for CrossFit’s women is that using Instagram is not optional, it is a necessity for their financial livelihood.

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“Imagine you are a female athlete. You compete as an individual in a relatively new sport and your only secure means of income comes via brands who sponsor you,” Baron said. “Your social media is one of the keys to this. You have built a reasonably large social media following of people who are interested in the things you do in your daily life such as training, nutrition and recreation.

“Your personality and aesthetics are the driving forces in this and you take great pride in maintaining this media in a consistent and authentic manner. It’s a part of the job, and it helps pay the bills as well as it helps you stay in contact with your audience … but then … some perverted, much older guy stumbles across your Instagram and thinks to himself that it is appropriate to offer you money in exchange for sex with him.”

 Athletes like Speegle, who has 684,000 followers, have to rely heavily on the platform when it comes to sponsorship and promoting products. Instagram is the main social media network for CrossFit athletes and they rely on it as the primary connection point with their fans.

Speegle, like many other female CrossFit athletes, have seen sexual harassment come offline into the real world, as perpetrators have got hold of their phone numbers, found out where they live, work out and even the coffee shops they frequent. This is the other difficult position CrossFit’s women find themselves in: Instagram requires users to constantly update their status and share daily stories about their lives.

Most established female athletes have placed buffers between them and their social media accounts. Big stars rarely handle their accounts directly, with handlers often filtering the most reprehensible communication. But for some women CrossFitters, this is not the case and they need to engage with fans in a bid to help promote themselves.

Instagram has taken steps in the right direction towards combating the issue, but things like “warning” people they may be posting abusive remarks, and adding more safeguards concerning DMs have largely been reactive moves from the company amid intense pressure.

For women in the CrossFit world, like countless others across the planet who have turned to the platform in the hopes of advancing their careers, Instagram is now simply a necessary evil they must endure on a daily basis with no end in sight.