Bath Leisure Centre, naked men in ‘changing village’

Our changing villages all have separate cubicles, so no one will need to be seen in a state of undress, if someone was walking around naked they would be told to cover up, At the one there are lockable showers in the toilets and the others have lockable cubicles within the main areas.

Including trans women in men's facilities = Including trans women in women's facilities .

So I'm kind of odd in that I'm quite unabashed about nudity in single sex spaces in that I will (quickly and not intentionally to show anyone, just out of practicality) get completely naked when changing in single sex spaces.

I don't believe there should be any shame in my body being naked for practical reasons in the presence of other women and girls. Quite the opposite. I think it's actually important for girls to briefly see how real women's bodies look when naked so as their begin to change they have some context for what's normal, instead of just what they are forced to see in movies and porn. I would make the same argument for boys. I know I was a bit embarassed to see it in locker rooms as a kid, but that became useful to me later. As my body changed and I felt intensely uncomfortable, I thought back to what I'd seen and I realized that my body was completely normal.

Including trans women in men's facilities, or trans men in men's facilities, OR this sort of unisex changing village actually has two costs. The first, more obvious one, is that some women will be absolutely excluded, as they cannot be seen in any state of undress by members of the opposite sex. The second, is that girls will no longer see the normal range of adult human female bodies as part of their normal lives unless they happen to be nudists. Alternatively they will be gaslighted as TRAs believe they should be into thinking that "having a penis" is part of the "normal range of adult human female bodies".

Pam, Somerset Libraries were the ones who were hosting the Drag Queens read stories to kids thing.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-46753018

So what is the correct etiquette when faced with a stark bollock baked man in the changing room (remember - it could be a ‘ma’am’ or a ‘sir’ you are dealing with)?

I’m asking because I start a new gym next week in a student facility (one of the unis who seems to pride itself in voicing utter nonsense with regards to gender) so I’m preparing myself for a good old bit of right on student nonsense with regards to changing rooms.

Do you have to go to reception and announce ‘there’s a person in the changing rooms who is parading abut naked with his/her/their willy/weirdly penis-shaped lady bits hanging out.’ Or shall I just flick the offending piece of anatomy with a wet towel? Or - as I say to flashers ‘that looks just like a penis - only much smaller!’

Tbh I don't have anything against changing villages, as the mum of a disabled boy I find them very useful. That said, I've never been to one where there are naked people on display of either sex. Maybe the answer is proper cubicles and strict enforcement of no nudity?

Is it a coincidence that Bath and North East Somerset has been the top Stonewall Local Authority Champion since about 2015?

All my local swimming pools have changing villages. The one where my dc have lessons have a row of women only cubicles but I don't think the other 3 we use do.

The only single sex provision is for school groups.

Francis I was just thinking I wonder if the centre based this on surveys filled in by liberated types going 'oooh but what about the single dad taking his daughters swimming/ my ten year old son too young to go in the mens area alone' - but the Twitter responses show, and the MN threads show, women don't like men in their spaces .

The answer will have to be mens/womens/families - but that won't deal with those determined to be where they want and to force compliance with their internal beliefs.

I notice several tweets too in the second linked thread about 'what about the cultural issues for some women'. No one other than LM has been prepared to answer on this, and LM's response basically was that they should abandon their faith if it clashes with TRA.

Several things demonstrated there:

1. unisex is going to be the first go-to way for public spaces to avoid the litigious battles over policing boundaries for those who want to use changing rooms by personal choice instead of sex based reality.

2. The general public are not going to accept it. At the moment public services are scared to in theory upset certain very loud, very aggressive lobbies. However they're going to be more scared in practice of large numbers of complaining women who form a large amount of their income and won't use those services without female only areas, and they will mean female only.

3. Oh the naivety of those who think insisting on sex separate changing rooms is going to mean no naked men in there

4. There will always be men who will exploit any loophole offered to them to view, intimidate, harass and sexually abuse women.

Shout 'Pervert' out loud! That should shame them.

Ah, but women don't exist anymore. All spaces are men's spaces. Or if they aren't already - they will be.

Little Britain - Emily Howard at the swimming pool.

We have a changing village with single, double and family cubicles. You shouldn't be naked anywhere outside of a cubicle, and apart from an escaped toddler, I've never seen anyone who hasn't understood this, though of course there are far more hours in the week that I'm not there than when I am.

this won't load for me but should have pictures
pool and changing

In this HSE file governing welfare at work (I assume this would include gyms and leisure centres), it clearly states that - "Separate use of changing facilities should be available to men and women"

www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg293.pdf

It would appear that there are a couple of leisure centres in Wales which have unisex changing areas, despite a petition signed by over 1000 people objecting to them.

www.cowbridge-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=123058&headline=Unisex%20changing%20rooms%20introduced%20at%20two%20local%20leisure%20centres&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2018

Oh ffs. This sounds really twattish.
What on earth was wrong with sex segregated changing rooms in the first place?

In the Express story, the jury must have reckoned that twice without locking the door wasn’t an accident.

*have not will

We've had a 'changing village' at our local (large inner city) pool for about eight years. I will never heard of any problems. There are women only swimming sessions three times a week. I've always liked it as I could easily get changed with both children.

irnbruforlife if you're not as 'progressive' up in Scotland, then thank your lucky stars.

I don't see why a man's intentions in walking around a public space bollock naked are relevant. If the viewer is caused distress or offence or whatever, that's what counts surely. Like our old fave, the 'hate crime'. It's how the recipient feels about it that matters, not the feelings of the doer. Or if not, then it bloody well ought to be.

The whole thing of mixed changing is horrendous. I'd go nowhere near. And it all seems very odd when you think how sedentary lots of us are and how official policy is to get us all moving more. Then they stick naked men into the mix. No gonna encourage me.

Sarahj
That's truly awful. And he did it again. And will probably keep doing it.

You're absolutely right - people changing our women only spaces into unisex spaces seem suddenly unable to acknowledge that it opens the door to perverts and predators, despite all the evidence. Even one incident is too many but they seem to think that the risk is acceptable - it's only women and children after all!

This seems surreal. Out local authority leisure centre has a unisex changing village. But it's cubicles only. Or I have seen occasionally people will get undressed in the open area if they have their swimmers on underneath and then put their stuff in a locker. But there is no nudity. I don't even think I've seen any small children nude there (that would obviously be acceptable anyway) I'm pretty sure it would start a riot and an assault charge if a man was to walk about/shower naked especially with kids about. I am rural scotland, so maybe we are not as progressive as you southerners 😂😂

Ooh, I like Jean Hatchet
How about the “sorry my towel fell off” defence? How can we prove that perverts are getting off on flashing their balls when all spaces are unisex?
That’s the whole crux of the issue, allow penises into women only spaces and everyone’s intentions have to be scrutinised ( which is impossible)