Page 9 | Mixed changing room - is this considered ok these days?

Scirocco · 2024-04-06T13:54:13+00:00

Today I took my toddler swimming. Or rather, tried to. We walked in to a giant changing area, with rows of cubicles with partial height walls and doors (gaps above and below them, doors low enough that you could see the heads of people changing). No single sex changing option. Men walking around mid-change (a towel round a waist, for example). The aisle in between the cubicles had quite a few people (all men or boys) standing looking at their phones. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm just being prudish, but it felt really inappropriate and unsafe, with an absence of privacy. When I asked the receptionist if there was single-sex changing available, I was told no, because it's more inclusive this way... Is this the normal now? (We went to the park instead.)

Rosesanddaisies1 · 06/04/2024 15:14

Scirocco · 06/04/2024 15:13

Thanks everyone, this has helped reassure me that I'm not being weird. Toddler and I won't be going back there, and I'm going to write a letter to their management to highlight the safeguarding and privacy issues.

really? Don’t even do anything fun like go to a festival. It’s a free for all toilets wise there. Who cares once you’re in a cubicle

Original poster

Scirocco · 06/04/2024 15:13

Thanks everyone, this has helped reassure me that I'm not being weird. Toddler and I won't be going back there, and I'm going to write a letter to their management to highlight the safeguarding and privacy issues.

OP posts:

Rosesanddaisies1 · 06/04/2024 15:12

Our Leisure centre has one changing rooms for everyone, has done for years, it’s nothing new. The cubicles are private. I cannot see why it’s an issue. It’s far more inclusive, and much easier for parents taking kids.

BettyFilous · 06/04/2024 15:12

There is a new pool near us with mixed sex changing cubicles, gaps under & over and nothing to prevent you standing on the bench and looking over either. There are regular articles in the local paper about voyeurism and exposure. The only showers are poolside facing the kids’ pool area and even the ‘decent’ men have no qualms about sticking their hands down their shorts for a quick jiggle when they are showering. 😬

MFF2010 · 06/04/2024 15:10

mollyfolk · 06/04/2024 15:00

I like mixed changing rooms because I can bring in my boy with us. I can’t believe you took your child out because there were men with towels around them and people could see the top of your head changing. Seems like a bit of an over reaction.

Until you realise someone is filming your naked child under the partition or a man has exposed himself to them. Things that happen constantly in mixed changing rooms, until then it's fine 🤦

Kaaardiffgalnow · 06/04/2024 15:08

Beamur · 06/04/2024 14:58

My local pool has a unisex changing village..I believe they've also had multiple incidents of phones under doors etc. I haven't been for a while but have encountered naked men strolling around.
It's a bit grim.

I used to think the phones under doors was an urban myth, but I was chatting to someone recently who used to be a pool attendant and he quit because he said he wasn't paid enough to deal with the number of times it had happened - perverts putting a camera in a shoe and pushing it under a door for example.

This was at Cardiff International Pool for anyone who lives in the city.

User1979289 · 06/04/2024 15:08

They have this in Todmorden and there have been repeated problems of filming under and over cubicles. They deny it thou. I have joined a private gym with safe facilities.

Original poster

Scirocco · 06/04/2024 15:08

mollyfolk · 06/04/2024 15:00

I like mixed changing rooms because I can bring in my boy with us. I can’t believe you took your child out because there were men with towels around them and people could see the top of your head changing. Seems like a bit of an over reaction.

Maybe it's culturally normal here now, but I'd not encountered it before. Hence asking if it's considered normal. If it is, DH can take our toddler there if he wants, and I'll just go back to the pool we went to before, which has single-sex changing available.

OP posts:

Giggorata · 06/04/2024 15:07

There are a lot of women who do not consider this OK. Me, for one.

Suddenarabia · 06/04/2024 15:06

This is awful. Single sex facilities should be a legal requirement

LoobiJee · 06/04/2024 15:05

“Maybe it's me, maybe I'm just being prudish, but it felt really inappropriate and unsafe, with an absence of privacy.”

It’s not you being prudish.

There’s been loads of incidents of inappropriate behaviour by males in mixed sex changing rooms.

SidewaysOtter · 06/04/2024 15:04

mollyfolk · 06/04/2024 15:00

I like mixed changing rooms because I can bring in my boy with us. I can’t believe you took your child out because there were men with towels around them and people could see the top of your head changing. Seems like a bit of an over reaction.

If someone does not feel comfortable changing around men then a) that is their prerogative and b) it’s not for anyone else to tell them that feeling is wrong.

You have no idea what might have happened to someone in the past which means they don’t feel comfortable being in a relatively vulnerable position around men. And even if nothing has happened, it’s still absolutely fine to want a single sex provision. You have no right whatsoever to be so patronising and dismissive.

Original poster

Scirocco · 06/04/2024 15:04

If I, as a relatively short woman, could see people's heads, I did have to wonder what the 6 ft tall guy behind me could see...

OP posts:

SidewaysOtter · 06/04/2024 15:01

I have no issue with unisex changing being available, especially for families for whom it might make things easier (e.g. father taking daughters to the pool) but there should still be single sex options too.

Inclusivity never seems to include women who don’t want to share with men, does it?

mollyfolk · 06/04/2024 15:00

I like mixed changing rooms because I can bring in my boy with us. I can’t believe you took your child out because there were men with towels around them and people could see the top of your head changing. Seems like a bit of an over reaction.

Beamur · 06/04/2024 14:58

My local pool has a unisex changing village..I believe they've also had multiple incidents of phones under doors etc. I haven't been for a while but have encountered naked men strolling around.
It's a bit grim.

Nowayhayday · 06/04/2024 14:57

They should not be on their phones in the changing room, there is usually a rule about that

orangeandpinks · 06/04/2024 14:56

Our local pool has mixed sex changing rooms as well as single sex. The mixed sex are for families and each cubicle is huge. They are (almost) floor to ceiling with no gaps at the doors. They are also lockable.