Gym response to being flashed in ladies changing room?

[Yajebbend]

A male entered the female changing room and flashed at me late last Saturday night. I was alone and naked. I reported to the gym who have said that they checked the cameras three times and can’t see a male entering. It must be on there somewhere it happened, I’m raging about it and the response. I want him identified so I can report to police.

aibu to think this isn’t good enough

Absolutely report it to the police. They'll do their own investigations if need be.

It's very scary particularly when you're on your own and unable to get away easily like the OP.

The gym should definitely take this very seriously but I'm betting they don't want bad publicity so are playing it down.

There's someone in my gym that plays with himself in the steam room. It's never happened to me but I know several people who've reported it. My gym has also played it down because he hasn't been seen doing it on camera apparently. Well obviously because there aren't any CCTV cameras in the steam room! I think they also don't want the hassle/bad publicity.

They do it because they like to intimidate and scare women. That's why it's a gateway to rape and sexual assault. It makes them feel powerful. It's also why we have to report it to the police because it goes on their record if there are any other incidents further down the line women are more likely to be believed.

Incidentally when it happened to me it was late at night and he rushed past me getting off the train so he could flash at me when I came round the corner. It was terrifying and I screamed my head off. The only good part was the memory of him scuttling off with his trousers round his ankles calling me a fucking bitch. But seriously it was a scary moment and I hope my reaction put him off doing it to someone else.

100% go to the police. If it’s David Lloyd they’ll know who was in the building from membership card swipes so there’s half the investigation done already!

Police and also tell head office you’re reporting to police.

was it a south London DL? I reported a group of young men (say 20s?) In family changing area just last night.

Im feeling increasingly unsafe in the spa area and wish they had women’s only hours, like at council swimming pools. How to police that would be a nightmare I’d imagine…

I am so not surprised. They will try and sweep anything under the carpet, deny stuff, lie and gaslight members.

And at DL the cameras are outside the changing rooms, fixed on the doors clocking entrance and exit.

a DSAR won’t cover the perpetrator as he’s not making the DSAR, the victim is, and she’s not going to be in shot.

police report today please OP. I’m sorry this happened to you and as a fellow DL member you’re not only helping yourself but all the other female club members. Sorry this happened to you

SAR obviously they are obliged to provide YOUR personal information but depending on the location of the cameras and his proximity to you he may have been captured... the next excuse to be ready for is that they "can't provide this as to do so would breach the other person's personal information". They d DO have an obligation they can pixilate his face out. Another excuse may that they don't have the technology/ too expensive, of so tell them you will report them to the information commissioners office. The CCTV may not then be helpful in an identification, but will prove your point if he was in the frame there was someone there. If the towel was wrapped around the waist would suggest it was a male rather than a female.
I would keep quiet not raise a complain or put in social media. They only have to hold footage for 28 days so push the police to seize it ASAP. If the police are dragging their feet get your MP involved. Also you should receive the support of an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor. Who can guide you through the process. The police should refer you automatically to this service.

It matters because the gym staff have told the OP that they have reviewed the CCTV and no males entered the changing room. That’s obviously wrong as the OP was flashed by a male. So if the OP wants to get this resolved then it would help to work out why the gym staff are saying that. One explanation could be that the gym (or at least the person OP spoke to) regards men who identify as women as not being male. This happened in the awful hospital ward rape example AlisonDonut refers to at 21:19 yesterday and it was that I was thinking of when I posted.

Obviously there are several other possible explanations.

I would contact the Gym head office and also report the incident to the police so that with the cooperation of the gym and CCTV footage the culprit can be identified and dealt with. Surely if there is a scanned entry point then they will know who was in the premises at the time of the incident.

They will know who swiped in that day but you don't swipe out, so they won't know for sure who was in the building at the time sadly.

And with them being large gyms if it happened near the end of the day there will have been 100s of men who had swiped in. If it was 7am there will be a shorter list.

I'm suggesting you don't make them to aware until the police arrive to view the CCTV. Be careful how you post on twitter in case (unlikely) that they decide to prosecute he may have done it before.

If he went in wearing only a towel he probably went straight from the mens into the womens. I'd be asking what area exactly the cctv covers......possibly if he kept to the wall on one side he might not be seen?

In the DL I go to the changing room doors are next to each other, the cctv points straight down the corridor but is aimed at the middle of the corridor, it wouldn't surprise me if people could move from one changing room to the other and avoid the camera.

If you have been flashed, you are victim of a sexual crime and should report it to the police. The gym can't tell you who entered the changing room or share details with you about other gym members anyway.

If it is some kind of 'mistake' 'accident' etc. the police are the best people to work everything out anyway.

I knew you were going to say DL. He could easily have gone, men's to poolside to ladies. They won't have checked the poolside camera.
Or used a female disguise and gone into the ladies.

Contact the police, like you would with an assault anywhere.

Tom Robinson was innocent, the flasher wasn't.
Men pick on women who they perceive as not being able to fight back. That is why they do it.

True but the chances are that anyone who went in at 7am wasn’t still there late in the day, there will be cctv on the entrance / exit and car parks as well as around the building. Saying it’s not been caught on camera isn’t an excuse to not take this further!

That's awful! you need to feel safe at a gym, especially in a single-sex female changing room.

Can you go back to the gym, insist on your story & if they say no, can't see anything again, just ask "So are you saying I'm lying about this?" Don't say anything else. Make them answer you.

Is it possible to leave & go to another gym? Gyms nowadays are really driven by money. They need to keep their members, and keep them happy.

And yes, report to police and tell the gym you are doing so.

Hi, I don't know if this is relevant but I am a member of a SW London David Lloyd gym and a trans woman uses the ladies changing room. David Lloyd support this - a woman up north is suing them for their policy and there is a campaign on twitter about it.

@ColdSpirit if the DSAR was expressed as data covering a third party it would be dismissed out of hand. If you're suggesting OP ask for footage of herself and it would cover the flashing that's bunk as CCTV doesn't cover the inside of the changing room it would just cover people going in and out. If you're suggesting it as a tactic to get someone to look at it regardless of whether they would actually be obliged to share the output should it show a man entering then the police is a much better one to get the CCTV.

Disgraceful from DL. OP told them she'd been flashed by a male and DL have basically said oh no you weren't. I'd report to the police

If the police really wanted to they could go through the list of people who swiped in. Watch the cctv of them going in and look for them coming back out.

But that probably still means a lot of men still in the building at a time.

I get why DL have people swipe it but for fire reasons I'm amazed people don't swipe back out. In my head they should know who's in the building at any one time.

The gym’s response is awful. I had something upsetting but not criminal happen in a municipal gym and their response was amazing, even following up later to see how I was.

When something like this happens it can feel surreal and create a horrible doubting feeling, which is just how we sometimes respond to shock.

Please go to the police today OP, they are trained to gather and review evidence, including CCTV footage.

This.

There will not be any footage of someone being flashed.

The flashing happened in the changing room. For obvious reasons, CCTV cameras are not placed in changing rooms.

The footage will only be from outside the changing room, of people going through the door. The person checking the footage for a SAR will only be looking for people matching the OP's photo/description.

Because a man disguised as a female might have gone in without the gym noticing on the cctv. I would be willing to bet the gym didn't even check though, they seem completely disinterested.