What is it about men ? ( in swimming pools)

[Ramblingnamechanger]

Another argument in the pool today. Several lanes available to share…one with 2 guys , ours with 2 women and one mixed. The man who arrived later chose ours. Nearly headed into me at 50 mph. I challenged him and suggested he moved into the lane next door with faster male swimmers. He said that he did not want to swim in the lane with the side of the pool. I said my preference was to swim in peace with other women and why was it that my preference was seen as not as important as his . He insisted that he would stay . I told him it was a macho view and we women should have our views and wishes given the same weight. So fed up that again an entitled male pushed it even when challenged.

Would it have made any difference if it was a woman swimming at '50mph' in your lane?

Missmatched speeds or clear indication that its women only are the only situations where he should be asked to move. Even then you have zero right to suggest it to him. That is the job of the lifeguards who either should observe it or you should report it to.

Faster than her, not necessarily as fast as the faster lane or too fast for the lane he was in. Maybe she should have been in the slower lane? Who knows.

OP could come back and clarify.

The lanes should really be marked by speed – the ones in our local pool are and never heard of this happening. It’s not a sex issue. Bring up with the pool.

It's still only her side of events.
I'm sure the lady who I used to find really irritating at lane swimming might tell a different story - she might have found me really irritating, or not even noticed me and found another swimmer even more a pain in the bum! It's all perspective.

Of course it is, men swim faster than women.

They're also a lot splashier and generally lacking in self-awareness. Women are more considerate in the pool.

Our pool has women-only sessions and they're much more civilised.

The rest of the time you'd think the men were involved in a shark attack.

I stopped swimming because I was so sick of men dominating the medium lane with all their thrashing about. It's always middle aged men, too. They don't want to go in the fast lane with the fit thirty somethings because it hurts their egos.

I wish our pool would do women-only sessions.

It's still only her side of events.

I mean, that's MN.

YABU and it's not for you to police. Maybe you should book a pool to use privately?

Our fast lanes state can swim 25m in 30 seconds repeatedly.

So many times when my ds has been lane swimming he's had older men and woman tell him he shouldn't be lane swimming - because he does 50m in less than 30 secs at speed and comfortably at 30 when swimming aerobically. (Fly and free)

The truth is that people get very territorial over swim lanes and how they should be used. Rarely there is a definitive right or wrong party.

I imagine he stayed because you basically told him he wasn't welcome in a public space he had every right to be in.

It's the sort of thing I'd do - and I'm female 🫣🤷‍♀️

Blimey. I get men can be annoying in the swimming pool but you are trying too hard with the feminist angle op. You sound a bit unhinged.

Male and female has nothing to do with it. Some people are dickhead swimmers. End of. I can outpace pretty much everyone at my pool, I don't want to be in a 'female' lane. I want to be in a fast lane. Follow etiquette, if someone is being a dick get the lifeguards to deal with it.

The lanes at my pool are divided on speed. I thought it was normal.

At the David Lloyd pool I use, there’s no such thing as men/women lanes, only fast/slow.
The main issue with men, as far as I’ve seen, is the incredibly noisy splashing they all seem to make when doing front crawl! Whereas a woman doing an equally fast and competent front crawl will almost always do it relatively quietly.
Always seems like a case of showing off/attention seeking.

The argument should be based on speed, not sex. I am an ex-competitive swimmer (albeit much, much less fit than I was in those days!) and I am often faster than most of the men in the pool. Agree with PPs that your pool needs speed indications on the lanes. I used to swim in a pool that didn't have them, which caused no end of arguments. It's much easier when people are given an indication, because it's often hard to judge how fast other swimmers are going when you're watching them from the side.

It's why I stopped going to the public baths tbh.

There was always, every single time, guaranteed, a man being a cunt.
Swimming as fast as they can in the public swim area, refusing to use a lane because his arms might hit the rope, splashing furiously to try and go faster, doing widths when everyone else was doing lengths.

Several times I've wanted to drop a industrial size toaster into the pool... But that'd make me happy evil.

Unlikely, the flounce / entitled eye roll vibes are strong imo.

He should have been in the lane appropriate to his speed. I've never seen a lane swimming session with lanes allocated by sex. That would be weird.

Men are horrible in a swimming pool, they hate it if you are too slow, but the anger they have when you are faster than then is shocking. I used to be a good swimmer and gave up swimming in public pools because of the bullying men, actually trying to ram into me and claw me on occasions because I swam at my pace which was quicker than them.

I don't swim any longer but if I did it would be women only sessions (if they still do these)

You want to swim with just women? Find a pool with women only sessions...

YABU to try and make it an argument about sex when if anything it was about speed. And some people don't like having the side next to them, smacking your hand into that hurts more than the rope!

Sounds like he was trying to manspread you out of the lane.

Were you swimming chatting? Women always seem to that at my local pool. The whole leisurely swim with other women gives chatting vibes. It is the most annoying thing ever.

You don’t have the right to insist he moves, but I get why you felt that way, it would have bugged me too.
Last time I went swimming it was just fast and slow lanes, I’m usually medium and in slow there was a guy who was as hairy as an ape, wearing a long t shirt and leggings, plus gold chains. It was like swimming alongside a gangsta sloth. Really off putting.

Women are more considerate in the pool.

😂You've clearly never come across the women that walk, not swim up and down lanes, regardless of the posted speed. Or the ones that do one length and then stop for a chat with their best mate in the lane beside them, thereby stopping two lanes of movement. Or the ones refuse to understand the difference between clockwise and anticlockwise swimming in wide lanes, despite the signs. Etc. etc.

Perhaps op should have been in the mixed lane