Dads using female communal changing room

[Strawberrryfields]

Not sure how I feel about this so looking for opinions and whether I should do anything.

A couple of times recently I’ve been changing my child after swimming and a dad has come in to change his child in the communal female changing room. It’s after lessons so only children changing. There are communal female, communal male and a number of individual cubicles. It gets very busy at peak times so at times you may need to wait for an individual cubicle.

It feels weird to me a grown man being in there and my instinct is that he should use the private cubicles, though he is clearly there with his child helping them get ready. I also understand him not wanting to take his child into the men’s communal changing rooms with random men in there but to me, he is a random man.

Should I say something? Would you? Chances are it’s just a normal dad changing his kid but I don’t feel entirely comfortable with it but not sure if IABU?

Just realised that @Bromptotoo is a man. He has no right to dictate to women that we should let men into our spaces.

Them damn Supreme Court judges. Amateurs the lot of them

How do you think you can tell?

Which bit of the law in respect of single sex spaces do you think is unclear?

Because of your posts in other threads.

The bit that's questioning whether the FWS case means what people assert.

To be fair though most leisure centres have family changing rooms.

She mentions club. But adults go to swimming club and at most pools, even if the club is using one pool, the others remain open.

so there will be girls and women and boys and men there at the same time.

Do give us your interpretation. Please

My own feeling is that he probably feels that it would be safer changing her in the women's changing rooms. Especially if it's a female child. Women often forget that men often feel threatened by dodgy guys also. He could of course use the cubicles and should do so really. I would imagine it's a bit awkward for the other women and mums there. Maybe you could casually mention it to a member of staff at the swimming place. Or you could remind him yourself that there are cubicles there also, you could act like you are telling him in case he didn't know. It could give him the hint

The supreme court judgment said that for the Equality Act sex means biological sex. If there is a single sex space then only people of the appropriate sex can use that space. They also confirmed that a small child of the opposite sex using a single sex space is fine.

What do you think the supreme court judgment said?

@Strawberrryfields The more I think about what you're saying, the more I get confused.

If you're saying he went in to the women's changing rooms then there were women changing, then there is no way this could have happened as he would have been screamed at and chased out.

If this is a very specific scenario in which only children are changing, then your concern seems to be a man being in a changing room when a bunch of girls are changing. This would certainly be a concern if the man was a paedophile, but then equally, if this man went in to a changing room where a bunch of boys were changing, then the exact same concern still applies. So sending him to the men's room in this scenario hardly alleviates the concern.

But he's the the one being dodgy..

But they never see themselves as dodgy.

I find it works better to be clear rather than try to “give the hint” but i am autistic and blunt.

He should use the mens and wait for the private cubicle in there for his daughter to use. I’m really shocked at this.

How do you know this?

It’s not academic. It’s not just women who have the right to change without men in their space. My daughter is in lessons aged 10, there are older girls also in lessons. All girls but particularly adolescents should be assured of sex segregated changing spaces. They are more likely to be there without a parent and less likely to speak up if they feel uncomfortable.

Bloody bloody men. Absolute fuckers

@bringmelaughter It’s not just women who have the right to change without men in their space. My daughter is in lessons aged 10, there are older girls also in lessons. All girls but particularly adolescents should be assured of sex segregated changing spaces.

Why should boys not also have the same right to have changing areas without men present?

Iit's always 'hysteria' when it's an issue women happen to be concerned about.

Same with things like the patrilineal naming system that routinely erases women. Search any thread on that topic on this site and you'll see variations on the theme of 'don't you have more important things to worry your pretty little heads about?'

Pure misogyny. There's no other word for it. And no, men are not the only culprits on that score.

Are there no family change areas for this?

The entitlement is off the scale.

As is the assumption that women must simply roll over and accept it.

Because boys are the same sex as men.

I can’t believe I just had to type that sentence.

Well according to some posters no. I'm questioning those posters who have said "men shouldn't be around naked children that aren't there own". This is precisely what I'm getting at. If men can't be around ANY naked kids except their own, and someone uothrrad just said boys should be entitled to a space away from adult men, then what exactly is the plan?

Never said it was, I was trying to help the OP solve the actual issue, are you suggesting the op should call the police and press charges against the other parent and the leisure centre? That might stress the OP out more than the original issue!