Mixed gender Swimming Pool Changing Rooms

[balleticspin]

So why are all swimming pools now built with mixed space changing rooms?

I feel uncomfortable changing in them even though they have separate cubicles. They are not enclosed and a walk from the showers.

Whilst taking my DC to swimming lessons I am pretty certain a man was filming a child in the shower and I made a complaint. They didn't seem too concerned.

WTF is going on?

Our pool has them, and there was an issue with a man filming under the cubicles. They put boards down so the walls walls went down to the floor, but it was still possible to stand on the benches and see over the top.

Safeguarding against sexual assault is more important than convenience.

A man was banned from all Liverpool council owned leisure centres last week for taking photos of a woman, naked, in the next cubicle. He held his camera under the partition.

See this is what i have much more trouble with. Banning someone from a leisure centre isnt really addressing the problem adequately. We should be severely punishing the wrongdoers instead of getting rid of something that is way more convenient that single sex changing rooms.

Safeguarding against sexual assault is more important than convenience
So how do you safeguard young boys then when going swimming with mum or older girls who need assistance when swimming with dad?.

We have family changing areas.

With designated family spaces.

Surely the best answer is to have:

1. a female changing area with cubicles - only women and children under 8 allowed in (with a parent/carer).

2. a male changing area with cubicles - only men and children under 8 allowed in (with a parent/carer).

3. a family changing area with large cubicles - adults of either sex allowed in but only if accompanied by children. Cubicles should be floor-to-ceiling at back and sides, with just a gap over the door (a tall door) for checking on people in an emergency, and so that cubicles aren't soundproof during an assault. It would be harder for a voyeur to film over the top of a high door, in full view of other changing room users.

OMG, I just got some kind of Viagra alternative ad pop on on this page - really @MNHQ?

I think I'd much rather rather risk some weirdo possibly taking pictures of me naked than let my DS take his chances alone in single-sex men's changing rooms.

If I were alittleprivacy I would still be taking my ds in with me - 7 is very young. The age I have most often seen mentioned for not being in the women's changing is 8.
I would still not send my sons into a male changing room at that age, though I did when my oldest was 10/11. In the time between we would swim when his dad was there, or use the centre with the mixed sex changing. I don't know if I am unusual in that I have very rarely been in pools that have single sex changing - all the council type ones I've ever used have been cubicles all in one open area. I have been in private pools and school pools that were single sex. This is in different countries even. I think as technology has changed so much during my life time these cubicles have become less safe than they might once have been wrt videoing.

Erm because it allows families to change together. I’m
A solo parent whose 10 year old doesn’t feel comfortable going into the men’s by himself. They have been around for years - your just trying to make it a trans thing.

I also loathe changing in front of women (and dread spotting anyone I work with) and generally single sex means communal. Dignity does not trump safety but nor is it an non-issue.

I much prefer mixed sex changing rooms at swimming. Easier for parents and children and busier so safer too.

Our local council pool only had single sex changing when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, but it wasn't communal. All cubicles.

I'm still amazed that the OP saw a crime being committed and only went to tell reception.

Because I wasn't 100% sure!

Ah I see. Still better to deal with it at the time surely - if someone had their phone out in the changing rooms at all that is against the policy of any pool I've ever been in. If you can't speak out interrupt the situation maybe by standing between the man and the child.
(I do know it is easier to think of things to do after the event!)

It’s definitely interesting how different disciplines/specialisms approach the same conditions - as an example, occupational therapists tackle ADHD in a completely different way to psychiatrists.

OT is massively underrated, in my opinion. We need lots more of them!

Doh. Wrong thread!

I've never been burgled. Should I infer from that tiny, self-related data that I need take no precautions against it and don't need home contents insurance?

I have, however, been sexually assaulted and prefer not to have to change in proximity to men. Just because some other women have "no problem" with that, should I shut the fuck up about my fears?

My gym has one of these pool 'changing villages'. It also has single-sex changing rooms for the gym, in which the women's one (can't speak for the men's) has a large upon area but also some cubicles for those who aren't comfortable stripping off in front of anyone.

Unfortunately, the local council who run them has decided that any male who 'identifies' as a woman is free to use the women's - meaning that no woman or girl can be sure she's safe from males entering and doing whatever they fancy in there.

Great, eh? I'm often in there on my own. I've told them I don't feel safe. Crickets...

My local leisure centre went unisex around 3 years ago.

Perv comvicted for peering over top this year

There was a conviction of a man placing a hidden camera in the female toilet (accessed from a deserted corridor from the mixed sex area) but I can't find the link.

I put in a FOI request and got the following response.

*8• How many incidents of men behaving inappropriately towards women or children have been recorded since the change from single sex facilities to a mixed sex changing village at Carnegie Leisure Centre

In accordance with subsection 16(1)(a) of FOISA, we confirm that we hold this information.

There have been three incidents.*

That was before the spycam incident.

A very good idea!

You think sexual assault and voyeurism are good ideas? Did you actually read this 5 year old zombie thread before you resurrected it?

Grrr since this post the swimming pool has changed the women's changing room into mixed so they could add more gym equipment in the room that was the men's.

It now stinks, it's much louder and is really busy. Signs banning mobile phones are ignored.