First time ladies pond, Hampstead

[PanicButton99]

Went for the first time to the ladies pond in hampstead this week and had a blast. Definitely want to go back. I got naked in the open showers like others as i wanted to get the algae off of me. I’m aware of their current regulations but feel a bit alarmed by this.

Is it really the case that a man who identifies as a woman could come in at any point and start showering naked with his penis out and the staff would consider this to be fine? I’m a survivor of sexual abuse and this feels really alarming to me and puts me on edge about going. Are the other women who get naked there fine with this?

i also heard that women who identify as men are not allowed to swim topless in the men’s pond so it feels like double standards?

i feel really sad about it because it feels like it would be a lovely space to be nude and relax and feel free and safe around other women but now i just feel on edge that there could be a man around.

Quite a few people i know completed the consultation despite having never been to the ponds. They voted that men who identify as women should continue to be allowed to use the ladies pond but they seemed to have no idea that there are communal showers that women get openly naked in.

I have been going to the pond for years and never seen a penis in the shower. In reality it seems to be a bit of a non issue.

agree its a non issue- not something that comes up in real life, just angsty touchtypers at home writing about it.

They are obviously aware that it could happen as they are planning to spend money on creating new facilities. Does seem a bit odd if it’s a non issue that they would be prepared to find £1 million to do it.

Ah ye olde "it's a complete non issue/no one CARES!" In the wild

if no one cared why did the city of London spend so much time and money insisting that men are women?

I mean surely if it's such a non issue the larping men can go on the men's pond?

You genuinely believe that in real life, people don't worry about a man using a communal girls/women shower?

Sorry - touchtypers? is there something wrong with being a touchtyper??😄

I mean there isnt any point explaining considering you are not even acknowledging a trans person. It really just gives the impression you hsvent met many people from a range of backgrounds and are living in an angry echo chamber. I dont know why i bother on this site

I'm there most days, never seen a penis. Obviously it's a divisive subject but I think the online discussion gives a really misleading view of the actual experience of being there.

You may be there most days. You may not. What you describe may be your experience. But that's not the point.

The point is that now, any woman thinking of going knows that there is a real possibility that there may be a male in that space. And as a result she may not be able to go. Or if she does, it may change her feelings about the place and her level of awareness or threat which adversely affects her experience. None of that is fair.

You're responding to something I haven't said. I'm commenting on the actual experience of being there, not whether I agree with the policy.

I’ve been swimming there since I was 8 years old. My mums been swimming there since she was 8, when my grandmother first took her.
There have always been occasional problems with men. It is a lie to say it’s always fine and dandy. I remember a battleaxe older lady (hero) using a big stick or tree branch to beat a man who’d been caught in the bushes with his trousers down, near young topless sunbathers. Have seen the odd peeping Tom over the years.
Have also seen an obviously physically male person dressed in a ladies swimming costume to leave (this was 20 years ago).
Some men have always wanted access to Hampstead Ladies Pond. It’s iconic.

What’s the point in coming on here and saying I’m alright Jack? I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t experienced violations by men. Thinking that men won’t take advantage of self ID to gain access to naked women is at best naive and at worst dangerous.

It may be that the poster means a one-finger "phone stabber" (which I am), not an actual touch-typer (which I also am)! 😄 Or maybe not. ??

"Keyboard junkie" (which I also am) has an altogether different meaning from "keyboard warrior." I suspect that poster meant the latter. Akin to "boomer" perhaps? It was clearly meant to be some kind of insult, but actually I found it funny, and took me back to my dreaded typing classes when I was 15!

Anyway, not the point of the thread. Done now.

Who knows if it would be fine? I suspect NOT. But as other have said, this has never been something that even MIGJT have happened to me, in over 20 years of not quite daily swimming.

far more likely to see a flasher walking the dog on the Heath…

I mean if its so unlikely and a non issue, doesn't matter if we just ban the cocks from the women's pond, does it.

Sorry OP but you sound like a trans-identifying man.

Bully for you. Others have had a different experience. It's not a non issue to them and it clearly isn't a non issue to the OP.
The fact is, there is currently a potential for a woman to encounter a naked man in the showers there. You don't get to decide that this is a non issue for the women affected by this.
Those women are likely to self exclude from what is supposed to be a woman only space. This is discrimination against those women and its shit.

I think she meant keyboard warriors but forgot the term.

Such a bizarre attempt to insult.

What do you imagine you can “explain” to anyone here? Can you explain why we should see a group of men as women? On what grounds? Because they say so?

It doesn't matter whether no one has ever seen a TIM at the ladies' pond or changing rooms or whether TIMs are queueing up to use it. The point is that it is the ladies' pond, not the "let's pretend I am a woman despite my muscles and large dick" pond. You have a men's pond, or if you really can't bear to face biological reality there is a mixed pond, so just stay the fuck away and let women enjoy their facilities in peace.

Yes, this is the problem. Some men always want access to women’s spaces. You mention some horrible events in previous years where men were identified and make to leave. The point is, nowadays, if they say they identify as women, you can’t ask them to leave, and in fact you might get in trouble for even asking. At least, I guess they could be made to leave if they were wanking in the bushes but man in a woman’s swimsuit couldn’t be asked to leave no matter how uncomfortable he was making women feel.

He could be asked to leave. The law supports it fully now.

Well exactly. But that might be too logical for people who, from previous, are apparently incapable of applying logic to this.