We aren’t dealing with a women’s restroom, if that’s the attitude I must have. It’s a unisex space. It’s a “free for all” space. It isn’t a protective space for women. If we must wait for provable, documentable illegal crimes to happen before we can expect help to arrive, then the space is functioning no different than how a men’s restroom functions.
Sure, I will go about my day, just like I go about my day when I deal with other forms of male oppression. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to like it. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to have great disdain for every person who thought this plan was a good idea.
“Questionable woman”? When you complain, you say more than that, right? Because if all you are saying is she looked weird, then, yes, not much will happen. If you say, she was staring at me while I undressed, and it made me uncomfortable, then I would expect the manager to take that more seriously.
What do they do with this information? I’m asking sincerely. Do they ask the man if he was staring at me, in hopes that he will be truthful? Because you do realize that hardly ever happens, right? Most creepers don’t confess to being creepers because they want to be able to keep on creeping. So they say stuff ike, “Oh, no sir. I wasn’t staring at this fellow sister! I don’t know what she’s talking about!”
If the gym manager kicks the man out based on my word alone, then that’s awesome. That’s what I want to happen. That’s the kind of swift justice I want to see if we open the door to the women’s restroom/locker room. But I suspect you and other allies would find this problematic.
May I ask, what is your feeling about having lesbians sharing the locker room?
I don’t have any problem sharing a space for women. Lesbians are women. They need to pee and shower just like I do, and they have no other space to do these things but the “women’s room”.
Lesbians, as a class, do not act like predatory men. I have never been groped by a lesbian. I’ve never been catcalled by a lesbian. I’ve never been chased down the street by a lesbian. I’ve never been stalked by a lesbian. I’ve never been sexually harassed in the workplace by a lesbian. I’ve never been publicly humiliated by a lesbian. I’ve never had a lesbian flash her genitals at me in a menacing way. Men have done these things to me over the course of my life. And most importantly, I would have a fair shot at defending myself against a lesbian who decided to physically attack me. I’m not the weakest person in the world. I feel confident that I could hurt another woman enough to get away from her, especially if she doesn’t take me totally by surprise. But the average dude? No. I do not have that confidence at all.
This question that you’re asking me? It’s the kind of derpy question I expect in a society that treats TWAW as gospel. If I tell someone I’m creeped out by the male staring at me in the women’s locker room, I don’t want that person to come back with “What is your feeling about ciswomen staring at you?” I want it to be understood why that kind of shit is creepy. I don’t want to be likened to a racist just because I am not blind to biological sex. So I’m going to keep pushing back on this TWAW stuff. I’m not going to cosign it until I see true equality among the sexes.