You may not report the perv in the locker room
Planet Fitness has stood by its decision to ban a member who took a picture of a trans woman using a gym’s female locker room and confronted
them[him] abouttheir[his] presence there.
You can see why they would have a ban on taking pictures in the locker rooms, but when the reason for doing so is documenting a man in the women’s locker room it’s another matter.
It comes after a complaint raised by US woman Patricia Silva, who allegedly saw a trans woman shaving in the locker room of her Alaska gym and took a picture of the individual in question.
Allegedly saw a trans woman but definitely took a picture. We see you, PN.
Silva recounted that she approached the trans person and told
them[him]they[he] should not be using the same changing room as herself.In a video shared to Facebook, Silva recounted the incident and persistently misgendered the person: “I just came out of Planet Fitness. There is a man shaving in the women’s bathroom.
Yeah that’s the important thing. He invaded the women’s locker room but that’s ok; she documented his invasion and shock-horror she “misgendered” him!! The trivialization of what he did compared to the heavy breathing over what she did is one outrage, and the lying about what he did and what it means for his victims is another outrage. There are always so many outrages in these things that we lose track.
She said Planet Fitness proceeded to cancel her membership, which the gym company said was due to her taking photographs inside the locker room, which is prohibited.
While men forcing themselves on women in the women’s locker room is not prohibited.
How is that fair?
In a statement, the gym brand – which has more than 2,500 locations – said whilst people might feel “uncomfortable” with trans folk using the same spaces as them, this “discomfort is not a reason to deny access”.
That’s right: carefully trivialize the presence of a man in the women’s locker room and then pretend the fake triviality is relevant to keeping men out of women’s locker rooms. The issue isn’t “discomfort”; the issue is threat, shame, fear, risk, assault, rape.
The policy statement added staff should work with members and employees to “address this discomfort and to “foster a climate of understanding”.
Meaning a climate of understanding for the men perving on women. Definitely not a climate of understanding for the women who don’t want men perving on them in the fucking locker room.
In a statement shared with the Daily Mail, Planet Fitness said: “As the home of the Judgement Free Zone, Planet Fitness is committed to creating an inclusive environment.
“Our gender identity non-discrimination policy, states that members and guests may use the gym facilities that best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity,’ it read.
Oh, sincere. That changes everything. I have just one question – how the fuck do you know when it’s “sincere” and when it isn’t????
It’s all about the angle of the head-tilt, obvs.
So now we need protractors or goniometers? How many degrees indicates true sincerity? This is getting complicated.
Same way they tell with Christians, I guess. After all, courts have been known to cite ‘sincerely held beliefs’ as justification for allowing actions; if you say you are sincere, you must be!
This reminds me of the case a while back in Wahsington State/Oregon (?) where a woman noticed that a trans woman was going into the changing rooms and just sitting there watching little girls changing. When she complained she was called a bigot and banned. It’s all a part of transition treatment for minors. Make the right gestures and incantations and decades of worrying about child safety and endangerment just evaporates from peoples minds.
Oh I get it! Right, so whilst people might feel “uncomfortable” with people of the same sex as them using the same spaces as them, this discomfort is not a reason to allow access to others’ single-sex spaces. Right?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, yeah?
Remind me again who the oppressed group is here?
Ffs, indeed.
A Reduxx article from some months ago:
Georgia Man Arrested After Exposing Himself To 15-Year-Old Girl In Planet Fitness Locker Room
Perhaps the police in Alaska will step up and do the right thing here, but I’m not expecting it. One might hope Planet Fitness will see the inherent absurdity in their policy, that a man exposing himself to women and girls is a crime but it’s somehow OK if the man says he’s a woman, but again I’m not expecting this to happen.
I’d be pretty sure though that the guy in Georgia very sincerely identified with the desire to claim to be a woman so he could perv on the 15yo girl. We’re all just kink shaming bigots. It does do my head in how many otherwise sensible and intelligent grownups I see/hear on US podcasts and internet off hand dismissing concerns around bathrooms and gyms etc when it comes to this issue. There seems to be this mental sleight of hand that goes something like, that never happens, it hardly ever happens, it’s all blown out of proportion, you’re a bigot. It seems to be both from the left and the right, straight and gay, but generally liberalish and deeply into 1A issues.
There was a time when it wasn’t illegal but also it wasn’t policy and no one tried to make it normal. People policed themselves pretty damn well without intervention from above; is it impossible to go back to that? Probably…
Well, excluding actual women, of course. It’s not even on the radar for women to feel included in the women’s private area of the gym. The “environment” is utterly hostile to women: women’s dignity, women’s comfort, women’s privacy, women’s safety, women’s protection from crime. Except for that, oh, such a very “inclusive” “environment.”