Swimming Pool 'Peeping Tom'

Sometime in the late 90's I entered a recently opened swimming pool in my home city and was completely spooked to find it was unisex. I left immediately and never went back.

Hellymart, how horrible for you. Quick thinking to cover the shoe with a towel. I don’t think that our local swimming pool has gaps like that in the unisex cubicles, next time I’m there, I’ll check.

Many, MANY years ago (50+) a friend was terribly upset when her brother drilled a hole in the bathroom wall from his bedroom. He wanted to see what women looked like in the nude! Her parents quickly took action, but my friend was very upset afterwards. Nowadays, with small cameras, etc, the consequences can be longer lasting.

Don’t let this put you off swimming, and well done on your quick thinking ?

- but not so funny if the film is broadcast on instagram or whatever they use.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Until something happens you don’t know how you would react/respond! Hope it hasn’t put you off going to the pool Hellymart. I think you dealt with it well.

I would have picked it up.had a look and if it was a camera.say in a loud voice.oi you bloody pervert filming me getting undressed.

I'm shocked!
Depending on what stage of undress I was at, I think I would be tempted to throw the shoe back and say have you lost your camera?
But better to report.
I think the gaps under the doors are to allow the water to escape when hosing the cubicles.

JacquiG please could you explain to me how a man convicted of taking photos of young boys in a male changing room is anything to do with the GRA act or with unisex changing rooms. This may be a crime that women report the most but it is not a crime only women suffer from.

Why do there have to be gaps under the cubicle sides anyway? Same with toilets. I don't get why they can't take the walls all the way down. I do understand the gap at the top of the door for ventilation and safety if you need rescuing, but at least with the door other people in the main area can see if someone is trying to peer over or under it.

sorry wrong name Hellymart

My thoughts exactly trisher, When something out of the ordinary like that happens our brain response is not from the logical part of the brain, but from the part that contains the fight/ flight response, Whereas we from a distance can say that we would have reacted in a logical, calculated way, actually we can't be certain that we would. I'm a retired counsellor and worked with survivors of trauma for many years and this kind of incident can be experienced as violating and traumatising. I would say that Holly did very well in her response as undiscovered this young man could go on to have a very concerning problem which could escalate,

If these were poolside changing rooms I would have kicked the offending article into the pool, he would then have had to hop around to find someone to help him retrieve his trainer.
There are some stupid people around, you will always be caught if you are doing this kind of thing.

Jane 10

Rosina, exactly what I would have done.

I would have taken the trainer at once to the person in charge at the pool.

I would have kicked the trainer right under my bench, put something over it, taken my time to change and then taken it to reception for them to check. If this young boy is doing stupid things now, the sharp shock of public humiliation might deflect him from more serious behaviour.

hellymart To those who have said what they would have done, the phrase 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' comes to mind - afterthought is an easy thing. I do hope the incident doesn't sour your next visit to the pool.

Hellymart, you have my total sympathy. What a horrible thing to happen, you did very well in covering the shoe in your towel. I think that the unisex cubicles in our swimming pool thankfully don’t have this gap, but I’m going to check!

Many, MANY years ago (50+) a friend at our convent school, was shocked when she discovered her brother had drilled a hole from his bedroom through to the bathroom so that he could see females in the nude! His parents were quite rightly horrified.

And nowadays, with small cameras, iPhones etc, such Peeping Tom behaviour can have longer term consequences.

Hope you have recovered from your shock, and feel able to go swimming again ?

There seems to be a lot of this about these days. Public toilets and changing places need to be fully enclosed now, especially when they are unisex. Even then, be aware that tiny cameras can be placed anywhere and send off the video to some perv somewhere else. And be aware that self-ID means men can now come into our private places.

This nonsense is due to the GRA act. Topshop are going communal unisex changing rooms it seems. Yuk.

And just wait until self-id gets going, when you can be a man on Mondays and a woman on Wednesdays.

Women (real ones) need to start finding ways to protect themselves from this sort of perverted activity.

I meant covering up the shoe, not the offence of course!

But male only changing rooms where adult men take photos of young boys are OK?
It's not only women who suffer abuse. Unisex changing rooms offer more protection to boys.

You did the right thing reporting it but unisex changing facilities are completely unacceptable as are unisex toilets and anywhere which needs necessarily to be a private space.

If his shoe did contain a camera and he deliberately placed it to capture photos of someone changing, I believe it is a criminal offence ( at the very least, a breach of the peace in Scotland). Proving it is the challenge.
Hellymart, it sounds as though you don't like to assume the worst of others which probably contributed to your response of covering it up rather than investigating and challenging it on the spot - that's nothing to be ashamed of! You were right to report it to reception though. If he did have a camera in the shoe, it sounds as though he realised he had been rumbled and hopefully won't repeat the behaviour. It may even have been part of some stupid dare among his pals. It's a shame we have to be on guard in so many ways and being cautious without being overly suspicious can be hard balance.

Yorkshiregirl - just what I was thinking.

Last year, a pervert was imprisoned after surreptitiously taking images of young boys in the gents changing rooms at our local leisure centre. Since then our local pool has banned cameras and any photography in the pool area or changing rooms. I guess that's why I would be on guard if a similar thing happened here.

Don't beat yourself up tho for thinking how to handle this at the time. We all learn from experience, and from sharing our experience with others in a non judgemental way

I've been 'taken off guard' by lots of things in swimming pool changing rooms, particularly when there were children using them. I've never assumed that. there was a camera in a shoe or any of the other objects that have been dropped/thrown or otherwise been found in and around changing rooms. On the other hand I have never been observant enough to know who was with whom, and what the relationship was, of people in the pool. Sorry for asking questions about something.
As I posted this will soon become a serious sexual offence and perhaps challenging the young man would have made him less open to prosecution and being listed as a sexual offender. Young people are sometimes unaware of how serious actions like this are and just think it is a joke and part of today's technology culture.