#lock room

“I support feminism because it is still not OK for a woman to go into a mens locker room”

As blatantly ridiculous as this statement is, it is still incredibly hard to argue against without being somewhat hypocritical.

On one hand I don’t believe that all men are rapists or perverts. On the other hand, I still don’t want men in the same room as me dressing or showering. You could argue that if I truly believed the first statement, than there would be no logical explanation as to why I would claim the other. 

But really, I’m more comfortable getting dressed around girls because we generally have the same anatomy. Girls have breasts. They may come in different shapes and sizes but they are all generally the same thing. We all have the same problems that come with breasts, we have the same familiarity when it comes to breasts. I’m only comfortable getting dressed around girls because we are all familiar with the anatomy we have.

For the exact same reasons I have to admit that I would feel uncomfortable being in a locker room while a transgender female (who had not undergone sex reassignment surgery) was changing. I wouldn’t refuse to be in the same locker room, as I would want to accept her and who she is regardless of her body. At the same time, I simply cannot ignore the fact that I am uncomfortable with penises. I am not used to penises because I have no experience with owning a penis or using one or what it feels like to have one. I am uncomfortable because I am unfamiliar. 

I guess it could be the same for why many men are made uncomfortable by the idea of periods. For girls, it is a natural monthly part of life that we deal with and as a result we are quite comfortable with talking about it, hearing about it and empathising with other females about it. If it is such a natural and normal part of your everyday woman, then why would men be so uncomfortable? Ding ding. They are uncomfortable because they are unfamiliar.

I don’t care if you are a woman who is unfazed by being in a locker room with naked/showering changing men, and I don’t care if you are a man who is unfazed by being in a locker room with naked changing/showering women. You might be fine with seeing body parts, but that doesn’t give you the right to to be present while other people are naked and vulnerable. It doesn’t give you the right to make them uncomfortable. I have the right to feel violated if someone of the opposite gender walked in on me with my most intimate parts on display, parts that they don’t have and they aren’t familiar with.  

- fraudulentfeminist