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This sign greeted me this evening as I entered the locker room. I was slightly taken aback at the prospect for it seemed indecorous. As I turned the corner there was nothing outside of the ordinary. I saw no protests; no men were lurking in corners ready to leap out to do goodness knows what. I felt ill at ease for I have not removed my clothing in front of a woman since I was a lad at the pediatrician’s office. I wondered what the gentleman athletes were thinking, but no one seemed to be processing the matter. Indeed, I saw no signs of tension. The only thing in view were the usual repertoire of men in various stages of dress and undress, no one talking to each other but lost in their headphones.  My worry about modesty was quickly mitigated when I remembered no one here goes naked. ** Men tend to put on and off their undergarments underneath a towel.  At most, they will keep their tops on and drop their trousers (while turned away) and putting on gym shorts quick as a quarter note. Even in the sauna the patrons remain fully dressed.  So no female was going to get a peep show even if she wanted one.

Sure enough there was a female custodian going vacillating between the sinks and the pool area. She was surmounted by headphones and was completely disinterested in anything but her work. No man even acknowledged she was there. Although the sociology was intriguing, the situation was rather a disappointment.

I wondered how blasé it would be if it was the other way around viz. a male custodian in the ladies’ loo. I sense there would be complaints and vociferous outrage rather.

At my office there is a male and female toilet. In the women’s there is a large sign in bold pink:

THIS IS THE WOMENS BATHROOM

as if to say no man should not be in here, lifting the lid and violating the sacred feminine.

Outside the locker room, in the weights area, the ratio of men to women is ~ 20:1. The men are disheveled if not slobs while the few women there are dressed meticulously – and meretriously – in full make up. Not that they aren’t butch. Far from it! But, they are dressed up more than when they go to work I daresay. One of them dressed in ersatz leopard skin yoga pants had enough make up on to make me imagine she had just come from her audition for a part in “The Lion King” or “Cats”.

Back in the locker room the intrepid Rosie was still doing whatever she was supposed to do. There was a very large old naked man sitting on the bench, slowly bending over to try to dry his toes. She did not laugh or shriek or eschew her vision at this mountain of male flesh.  He either hadn’t known she was there or was ignoring her.

To quote Mr. Spock : ‘Fascinating”. 🙂

 

** The exception are the old men. It’s intriguing to see the fellows over 70 for they have no qualms walking around naked rather than bundled up like Bedouins. None of them are ‘lookers’ so narcissism can’t the reason to their exposure. I suspect they have more body ease than the young beautiful body builders. How ironic if this is true.