“We really shouldn’t be in here…”
Saturday afternoons my wife and I have been taking the kids to the local high school for swimming lessons. Carolyn, who turns 3 next month, is in the first class with toddlers, and Peter (who just turned 7) is in the class for older kids. He can swim by himself, and today impressed us by floating on his back for about 20 seconds. He’s also trying to do an underwater flip.
Today was my turn to get into the pool with Carolyn. When our session was over, I handed the wet girl to my wife, and dripped down to the men’s locker room to change.
Two women were in the men’s locker room, helping their daughters change clothes. I knew I hadn’t gone into the wrong room, though I looked around the room just to be sure. There were some boys getting ready for the pool, but they all probably had their swim trunks on under their clothes, so they were just stowing their clothes to get ready for their session. Some of the boys were old enough to figure that something was wrong.
The women muttered a polite apology, and started tittering to each other. “We really shouldn’t be in here, should we?”
But they didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
I went into a stall and changed. When I finished, one woman was leaving, but the other was still there.
On my way out I said, “If I had done what you did, I would probably be arrested.”
“Ha ha,” the woman laughed, “I know.”
“I didn’t say that to be funny, ma’am,” I replied.
I still have no idea why they were in the men’s room.
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While I was annoyed, I didn't feel in the least threatened. That's where the key difference is.
I know, it's absolute bullshit that women are allowed to walk into men's bathrooms and even locker rooms without ever getting in trouble, but if it is reversed the men would be arrested.