A Canadian mother has come forward to reveal that she was chastised by staff at her local recreation center after reporting that a balding man wearing “fetish gear” was in the women’s changing room. Despite feeling so frightened that she called the police, the mother was told that the man had a right to self-identify into whatever changing room he felt like.
The incident occurred on February 18, when Keri* and her 14-year-old daughter visited the Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Their plans to have a fun-filled afternoon at the local pool quickly took a turn for the worse after the two entered the changing area to see an adult man “naked except for fetish gear” standing in the center of the room.
Keri tells Reduxx that the man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, was wearing a “black penis sling” and an exposed rubber breast form. So shocked by the sight, Keri immediately began to usher her daughter out of the changing area.
“My daughter was behind me… I backed up quickly so she would not keep walking forward and yelled ‘help, there is a man in the change room.'” Keri says she went back to the front desk, where she had just paid for the admission to the pool. After explaining what she had seen in the women’s changing area, a male staff member dismissed her concerns.
“He said something like: ‘yes, this is an inclusive facility, what are you afraid will happen?’ and so I told him I was calling the police. He asked me why I felt the need to call the police, but did not try to stop me.”
While waiting for an officer from Edmonton Police Service to arrive, a female staff member approached Keri to ask her about the situation. Keri recorded the conversation with the staff member, and provided the audio to Reduxx for review.
In the recording, Keri is heard giving a statement to the staff member and explaining precisely what she had experienced.
“I am telling you right now – he is a balding man, in his forties, wearing a penis sling and rubber breasts around his neck… fetish rubber breasts slung around his neck,” Keri is heard telling the staff member. “He is in the women’s washroom. I walked in with my 14-year-old daughter… I am 54, I should not have to put up with it. But she should definitely not be exposed to a man enjoying his fetish in the women’s washroom.”
In response, the staff member explains that “it is the city of Edmonton’s policy that you can use whatever changing room you are most comfortable using.” She goes on to defend the man’s attire, saying “they can wear whatever they are comfortable wearing.”
The man left the recreation center after giving a statement to the female staff member, and Keri and her daughter used the facilities while waiting for the Edmonton Police Service to arrive. Constable Matthew Hawley responded to the scene, and took Keri’s report.
“He said that no law had been broken, and that this was city policy. He told me Edmonton Police Service is neither for nor against it, and if I didn’t like it I could stop using the pool,” Keri says, distraught by the response she received. “I tried to press him about whether he thought 14-year-old girls should have to get undressed in front of middle-aged men in fetish gear and he said the [Edmonton Police Service] has no position on it.”
Keri provided Reduxx with a copy of the police report, which refers to the man by gender neutral pronouns, and states: “The person’s penis was covered by the penis sling however the fake breasts were bare.”
Reduxx has since learned that the man is a regular at the pool, and is almost always seen wearing a rubber breast form beneath a black bikini. We have obtained a series of photos of the man, taken from inside the women’s bathing area, which confirm his appearance.
In the photos, provided by a source in Edmonton, the man is clearly seen wearing a false breast form – an accessory often donned by transvestites and drag queens. The wearable item slips on over the head like a vest and hangs from the chest to give the illusion that the man has breasts.
The source who provided us the photos says that she had visited the pool just days after Keri reports having her February 18 encounter, and saw the man using the women-only sauna.
While snapping the photos, the source explains that the man quickly covered his head with a black towel and began yelling “I have a right to be here” repeatedly.
Reflecting on her experience last week, Keri explains that she felt disappointed by the reaction of police and pool staff. She also notes that the Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre is right next to a grade 7-12 school and is frequented by young students for swims.
“Girls the age of my daughter are in that changing room all the time,” Keri says, calling it “abusive” that the city has policies which protects men’s access to female intimate spaces.
“I felt it was completely crazy that an obvious man in fetish wear was allowed in a space where women and girls undress. It also seemed insane when officer came and said the Edmonton Police Service has no position on a bald guy in fetish boobies and a black form-fitting penis sling being right in front of a 14-year-old girl.”
Keri says she is disappointed with the city of Edmonton for maintaining the gender self-identification policy, but spoke with her daughter about what happened at the pool in an effort to use it as a teaching moment about enforcing boundaries.
“I said I was sorry she had to see that, and that any time a man behaves sexually and inappropriately around her if she is in a public place she should make a LOUD fuss about it. The safest thing is to bring attention and get others to help,” Keri says she told her daughter. “Very upsetting that this basic safeguard does not work at city facilities. That she is expected by the city to accept sexual abuse. A man in that getup in a female space is an abuser. It is not complicated.”
Reduxx reached out to Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre for comment, and may update this article in the event a response is received.
*Keri’s name has been changed to protect the privacy of her family.
Reduxx is your source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% independent! Support our mission by making a donation.
