Now It's Personal: Trans Sex Offender Exposes Himself in My Locker Room
Naked Men Can Enter Women’s Spaces If They Say the Magic Words
Hi friends and welcome many newcomers!
Note: I added links to the top of the Stronger Women home page to make it easy for you to find the two main topics. See #Save Women’s Sports (like this one) and #Aging Up (older female athletes).
“I’m transgender” has become the new “Open Sesame,” a magic phrase that grants men access to women’s intimate spaces.
Now it’s personal.
My own locker room – the place where I strip off my swimsuit, relax in the hot shower, towel dry, apply lotion, then shimmy into yoga pants and sweatshirts – made headlines1 this week, three months after a registered sex offender who identifies as transgender waltzed in, sat naked on a bench, and watched my female neighbors undress.
I was not there. But it’s the same locker room I described just last week in a story featuring two young, naked girls dancing around me, euphoric after their swim.
The man, Richard Kenneth Cox, was able to use the women’s locker room at Washington-Liberty High School (VA), which also offers community-swim hours, because of Arlington County’s bathroom and locker room policy: “Access to facilities that correspond to a student’s gender identity will be available to all students.” (And community members who use the space.)
“I’m transgender” has become the new “Open Sesame,” a magic phrase that grants men access to women’s intimate spaces.
After leaving Washington-Liberty, Cox allegedly exposed himself in three other women’s locker rooms before he was arrested.
Naked Men Do Not Look Like Women to Us
In case you’re trying to picture this: Few trans-identified males remove their genitals: between four and sixteen percent. So male nudity looks like indecent exposure to us, regardless of a man’s gender identity.
Can anyone blame us for fearing naked men in our midst – especially when we are naked too, in a small room with one exit?2
We should not have to put up with this.
According to one investigation of sexual assaults, voyeurism, and harassment at public fitness centers and swimming pools in London, almost 90 percent of sexual offenses against girls and women took place in unisex changing rooms.
And did you know that what used to be called sex-change operations have no effect on male crime rates? Even after genital surgery, male-to-female transsexuals (as they were called in this longitudinal study) are no less likely to commit sex crimes than other men. So much for sex change.
In the recent past, women could tell any male intruder to leave.
We have lost this right in the name of trans inclusion.
True, there are “not very many.” But any men might materialize at any time, disrupting our right to shower and dress in peace.
Why can’t “not very many” males use the men’s rooms or family changing rooms? Women who identify as trans do that (use single-stall or sex-appropriate locker rooms) routinely.
A new study reveals that British children are 50 times more likely to experience “gender distress” than just ten years ago (from 200 to 10,000 kids). With trends like this, when will “not very many” become “too many”?
True, it can be tough to identify as trans. But women are not “emotional support animals for men,” as
author of Trans, cleverly puts it.What LGBTQ+ Means
In a letter sent to parents and community members who use the pool, school superintendent Francisco Durán assured everyone that Arlington is “adjusting security protocols… to prevent incidents like this from occurring again.”
By “incidents like this” he means sex offenders’ access. We can assume he does not seem eager to revise the “Open Sesame, I’m transgender” policy because he adds, “Arlington Public Schools will continue to foster an inclusive community for all, including those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
By “members of the LGBTQ+ community” he does not mean L, G, or B, because they respect locker-room boundaries. He does not mean female T; they’re female and thus threaten no one. He means he’s guaranteeing male T access to women’s spaces.
Please Cover Intimate Body Areas
Now a new sign has appeared. Here’s the relevant part:
Translation: “Cover your genitals, buttocks, and, if female, breasts, while showering and getting dressed.” Right. Try it.
What Now?
Cox is being held without bond in the men’s jail, charged with sex crimes including indecent exposure, indecent liberties with a child, and sex-offender loitering near a school. Virginia law sensibly requires separate jail facilities for males and females.
As for women, covering our intimate body areas and expecting men to cover theirs while we share side-by-side lockers will not do.
Nor will our fleeing to the family changing rooms. Why should we surrender our space? Then men would have two locker rooms and we would have none.
The Arlington County Board, which oversees school policy, met on Saturday, January 25. I testified during open-mic time and also submitted the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group’s paper, “Access to Female Athletes’ Locker Rooms Should Be Restricted to Female Athletes.”
As it happened, more than half the attendees were there to express fears in light of national legislation they consider to be anti-trans.
Uh oh. Would the crowd shout over me? Would they chase me afterward — or even assault me? Maybe I’ve watched too many videos of violent, “Punch a TERF” assaults by trans activists but I felt nervous. I quietly calculated that I was outnumbered about 65 to one.
I’m a strong swimmer and aspiring cornhole champion, but I’m also a 68-year-old with osteoporosis and sore knees. I could not run from a mob.
They were not a mob. They were peaceful neighbors expressing their concerns, as I did. But if you listen to my testimony (below), you can hear my anxiety.
To disarm the crowd, I added “and I’m a lesbian” to my introductory remarks.
No one booed or jeered. (Or clapped.)
I slipped out early and power-walked home. No one followed me.
Here are my brief remarks:
Selected Stronger Women stories about the need for female-only sports & spaces:
“Virginia sex offender caught exposing themselves at schools and gyms: police,” said one headline, absurdly. Elsewhere, reporters have referred to male sex offenders as she. Some judges have required sexual abuse victims to refer to their assailants as “she,” as in, “she raped me.”
According to the FBI, males are responsible for 97% of all murder and non-negligent manslaughter, 97% of rapes, 96% of pedophilia cases. See “FBI Crime in the United States 2018.” According to RAINN, 9 out of every 10 victims of rape are female.
As more details emerge, the story of this particular sex offender and Arlington's handling of it keeps getting worse.
Here’s an interview (https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-arlington-county-school-washington-liberty-high-school-woman-daughter-transgender-man-womens-girls-school-locker-room-commonwealths-attorney) with a mother who describes seeing Cox naked in the locker room, facing her as she and her 9-year-old daughter walked in. There were many other kids in the locker room too, she reported.
From a trustworthy source: It appears both Arlington Public School (APS) staff and elected officials knew about Richard Kenneth Cox’s activities for weeks, if not months, before he was arrested by Arlington County Police.
APS staff put the burden on women and girls to avoid Richard Kenneth Cox in the girls’ locker room, even advising them to use single-occupant bathrooms to avoid Cox.
Action Steps for Arlington-area residents (or beyond):
1. Attend the Arlington School Board meeting this Thursday, January 30th, and express your concerns during the public comment period. (I'll be there remotely.)
2. Write to Arlington Public School Board to demand answers.
3. If you are a victim of Richard Kenneth Cox's alleged crimes, contact the Arlington police.
It is brave to speak at public meetings where most of the audience is against you. At least they seem to have learned attacking women is not a good look for their cause. I am glad you were safe and thank you for putting yourself out there.