Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Are we ready for CO-ED dressing rooms?

A blogger recently wrote a story about an experience a male friend of his had when helping his daughters try on clothes at a department store.

At first I thought, what person would actually complain about this to a manager, but then...I started thinking...this man was with his wife and 2 daughters. Yes, he has the right to help them choose clothing but why didn't his wife go with them into the "ladies" dressing room?

And then I thought, what would have happened if he was a single father with no female to help him in this situation. I'm torn...what should have happened here.

Could he have taken them into the mens changing room? Would that have been preferable? What if his daughters had encountered a man changing in that dressing room? Isn't it possible that they would have been equally as "traumatized" as the daughter of the woman filing the complaint?

The mother that complained most likely worried that her daughter might be seen by someone of the opposite sex and feel uncomfortable by the encounter. Do you really blame her? Would you want a man wandering around the ladies changing room when you are in there trying on clothes? I'm sure seeing little girls wandering around the mens room with their father's is awkward for many men.

Even if the rooms are all private, there really is no true "privacy" when you are in a public place and you're getting naked. Anyone could open the wrong door at the wrong time and...BOOM! Instant awkwardness!

Maybe it's time to install "family" dressing rooms that are larger and in a more neutral location to allow either parent to assist their children. I don't know how this changing area was laid out so it may have been such an intimate setting that there was no way to avoid her daughter running into the man but I think this issue needs to be addressed. There are way more single parents these days that have children of the opposite sex and could be subjected to this practice. Much like the lack of changing tables in mens rooms, we need to have a more universal place for parents to help their kids without being subjected to nasty glares and rude complaints.

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