A university in California is facing backlash for its plans to replace its men’s and women’s locker rooms with “universal” all-sex spaces.
The University of California, Davis, just outside Sacramento, shared the final steps of the renovation project last month, which they chalked up to “inclusivity.”
“We value inclusive, accessible environments that accommodate the diverse needs of our community,” the university said in its announcement, according to Fox News.
“We are pleased to announce that we will be remodeling the current locker room facilities to implement universal locker rooms,” it added, noting that “all campus recreation members can use our universal locker rooms, regardless of who they are or how they identify. These spaces are inclusive of members with disabilities and members of all gender identities.”
The university also claims their “top priority” is privacy and the new locker rooms are designed with that in mind.
“All toilets, changing rooms and cabanas are individual, private spaces with floor-to-ceiling locking doors,” according to the school.
A floor plan on the university’s website shows that there still will be men’s, women’s and gender-inclusive toilets.
The blueprint also shows the individual showers and change rooms, though it doesn’t note who will be monitoring the area.
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As for the reason behind the design change, Davis claims it “allows members to change comfortably and privately within our locker room setting.”
However, the news didn’t provide any comfort to many of the students, some of whom turned to Reddit to share their concerns.
“Women already have to worry about men looking at them when they are working out, and adding men to their locker rooms is just wrong. The same can be said about men who just want to be able to be comfortable in their own bodies, but are on edge because there are women nearby who might see them,” one female student at the school wrote in a thread that was shared on X by California women’s rights activist Beth Bourne.
Bourne wrote: “Good to see women students pushing back. It’s too bad women’s rights to safety, privacy and dignity were never a consideration by the @ucdavis design team.”
One person claiming to work in the school’s activities and recreation centre where the universal locker room will be located wrote that the school “consulted many of the colleges that have these universal bathrooms and found that incidents within universal bathrooms within colleges were very uncommon and asked for general recommendations on how they design the bathrooms,” adding, the school “put in serious effort to make what incidents that could happen, preventable.”
The internet, however, was flabbergasted by the move.
“I’d really like to know. Are there ANY women who would go shower and change in a locker room with men?,” one X user asked.
“Why even have a locker room? Just put the lockers in the middle of the quad. If everyone is changing in front of everyone what’s the point?”
Tennis star and women’s activist Martina Navratilova called it “beyond f***ed up!,” adding, “Be prepared to lose a lot of women to this insanity.”
Davis expects to spend $5 million on the renovations, which are set to reopen in September.