This article looks at how trans-inclusive and gender-neutral locker room and changing-room policies have been exploited by predators, compiling incidents and statistics from the United States and the United Kingdom to show the practical risks those policies have created.
Critics have warned for years that broad “trans-inclusive” and gender-neutral rules for bathrooms and locker rooms would put women and girls at risk, and those warnings were rooted in a simple reality: a predator can claim an identity to gain access to vulnerable spaces. When private areas that lack cameras or clear separation are opened to anyone, the opportunity for abuse rises. This piece lays out specific cases and public data that illustrate the problem.
High-profile incidents have illustrated exactly how the loopholes are used. In Virginia, convicted sex offender Richard Cox used a claimed trans identity to enter female locker rooms and repeatedly exposed himself to women and girls, later being charged with indecent liberties with children, indecent exposure, child pornography possession, and sex offender proximity violations. In Maryland, a man exploited a gym’s gender-neutral locker room policies to film women in the locker room, showing the pattern is not isolated.
Despite repeated examples, many activists and policymakers continued to push “inclusivity” that erases single-sex protections. Now a new report backs what critics have long argued: these policies have been exploited by sexual predators.
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Well, knock me down with a feather. It turns out, when places where women get changed are opened up to any old Joe who fancies using them, creepy blokes will walk in. As revealed by new police statistics, mixed-sex changing rooms were the location of at least 16 rapes, 80 sexual assaults and 65 acts of voyeurism in England and Wales in 2023.
Obviously, the revelation that sexual abusers thrive in confined, CCTV-free spaces that women use to strip off and wash should be a surprise to no one. Nevertheless, research by the Women’s Rights Network found up to a third of Britain’s leisure centres have changing rooms that are ‘open to everyone’, regardless of gender, placing women at needless risk.
Legally, there is no obligation for leisure centres, gyms or spas to offer single-sex changing facilities. What the law does say, however, is that when a space is labelled women-only, there is an obligation to exclude biological males. Centres that want to appear ‘trans inclusive’, while still staying within the law, therefore tend to opt for mixed-sex or gender-neutral facilities.
Independent analysis of police data now shows an alarming pace of incidents tied to gender-neutral facilities: on average three crimes against women and girls per week since 2023, which translates to at least 468 victims across 2023, 2024, and 2025. Reports also indicate that roughly five percent of perpetrators in these cases were male staff members at the facilities, which raises questions about supervision and hiring practices.
This is not a uniquely American issue; similar trends have surfaced abroad, where mixed or open changing areas have been linked to sexual offending and voyeurism.
In 2024, two men were jailed after secretly recording thousands of people, including children, in swimming pool changing areas across London and the South West of England. Adam Dennis and Robert Morgan received a combined 42 months in prison, though one sentence was suspended so they will serve only 11 months between them. Police described the pair as “insidious” after investigators found they filmed victims changing and used those images on online forums.
The Telegraph’s coverage of these incidents prompted commentary from public figures who have raised concerns about protecting women and girls in single-sex spaces.
When policies prioritize ideology over safety, real people pay the price, and the data and criminal cases collected across jurisdictions make that clear. Given the documented incidents and statistics, the practical question for policymakers is whether protections for vulnerable users will be restored or reinforced to prevent further exploitation.
