Why is Disney allowing this man to do this? Yes, man. I’m done being polite.
🚨WARNING: WOMENS STUFF‼️
This pic has given me a flashback:
So I’m barely 11 years old when I started my period at a theme park. I was horrified. My mother quickly whisked me in to one of the huge bathrooms to help me sort myself out.
I was terrified! I thought I’d ruined everyones day. My parents had saved & saved so we could go to this Theme Park for my little sister’s birthday & I was in tears, panicking that I was dying & had spoiled the whole trip.
The crowd around me was scary, but vibe instantly changed once in the bathroom. When my mum whispered to the lady in front of her that her 11 year old daughter had just “started her… you know what”, the lady gasped & congratulated me in a whisper. Next, she asked if she could help us by getting us to the front of the very long queue: at least a 15 minute wait.
I sniffled & my mother said that was very kind but we didn’t want to make a fuss. I had full on frozen as I was, after all, literally dying (so I thought). The lady nipped up & down the queue & quietly asked the other ladies, many with kids, if they would give up their place so my mum could take me in to the big end stall? I watched her communicate why without ever saying the word “period”. Everyone just got it!
One by one, the women & those older girls I thought all looked like princesses, gave me a smile or a wave of encouragement, ushering me to the front. We were next. I was still scared but I didn’t feel so uncomfortable anymore. It felt like I’d joined a club, as why else would these women, all of them, be so kind & keen for me to go ahead of them? I was only 11!
Mum led the way, thanking everyone profusely. They replied in knowing nods & whispers, saying to her but also to me:
“Not at all!”
“Please go ahead of us!”
“How exciting! You poor thing, what a shock here of all places, but you’ve got your mum!”
“The end stall is biggest, we’ll make sure you’re next!”
“Do you need anything?”
One girl of about 14 who looked like Belle from Beauty & The Beast crouched down as I trembled next to her, now at the front of the queue, & said:
“We’re the same, I got mine first time at a swimming pool! It doesn’t hurt much really, & only for a bit. You ok?”
It was overwhelming to see a room full of women, in the biggest bathroom I’d ever seen, seamlessly mobilise as a group & help a young mother & her 11 year old daughter, as if I was their own. If anyone asks me when I first learned what the word “Sisterhood” means, I remember this day.
My Mum took me in to the end stall & all was well. When we came out I was worried everyone would stare, but it was all back to normal. Privacy, dignity & “a woman’s secret” were in the air. The Belle-a-like girl had taken her time washing her hands with her own mum to wait for me, to say:
“You OK? My family will be at the food place bit at 12 for lunch. Maybe we can meet there & say a quick hi? There are smaller bathrooms there, we can go together?”
Her mum & my mum exchanged mum words above our heads. I felt so grateful & special, said thank you, asked my mum, & it was settled. I was settled. And apparently not dying!
Then I looked at myself in the mirror. I thought I’d look different, suddenly older, but I was exactly the same (albeit a bit flushed) & ready to go on the teacups. Mum & “Belle” assured me no one could tell & we went back out to the busy park as if nothing had changed. It was the best day!
That would have been a totally different experience if this selfish, hulking man had been stood pointedly in the middle of the bathroom, leering at everyone while filming himself (& the rest of us) in the mirror. Scary.
Some things are sacred. Girls deserve truly female only bathrooms in theme parks for many reasons. They are not sets for your content, sir.
Privacy & dignity for girls is more important than whatever this does for you. Esp as you’re targeting children’s spaces.
Get out & stay out.
'I'm a cross-dressing, penis-possessing, porn-making fetishist who doesn't understand why the author of books I read as a child isn't fine with me entering women's bathrooms at a kids' theme park and taking photos.'