‘I had nightmares for weeks’ after sharing locker room with Lia Thomas

[Kamaji]

‘I had nightmares for weeks’ after sharing locker room with Lia Thomas

By Rikki Schlott
August 1, 2023

Paula Scanlan joined the swim team at UPenn as a way of getting over a nightmare from her past. Instead, it brought it up all over again.

The 23-year-old Connecticut native began swimming at age 8, and she credits the sport for helping her recover after surviving a sexual assault in a bathroom at age 16.

“To be honest, swimming was the only thing that kept me going,” she told The Post.

But after earning her spot on the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team, Scanlan was troubled by the school’s decision to allow transgender athlete Lia Thomas to switch from the male to the female team — and from the male to female locker room.

Thomas, who had previously competed on the men’s swimming team, began swimming on the women’s team in the fall of 2021. She also began changing in the women’s locker room, which Scanlan said was traumatic for her as a sexual assault survivor.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/01/paula-scanlan-had-nightmares-after-sharing-locker-room-with-lia-thomas/

[Polly Ticks]

“Telling me I’m transphobic doesn’t change my beliefs. It doesn’t change how I felt. It doesn’t change the nightmares I was having,” she said. “It’s just an excuse.”

“Most people on the other side of this issue have never come up with a single constructive thing to say to me. They just name call.”

Well said, Ms. Scanlan.