Swimming governing body Swim England has sounded the alarm over a ‘significant increase’ in perverts and voyeurs attempting to film female swimmers getting changed in mixed sex cubicles.
Some 48 incidents of filming women over or under cubicles using mobile phones have been reported at competition events between January 2024 and this February.
Slides from an ‘extraordinary safeguarding meeting’, published on a regional website for Swim England and seen by , suggested the majority of incidents took place in mixed-sex changing areas.
Some of those filmed said they felt scared and embarrassed, and even considered leaving the sport altogether. It has prompted Swim England to warn organisers of swimming competitions to find ways of segregating changing facilities.
‘I wasn’t going to tell anyone. What’s the point? Nothing will be done about it,’ one recent victim of voyeurism said.
Another said: ‘I am really scared, what if there are pictures of my naked body on the internet now for everyone to see?’
‘I feel like leaving swimming altogether now,’ said a third victim. ‘I can’t believe someone has done this to me. I feel so embarrassed.’
Swim England says clubs need to do more when it comes to taking action on those spotted filming in cubicles. Its safeguarding policy now bans all use of mobile phones for any purpose in changing areas.
It may have a fight on its hands.
One organiser of competitions said fears of illicit pictures being taken were a ‘low-level concern’, while another said simply of an alleged voyeur: ‘We have had a word with him and are going to monitor things.’
In total, there were 43 incidents of female competitors being filmed in cubicles using any form of recording device in 2024, and seven incidents this January alone.
If the trend continues, the slides noted, the number of incidents could reach as many as 84 throughout 2025.
There were also three incidents of male swimmers being filmed on mobile phones as they got changed in the last year.
Swim England has ‘strongly’ recommended that swim clubs and competition organisers speak to the swimming pools they are competing at to create ‘simple barrier systems’ in order to segregate any mixed changing areas.
It has also banned the use of mobile phones at all in changing areas during competitions, with club organisers told to communicate this clearly. Outside of police action, those flouting the rules may also face suspension from swimming competition.
But it has been criticised for appearing to pass the buck to the operators of swimming pools and leisure centres – after government quango Sports England said in 2013 that mixed-sex ‘village changing’ arrangements were preferred for new facilities.
This guidance is not, however, a legal requirement, and the Sport England guidance states that ‘village changing can also be divided into dedicated zones for male or female use, for particular programme sessions’.
However, concerns remain over the use of mixed changing facilities.
Research group the Women’s Rights Network, which purports to ‘defend the sex-based rights of women’, found last year that almost a third of leisure centres in the UK lacked single-sex changing areas.
And in 2018, it concluded that of 134 sexual assaults in leisure centres, 120 took place in mixed changing areas.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies told The Times, which first reported on the story, that she had been warning about the risks of mixed changing facilities for ‘years’.
Ms Davies, who now campaigns on women’s ‘sex-based rights’, said: ‘So-called changing villages are just mixed sex and it’s a voyeur’s paradise. Getting rid of single-sex changing rooms hurts women and girls.
‘Maybe this means Swim England will see sense and do something to protect girls who want to swim.’
Last September, Swim England overhauled its reporting procedures
In a statement, Swim England said: ‘The use of mobile phones or devices in changing rooms during Swim England club training sessions and competitions is strictly prohibited.
‘We have strengthened procedures over a number of years to help protect our members from instances of inappropriate photos or video footage being taken during Swim England activity, as well as launching our Keep it in Your Locker campaign in early 2024 as part of our safeguarding policy, Wavepower.
‘The Keep it in Your Locker campaign aims to raise awareness of our zero-tolerance approach to this issue and also encourages our members to report any instances to us.
‘We have also put measures in place to speed up the reporting of such incidents.
‘Trusted safeguarding and welfare is a priority as part of our One Swim England strategy and we remain concerned about any instances of unacceptable behaviour.’