Exhibitionists make Gerlinger locker room ‘a real zoo’?
It was 9 p.m., a dark November night. Gerlinger locker room attendant Sally Merck
and a late-working Gerlinger lifeguard were closing the women s locker area.
The lifeguard noticed him first and tokj Merck a man had gotten in—He looks
suspicious. " Merck walked back among the lockers and concluded that indeed there was a
man in the women's locker area and that he was hiding from her.
"I went back to the cage (the sectioned off area where PE uniforms and towels are
sorted) and called Campus Security, says Merck. I told them I was the only attendant on
duty, and that there was a man locked in here with me. They said they were busy, could I
wait a while.
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"While I was on the phone the guy slipped back
through the showers into the majors locker area—he
seemed to know the locker room layout pretty damn
well—and I got really nervous. I didn't know if he d put up
a fight if I went back there after him. I told Campus
Security to get here fast.”
Two Campus Security patrolmen were over in five
minutes. The two and Merck tracked down the intruder,
whom Merck descnbes as a drunk, fully erected man
with a cutaway window sewn into the front of his pants.
"The security officers took him outside—I assumed
they were booking him,' says Merck. "When they came
back in, chuckling, and told me they had let him go, I got
mad.” I asked why they hadn't turned him over to EPD
(the Eugene Police Department).
"They said they couldn't hold him for anything. I
asked about trespassing, and they said there was no
such thing as trespassing on University property
"So I asked about exhibitionism. They said they
had to believe his side of the story too. He told them he
wasn t a student and that he had wandered in without
knowing he was in the women s locker area So I asked
how he explained his cutaway pants and erect penis. He
told them he had fallen and tom his pants.
"His story didn t make much sense to me. Merck
comments here "If you fall and tear your pants, you tear
the back, not the front, and you don't seam up the hole
The whole incident has soured Merck on Campus
Security. She thinks they should have sent the patrol
men over more quickly. She thinks that the patrolmen,
when they did arrive and catch the intruder, should have
turned him over to the city police, or at least should have
checked with EPD to see if he had a previous record.
She is probably most annoyed with the patrolmen s
response to the incident, their laughter and seeming
unconcern.
Campus Security Supervisor, Dick Tanner, an
swers Merck s slow response complaint by noting that
the security force is understaffed We have only two
Civil Service patrols on campus each shift It means that
we are probably the most understaffed security force in
the state The University has nine patrol people; the
Oregon State force has twenty-five.
Tanner says the patrol persons apparently did no
thing about referring the intruder to EPD "because the
officers felt that an arrest was not warranted Although
full information is not available, he and EPD officers
seem to be under the impression that Merck was not
willing to sign an official oomplaint. She denies this
As for the officers alleged insensitivity, it has been
suggested that the background of Campus Security pat
rol persons might be a large factor Campus Secunty
officers are Civil Service personnel; they are not cer
tified police officers, and they are not trained in inves
tigation techniques, as police officers are Tanner says
that training programs for Campus Security officers are
now in the piannmg process
They could use the training, Merck thinks. “I can
understand that Campus Security may be understaffed
But they just don t seem to be aware at all The two I saw
seemed to think the whole thing was just funny
After the incident, Merck quit working nights at Ger
The man is ill and needs to see a
psychiatrist more
than he needs
to see a cop
Here it is — the situation. A lone woman is walking down the street
when a man pops out of the bushes. He flashes open his coat to reveal
that he is wearing no pants. For a split second her mind freezes — what
should she do?
‘The best immediate reaction is no reaction at all,” says Jim Witzig,
a counselor who has treated a number of exhibitionists What he means
is, don t scream, don't shout, don't even look upset or fnghtened. “Any
observable reaction satisfies the person, and by acting upset you play
right into his hands.”
This might be easier to do, Witzig notes, if you remember that
exhibitionists are almost always harmless. "They want to shock, but
they almost never try to touch their victims, he says And the situation
will resolve itself quickly. After getting a reaction or r»o reaction, ex
hibitionists usually flee the scene immediately.
After the man has fled, there stands the woman She is a bit
surpnsed, possibly upset or angry What should she do now?
Witzig and Cathy Herdman of the Eugene Rape Prevention Center
agree that the police should be notified Exhibitionism, they both agree,
may not be that threatening, but it is an unwarranted invasion of a
woman s privacy “We shouldn’t have to be worried about that sort of
thing,” says Herdman
When such incidents are reported the police have a more accurate
picture of the extent of the problem "They should know how often it
happens,” says Herdman
Larry Spencer of the Eugene police agrees. "We can t handle
these things unless we know about them. Unless they are reported, we
don t even know they are happening. Spencer encourages women to
report such incidents as quickly as possible and to get the best descrip
tion they can.
Once the incident is reported, the woman may have to give some
thought to whether, if the man is caught, she will be willing to sign a
complaint, thus initiating the prosecution of an exhibitionist. Many
women, unaffected by the situation themselves, will realize that the man
is ill and that he needs to see a psychiatrist more than he needs to see a
cop
"Prosecution doesn't do any good unless it forces an exhibitionist
into therapy, says Witzig His experience in treating exhibitionists has
convinced him that even exhibitionists unwillingly pressured into
therapy can almost always be treated successfully, if the therapy is the
right one
According to Bob Gorham of the Lane County District Attorney s
office, prosecution of exhibitionists varies by the individual case, but
treatment for the problem is often a factor.
Exhibitionists are charged with public indecency, a dass A mis
demeanor. The maximum penalty is a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
“How an individual case is handled is up to the judge, says
Gorham "First offenders usually get a probationary sentence Getting
some kind of help is frequently a condition, especially for first or second
offenders Often the man has a psychiatrist and he is ordered to con
tinue seeing him, or he is referred to Mental Health or the social services
counselor at the Lane County Jail
Gorham notes that public indecency cases come up only rarely;
with only about one charge being filed each month. In his year with the
DAs office he says he can remember only one case in which an
exhibitionist received the full sentence — it was the man's tenth offense
K, after an encounter with an exhibitionist, a woman herself is
emotionally upset she should contact the Eugene Rape Prevention
Center (485-0234). In general it seems likely that most women will not
be freaked out by such an incident, but Herdman of the center says,
There still are a number of women who would have a lot of trouble
dealing wtih these things We are anxious to help these women with
counselors, rap groups and a wide range of support services.”
linger and then later cut her hours down so she now
works only an hour and a half a week It s a good job—it
pays well and the people there are nice, she says, "but I
don't want to feel responsible if something happens.
There s nothing I could do if someone were raped or if
another exhibitionist came in, and I don t want to feel
responsible."
Merck's encounter was probably the most bizarre in
a senes of Gerlinger locker room intrusions over sum
mer and fall terms.
The situation has changed since Merck met the
man. The voyeurs and exhibitionists, who were repor
tedly trailing into the lockers about once a week, have all
but disappeared. Only one incident has been reported
so far this term
New secunty measures in Gerlinger have been
credited for this change. Campus Security and EPD
campus patrols now pay more attention to Gerlinger.
The only women s locker room entry not clearly visible
from the cage has been made into a one-way, out-only
door. The other women s locker room door, which is
next to the men's locker area, is not only clearly labeled
"Women Only' now, but also has a menacing sign
threatening prosecution for non-female intruders.
A major factor in the security changes seems to
have been the efforts of one student. "Thank God for
Rosalie, one of the Gerlinger employes says, "She set
the wheels in motion ."
Rosalie is Rosalie Hermens, a senior in sociology
and computer science. She works out regularly at Ger
linger to keep in shape and to work the kinks out of a bad
knee. She had four hectic days last December; during
that time she had three run-ins with the same voyeur
exhibitionist.
The first incident came on Dec. 14 Hermens was in
the area between the men's and women s locker rooms,
on her way to the gym, when a man came out of the
men s locker area dad only in a shirt. I realized that the
best thing was not to register any reaction at all," says
Hermens, “so I just tried to ignore him and went on to the
gym. I guess he caught another woman in his unusual
costume; I don t know how she reacted."
Hermens let that incident pass but decided to take
action when, the same day after she had returned to the
women's locker room, she caught the same man "sport
ing around the women s lockers in a towel.' Hermens
notified the locker room attendants, they called Campus
Secunty and were told that the security people were
busy and would get over to Gerlinger as quickly as they
could. “They must have been busy,” says Hermens.
"While I was waiting I had time to change, put on my
contact lenses, and put on makeup. While we were
waiting, we also put in a call to the Eugene police." The
security people and police officers arrived at Gerlinger
at the same time. "Their basic attitude,” says Hermens,
"seemed to be it's too bad these things happen.’ The
officers didn't seem particularly concerned, probably
because I wasn't really shook up or upset."
Hermens did get upset, however, when it happened
a third time. "I was in the shower, and I noticed this same
idiot watching me. This time I was mad. I grabbed a
towel and went after him. He tried to slip away, but I
finally found him in a side aisle. I just started screaming
hysterically at him. He ran away fast. I’m sure he was
terrified.
“This time when we called Campus Security we
didn't get any of this we II come when we re ready’ jazz,
she says. "They buzzed the EPD officer stationed on
campus; he walked over to the Campus Security office
and called me from there. While I was on the phone with
him, he called another EPD officer to get over to Ger
linger.”
Fast action or not, between the time it took to alert
Campus Security and get an officer to the scene,
another man had wandered in the Gerlinger front door
and been chased out by the cage employes.
Both of Hermens reported incidents, as well as
Merck s are still under investigation by the Eugene
police.
When Hermens looks back on her experiences,
she says she has two reactions. "First," she says, “I feel
really sorry for people who do these things. I'm a sociol
ogy student—I naturally feel for people who can’t seem
to support meaningful relationships and seem to have to
get their kicks out of supposed domination of defense
less women by shocking them.
“I have a hard time dealing with mentally ill people.
Rationally I know that man was in all likelihood totally
harmless, but there is a chance he isn't. That frightens
me.
"And my concern for this person doesn't override
the fact that I am angry. I don't go over to Gerlinger to
exercise anymore except when I am sure there will be
lots of people around. It makes me mad when a person
like that can take that kind of control over my activities.
"I also feel a kind of frustrated, diffuse anger toward
society," says Hermens, “for allowing this sort of thing to
happen."
These reactions prompted Hermens to act after the
incidents in Gerlinger. She felt the current security was
inadequate and that more could be done to prevent men
from getting into the Gerlinger locker area. She talked
with Lynn Rodney, the dean of the College of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation; Campus Security
Chief Oakley Glenn; and Gerald Bogen, the University
vice-president in charge of Student Services.
From these talks and other discussions with Ger
linger employes, Hermens came up with some ideas for
tightening security around Gerlinger.
In a meeting with Rodney, Glenn, Eugene police
sergeant Larry Spencer, and a Physical Plant represen
tative, she asked for some specific changes—better
patrolling of the area between the men's and women's
lockers, the removing of the door knob from the
women's locker room exit which was not visible from the
cage, the placing of a sign quoting the Oregon trespas
sing law at the other door, and a monitoring system—a
large mirror of video terminals—in the comer of the
women's locker room which had the greatest male traf
fic. All but the last have been done.
Stories by
MARY DON
Of the Emerald
Hermens’ action made a number of people aware
of the situation in Gerlinger for the first time. She and
Sally Merck were the first people to report the presence
of voyeurs and exhibitionists to Campus Security and
EPD. Unless they are notified, say the security people,
they have no way of knowing about such situations.
They are anxious to investigate but—EPD detective Ed
Van Horn says, “We can’t do anything until we know
there is a problem.”
The people Hermens talked to, when contacted
later, all seemed surprised to hear that there had been
other, unreported intruders in Gerlinger.
Dean Rodney, when met with the estimate that men
had been seen in the women’s locker area once a week
during fall term, said he had not been aware of the extent
of the problem. “The employes in the cage are in
structed to call security whenever this happens,” he
says. "If it has been that common, it hasn’t come to my
attention.” He says he intends to keep a closer check on
the situation in the future. “If the present restrictions
haven't significantly eased the situation, I would be wil
ling to look into the possibility of further action,” Rodney
adds. Like Hermens, he may sense a conflict in requir
ing women to take PE courses when locker room sec
urity cannot be assured.
When Van Horn and Spencer of the Eugene police
were asked if, after the three reports during the short
time space at the end of last term, they had checked to
see if other men had been in the women’s lockers, they
said they had not. Spencer explains, “The people we
have on campus are kept very busy with all the reports
that come in each day. We don't have the time to go
around to all the departments and ask if they are having
anv problems."
Both Van Horn and Spencer emphasize that they
are anxious to clear the campus of voyeurs and ex
hibitionists. What has looked like police indifference to
some women in these situations, they say, is actually
the maintaining of a necessary objective attitude.
“Sometimes I think women have a reaction they ex
pect,” says Van Horn. “They want sympathy from the
police, and I don’t think they realize that we can’t let our
feelings get involved in our work. We have to protect the
rights of suspects as well as victims.”
So far, none of the Gerlinger intruders has been
caught. Police believe they did locate the man involved
in the single incident reported this term but, after they
found the suspect, the woman who alerted them could
not be found to sign a complaint.
Everyone involved seems to agree that apprehend
ing such people is almost impossible. Tanner says the
only sure way to catch men in the women’s locker room
would be to station an officer full-time just outside the
door. He says he'd like to do this, but that he simply
doesn't have the manpower.
Detective Van Horn says the problem could be cut
down by making access to Gerlinger even more limited.
This solution also seems impracticable since it would
probably mean shutting off the one indoor doorway to
the Gerlinger gyms.
Hermens is glad that changes have been made, but
she still feels more could be done. “They have thrown up
barriers," she says, "but they have only made it less
easy for men to get in.” She would still like to see a video
monitoring system installed. Even if it wasn’t monitored
all the time, she reasons, such a system would have a
strong deterrent effect. Campus Security and EPD peo
ple doubt that video monitoring would have this effect.
They also oppose the idea because of the expense
involved and because they think that women might be
uncomfortable with such a system, even if it were moni
tored by Gerlinger’s women employes.
And so the situation stands. Looking back on the
December incidents in Gerlinger, Hermens says, “That
place was a real zoo. Things have changed, but I still
look over my shoulder a lot."
‘Most exhibitionists
are so modest
that if you were to
suggest the idea of
living in a nudist
camp to them,they
would totally reject it.
“In terms of physical threat, the aver
age exhibitionist is probably less
dangerous than most men you would
meet on the street, says Jim Witzig, a
doctoral counseling student at the Uni
versity.
Witzig spent six years working with
exhibitionists while he was on the staff of
the Oregon Mental Health Association,
and he probably knows as much about
the problem as anyope in this area.
"The great majority of exhibitionists,
about 65 per cent of them, are normal in
every other aspect of their lives,” Witzig
says. “Almost all of them hold steady
jobs and are well-respected members of
the community. Many are happily mar
ried.
"The difference between these ex
, hibitionists and other normal people is
that they have not integrated socially ac
ceptable ways of showing off, of getting
attention and expressing rage
“We find that a large number of these
people had over-indulgent mothers.
They got used to a little more reassur
ance than most people get. In this they
are a bit immature."
Excessive mothering is not the only
way exhibitionists become conditioned
to a higher level of attention and se
curity. But, for the 65 per cent Witzig is
talking about, dealing with trauma is
somehow more difficult than it is for
other people.
"When an exhibitionist exposes him
self to a woman, the incident usually has
been triggered by some kind of disap
pointment,” Witzig says. “Common ex
amples of this are a fight with a wife or a
frustrating situation in connection with a
job. Something makes the exhibitionist
anxious about his manhood.”
By exposing himself to women the ex
hibitionist is expressing his contempt
and reassuring himself that he can upset
women. He gets self-confidence from
m' mm m
Jim Witzig
Photo by John John*
encounters in which he can frighten
them.
Witzig sees a paradox between the
exhibitionist s basic personality and his
actions when he exposes his genitals to
women. “As a rule, these are not ag
gressive people. They express their
anger by exposing themselves. Most
exhibitionists are modest— so modest
that if you were to suggest the idea of
living in a nudist camp to them, they
would totally reject it. Generally they are
trying to prove to themselves that they
are more aggressive than they really
are.
“This kind of exhibitionism is an
obsessive-compulsive neurosis, the
only split from an otherwise normal per
sonality.”
Of course, the obsessive-compulsive
diagnosis does not account for all ex
hibitionist behavior, Witzig says. There
are other kinds of exhibitionists whose
personalities are not as easily explained
as the 65 per cent he has been talking
about. Such exceptions would be men
tally retarded to phychotic exhibitionists.
For the majority, though, for those
who have trouble dealing with their
anger or frustration, treatment can be
effective. In fact, Witzig says, "Ex
hibitionism is easy to treat, if you do it the
right way."
He himself stumbled on the extremely
effective method while working with ex
hibitionists at the mental health associa
tion. “I had a large number of ex
hibitionists to counsel at one time and,
for a while, new cases were coming in
pretty often. I decided to try therapy with
a group of exhibitionists to save time and
expense In the end, it turned out to be
much more effective than individual
therapy."
The prospect of group therapy was
frightening for most of the exhibitionists
Witzig was working with. Most went into
the group because of outside pressure,
as in the case of court referrals. Usually
exhibitionists feel their cases are hope
less and they are disgusted with them
selves,” says Witzig, "so they often re
ject therapy.”
Still, the therapy worked. “Being in a
group helped each individual to see that
he wasn’t the only moral degenerate in
the country, and to see that others with
the same problem were reasonable
sorts of people.”
What group therapy does, Witzig
says, is help individuals in the group
learn to take more socially acceptable
action in handling future conflicts. “A
person who felt he needed more atten
tion would be urged to drive a big car or
wear flashy chothes instead of exposing
himself to women,., says Witzig.
After participating in Witzig’s group
almost no exhibitionist continued expos
ing themselves. After about six years,
Witzig says, referrals dropped off and
the group was disbanded. Since then,
therapists have tried placing ex
hibitionists in mixed therapy groups,
groups of people with various kinds of
problems. The mixed group approach,
he says, was much less effective. At this
time, there is no exhibitionist therapy
group in the county.
Witzig says it may be time for another
such group. He feels that when there are
enough available clients to form such a
group, it is the most practical, economi
cal, and effective way of dealing with the
problem.
“The only thing jail does," says Witzig,
"is take an exhibitionist out of circulation.
It might possibly be helpful if it forces the
person to seek treatment but, in the case
of a first offender, a jail term may be
more likely to convince the exhibitionist
of his own hopelessness. The thing is,
you don't deal with this by force.
"Effectively treating these people in
group situations saves their families the
emotional and economic stress of hav
ing a husband in jail. It saves the county
the expense of keeping exhibitionists
penned up and of processing the same
people through the courts for repeated
offenses. Most importantly, it solves the
problem.''
nr