gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail gmail Ex-UPenn teammate ‘had nightmares for weeks’ after sharing locker room with Lia Thomas By Rikki Schlott Published Aug. 1, 2023 Updated Aug. 1, 2023, 6:08 p.m. ET Paula Scanlan at congressional hearing Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan recently testified before Congress about the problems of having trans athletes in women\'s sports. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images More On: lia thomas Keith Olbermann ripped after saying Riley Gaines ‘sucked at swimming’: ‘Nasty ignorant man’ Riley Gaines jokes she’s quitting women’s sports activism after protesters chant ‘f–k you’ and ‘can’t swim’: ‘Sike!’ Lia Thomas so ‘well-endowed’ I had to ‘refrain from looking’ in the locker room: Riley Gaines Riley Gaines launching podcast in transgender sports fight 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. Lia Thomas with teammatesTransgender athlete Lia Thomas began competing with the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swimming team in 2021.USA TODAY Sports “In general, bathrooms were a place I felt really uncomfortable,” she said. “I would just kind of relive the situation that I went through when I was 16.” Scanlan described Thomas’s presence as “so incredibly uncomfortable” — and not just for her. Her fellow biologically female swimmers resorted to changing in bathroom stalls and family bathrooms for the sake of their privacy, she said. “I would be at my locker and then all of a sudden hear a masculine voice, and I would just jump,” Scanlan recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, somebody got in here.’” Paula Scanlan swimmingScanlan says swimming was what got her through a difficult time after she was sexually assaulted as a teen.Courtesy of Paula Scanlan “It’s incredibly vulnerable,” she added. “I had nightmares for weeks about men being there while we were dressing.” Now Scanlan fears biological males in women’s leagues will deter the next generation of female athletes. On July 27, she testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government in defense of women’s sports. “If there had been a man on my team in high school, I would have quit, and I would literally have nothing,” she told The Post. “I would never have gotten into a good college. My entire life would have been derailed. “If even one girl is discouraged from competing in sports over this, we’ve failed,” Scanlan added. “It’s so important to give girls these same opportunities.” Paula Scanlan at her graduationScanlan says critics often shut her down concerns by calling her “transphobic.”Courtesy of Paula Scanlan In retrospect, Scanlan said the decision to allow Thomas to change in the main locker room rather than an individual family bathroom was made without any meaningful solicitation of input from her teammates, most of whom she believes shared her reservations. “If we had had more open conversations and more discussions, so much of this could have been avoided,” she said. But, rather than engage in meaningful dialogue, those who disagree with her have pummeled her with insults and accusations of transphobia. “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.” Paula ScanlanScanlan says changing with Lia Thomas made her and fellow teammates feel “vulnerable.”Twitter / @PaulaYScanlan “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.” Since graduating last year, Scanlan, who majored in Computer Science and is pursuing a career in product management in New York City, has partnered with the Independent Women’s Forum to advocate for women’s sports. She says her primary animating concern is the precedent that Thomas’s presence in her locker room set. What do you think? Post a comment. “We didn’t end up being in any real true danger in that locker room,” she said. “But what’s scarier for me is what we’re inviting as a society by allowing this. We’re inviting any man that might have bad intentions to come in. “Just because Lia didn’t have bad intentions doesn’t mean that someone else doesn’t.” Filed under lia thomas swimming transgender 8/1/23 Read Next Meet the woman who smashed man\'s mountain-climbing record ... SPONSORED STORIES Recommended by More Stories Page Six Elon Musk confirms he had third child with Grimes named Techno Mechanicus Elon Musk confirms he had third child with Grimes named Techno Mechanicus DECIDER Joy Behar Fires Back After ‘View’ Co-Hosts Call Out Her “Harsh” Personality: “What Is This, A Gang Bang?” Joy Behar Fires Back After ‘View’ Co-Hosts Call Out Her “Harsh” Personality: “What Is This, A… NYPost Kamala Harris mocked for \'granny moves\' at White House hip-hop party: \'Yuck\' Kamala Harris mocked for \'granny moves\' at White House hip-hop party: \'Yuck\' Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Email YouTube © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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