Many media outlets were quick to dismiss the Wi Spa story as “a hoax” when it first gained attention in June.
In a viral video, a woman complains to staff at the Los Angeles spa about being exposed to a customer’s semi-erect penis while in the women’s section. In relation to the incident, last week, Darren Agee Merager, 52, was charged with five counts of indecent exposure involving four women and a minor girl. Merager is legally female and has been on the sex offender registry since 2006, with multiple convictions for indecent exposure and a conviction for failing to register as a sex offender.
Merager is awaiting trial on seven counts of indecent exposure related to a separate incident. Of note, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a flyer from 2018 stating that Merager claims to be female in order to access women’s locker rooms and showers. But instead of pausing for a moment of reflection, left-leaning publications have dug in, framing any apprehension or sense of alarm as attempts by the “far-right” to sow division and anti-transgender discrimination. Concern for the safety of women and girls has been replaced with emphatic reminders about the harassment transgender people face if they are excluded from their preferred spaces.
Of course, this is an important consideration, but making it the focus feels like a failure to read the room when the individual in question is a convicted sex offender. Merager could not have asked for better allies, and has alleged that the indecent exposure allegations are baseless and “transphobic.”
I have not worked with Merager, so I can’t speak to the particulars of this case. However, I have worked with sex offenders in the past, both in research and clinically. Exhibitionism (also known as “flashing”) is a sexual preference that involves sexual arousal from exposing oneself to unsuspecting people. Individuals who have a sexual interest in children are vigilant for opportunities to abuse them.
A pattern of previous sexual offenses increases the likelihood of future recidivism. Also, in California, male sex offenders who identify as female will be housed in women’s prisons. The case of Karen White in the United Kingdom should serve as a cautionary tale, illustrating what can happen when an individual’s sexual offense history is superseded by gender self-identification.
Ignoring these truths does not help to increase support or awareness for transgender rights. If anything, it does a disservice to those in the community.
Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist and the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society.
