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Who Gets To Take Up Space In The Swimming Pool?
My local aquatic center tells me all I need to know about how men and women share space
I was doing my regular lap swim recently, when the woman I’d been sharing the lane with happened to be stopped at the end of the pool as I pulled up to it. As I turned in her direction by way of acknowledgment, she said: “Swimming with you is an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much.”
How was I meant to respond to that when I didn’t know what she was thanking me for? “Sure, no worries,” I tentatively put forward.
“I find it hard to get out of the way sometimes and you made it so much easier,” she said.
What she meant was that she was used to having to dodge other swimmers who were getting in her way. She was thanking me for keeping out of her way because that’s the most respectful thing you can do for another swimmer. There’s an unspoken etiquette among fellow swimmers that can be summed up as “you keep out of my way and I’ll keep out of yours.”
On the one hand it’s self-serving — or perhaps it’s self-preservation. I’m pretty guarded about my personal space generally and I’m not going to place myself in the middle of a potential kerfuffle when all I want to do is stay in the zone as I quietly go about my laps.
