Target’s unsafe restroom and fitting room policy remains the same; therefore, the incidents of voyeurism continue, according to American Family Association’s (AFA) recent online article and call to action titled, “Target Policy Helps Man Exploit 6 Young Girls.”
“It happened again,” writes AFA President Tim Wildmon. “Target’s dangerous policy of allowing men to enter women’s dressing rooms has resulted in possible sexual crimes against female customers—both women and underage girls.”
Wildmon is referring to a May incident in the Philadelphia area, where a man was arrested for allegedly drilling holes in women’s dressing room walls in several Target stores and taking pictures of females undressing. After his arrest, police searched the man’s phone and found 56 images of women—12 of whom were without tops and one who was completely unclothed. They also found six images of young girls who were either partially or totally undressed, investigators said.
“This voyeur allegedly drilled these holes on a prior visit,” Wildmon continued. “Target knew the holes were in the dressing rooms and knew these holes allowed for ‘Peeping Toms’ to spy on women undressing. Rather than protecting female customers by prohibiting men from the area, Target merely plugged the holes and continued to let men enter without restriction. With something as simple as a ballpoint pen, the man returned and pushed the plugs out of the holes and used his phone’s camera to continue his disgusting crime of violating the privacy of Target’s female customers.
“Target had the ability to completely prevent this type of crime, yet it didn’t. Target still has the ability to prevent this type of crime 100% of the time, yet it won’t. The bottom line is this: People who shop at Target and use its restrooms or dressing rooms are at risk for sexual exploitation.”
Comments from readers regarding AFA’s analysis of this ongoing issue are evidence that the matter continues to strike a chord with many Americans.
“The culture is definitely a problem, but when the [restroom] policy INVITES that deviant behavior, you can’t just say that the behavior is the most pressing issue,” commented one AFA reader. “Policy should help to dissuade, not encourage criminal behavior.”
AFA is encouraging concerned Americans like these to take action in several ways:
- Visit the most recent AFA Action Alert on Target’s voyeurism problem.
- Call Target headquarters at 612-304-6073 (option 2) and personally let executives know you are boycotting their stores.
- Forward this information to friends and family. Invite them to sign the #BoycottTarget pledge at afa.net/target. More than 1.5 million have already signed the pledge.
- Voice concerns on Target’s Facebook page.
“As AFA has stated many times,” Wildmon added, “our worries do not stem from fear of the transgender community, rather from both the real and potential threat that predators and voyeurs would take advantage of the Target restroom policy to harm women and children—and there are plenty of incidents to show that they have.”
