(T)he allegations… “standing whilst naked watching X whilst X was getting changed to take a shower in a manner which X found uncomfortable; getting into the shower next to X, turning to face X without turning on the shower and starting to masturbate and leaving the showers with an erect penis and watching X in the mirrors whilst X dried himself”.

The sexual chemistry between men in gyms has always fascinated me, and I wrote an article about exactly this sort of encounter in a London City gym a few months before the above incident, in the summer of 2004. In an employment tribunal hearing, as described in this Guardian report, the details are emerging of the reasons why a gay man was sacked by HSBC.

If I were HSBC, I would sack the guy making these allegations of “sexual harassment” – because such blame and victimy blustering outrage over behaviour that happens every day in gyms can only be driven by a fundamentalist belief system that enshrines “modesty” as one of its core values, or another personal or political agenda that is homophobic, in the true sense of the word: fear of the same (sex). Sexual harassment employment legislation can create victims, not protect them. If the gay man loses his case here, I’d be very disappointed; the erect penis will not go away in public showers, just because it’s legislated against. You lose your job because, in a gymnasium (the word means naked) your penis twitches, on beholding beauty? Please.

Irritatingly, the gay man concerned seems like a right prig, for he says “I think the idea of casual sex with a stranger is repulsive.” But he still doesn’t deserve to lose his job because of that.