An Australian woman is livid after seeing a man abused for changing his baby son in the parents' room at a local mall.
Mikaa Ives said she went into the room to change her nine-month-old daughter at Kawana Shopping World, in Queensland, when another woman entered with two small children.
"There was a dad in the middle of changing his son's nappy, already having a difficult time with his son not wanting to be changed. The lady piped up and started abusing the dad for being in the parents' room," she said.
Ms Ives said the woman berated the man, saying: "It's only for mothers. Get out, you sicko."
"Literally saying she would call security and say he was staring at her naked kids if he didn't leave the room," she said.
Ms Ives told Newshub she initially didn't know whether to intervene, as she didn't want to cause a scene in front of her young daughter and the other parents and children.
"But once she started saying she would accuse him of being a pervert I had to say something," she said.
"All I said was that she was welcome to call security if she wanted, because what she said was out of line and I would support the dad 100 percent."
The man left the room after being yelled at, Ms Ives said, even though he hadn't finished changing his son.
"His son was hysterical and he's just saying, 'It's okay mate. We'll go back in there soon,'" she said.
"I was absolutely shocked that the poor bloke felt he had no choice but to leave like she said. It's a parents' room, not a f*****g mothers' room."
Ms Ives' tale isn't the first of a man being abused for being in the parents' room.
In February, Queenland man Damien Leeson said he was called "disgusting" while changing his daughter in one of the rooms.
"She looked at me and said, 'That's disgusting to see a full-grown man in a parents' room with a little girl,' and said that I'm a 'dirty old b*****d'," he told local media at the time.
Ms Ives said there was still a societal taboo when men tried to change their children.
"I definitely think a lot of men are stereotyped as 'paedos' far too often. Not all men are perverted; women can be too," she said.
"And in this case it was just an innocent father changing his child's nappy."
Newshub.
