When I was young and finishing a workout at the gym, I would shower and return to my locker to find that my gym shorts had disappeared. Sadly, at 62 and still a gym regular, that is no longer a problem. People with their kinks have to keep their boundaries in check. I feel for this guy though. He came of age at a time when we gay people feared for a lot if we were open, especially if you weren't in an open progressive city. The lifelong impact of that can't be minimized. There is a segment of gay culture that is really intentionally on the margins from mainstream culture and sexuality. There's a fuck you attitude toward the establishment. I got that! I'm sorry but the youngster is an asshole, the gym management are assholes and the folks prosecuting this guy are assholes engaging in behavior that is not necessary and likely a product of homophobia. The guy needs to know that he needs to knock it off, period. If it happens again, he should be referred for evaluation. Otherwise this is a Trumped up pile of shit. The same one we see every day.

This is more like 2 Girls 1 Cup territory - I think the request was more about "What can I make you do for $20?" power trip than a primarily sexual interest in watching people defecate.

My first thought was similar to Sportlandia @3: it could easily be about power, degradation, and dirty taboo rather than getting a cup of poop. (I didn't click on the link so maybe the details don't line up with that.)

I mean some guys like smelling underwear after some hot guy works out in them. Maybe it's something similar?

@3 Read the article in the link. My guess is Dan's right, this is probably a dementia issue. The guy's behavior is too outlandish to be a mere power thing. Besides, in what world does having a $20 bill represent power?

@3. Sportlandia. The guy is surely a coprophiliac.

Something is afoot (is strange?) when the 'cohorts' are being solicited for advice, rather than Dan.

@LW

I read the article. Since you are so surprised this man you know did this, I have to ask if the man confirmed it privately (the article says he denies it) or if you have some reason to believe it is true that it was him. Because with the limited knowledge we have (just the article), it seems the victim identified your acquaintance as the creep from memory later after the incident, picked in a line up. Obviously the incident happened, but could it possibly have been someone else? A case of misidentification? That does happen, more frequently than we'd like to believe. Since the creep was not caught at the scene, but identified later from a description, etc, I just wonder.

@Marty, anything is possible, but I just want to say that men who offer small amounts of money or simple favors (or even insults, degradation) as a supposed solicitation are not actually trying to entice the person they are harassing to do a thing. It is part of the power play- like they are saying, "I'm demonstrating to you that I think you are such a worthless desperate person that you will degrade yourself for these crumbs I offer you." Last time I was sexually harassed, a man drove slowly along side me while I was walking through my neighborhood, told me it was dangerous to be walking on the road (it's not) and that I should be careful about traffic (he was the only traffic) and that he'd give me a ride home if I sucked his dick. The power isn't in the fact that the man offers a ride or 20 dollars- it's in the fact that he can approach you in this situation in the first place and force you to respond to his interference in your life, the implicit threat, and your acknowledgement that he thinks you are worthless.

It's possible that he has dementia, but it's just as likely that he's a creep. I don't know how many stories we need to hear about how some people behave in really creepy and reckless ways before we just accept that this sort of harassment is fairly common. The only thing outlandish about this story (probably the only reason it even made the news) is the poop in the cup thing. Following someone around, staring at them, flashing their dick, soliciting them, etc- even in public- this is all standard sexual harassment. People with an interest in poop are a small percentage of any demographic (gross).

@6 well, the lower your price, the more demeaned you are

@2
The youngster? You mean the minor who was sexually harassed? He's an asshole?? Wtf? The guy should be prosecuted. It'd be absolutely the same if he did this to a girl. It's not homophobia. It's justice. He asked the guy to poop in a cup, then followed him around naked in the locker room, stalked the guy when he left and then asked to touch him for money. All of this is illegal. And probably incredibly scarring for the victim.

I'm getting really tired of people treating folks in their early 60s as elders who lived through Such Different Times. Like, we aren't talking about the generation that fought nazis. We aren't talking about a generation before the sexual revolution. It's sort of a weird generational shift, like how Boomers can't stop calling all young people "millennials" despite the fact that millennials are well into their 30s now. Aside from all that, early 60s just isn't that old- it's not like the dude is a dinosaur who can't possibly be expected to keep up with the times. Why in the world would he have spent the last several decades with regressive elderly views from before he was born when he was in his 40s, 50s etc?

This creep would've been a child in the 70s, college-aged in the early 80s. I know things were different back then, with Reagan and the plague years and even more risk and discrimination then for LGBT folks than now. But it was not acceptable then (or ten, twenty, thirty years before that even) for a man to approach a teenager in a public setting and expose himself, solicit him for sex, follow him around, and especially ask for poop in a cup. And I think it's homophobic to blame this behavior on being gay at a time when a lot of gay people were harassed and abused. Finally, I'm cool with saying that we should take an approach that helps people who might behave in ways that are harmful to others due to their own trauma rather than throw them into the criminal justice system, but none of that is the fault of this teenage boy who's just trying to workout, and judging him for defending himself is a load of bullshit. If he were just to shut up and take the abuse, it would perpetuate the cycle that you are blaming this on in the first place. And there's nothing either non-mainstream about sexual harassment (it's depressingly common place and mainstream) nor anti-establishment (it's in fact reinforcing hierarchies). Brushing off being bullied when you were a kid is very definitely pro mainstream and pro establishment, just get a stiff upper lip kid, fall in line. There are still plenty of places for people who want to solicit sex from strangers can still do so outside of public gyms though I don't suppose any of them are likely to want to shit in his cup- needs to seek out a special place for that.

@2 The only asshole in this story is the creepy sexual harasser. And you, for trying to justify his behavior and blaming the victim.

Aside from that, welcome to Slog, Mr. Spacey.

The link at the very end re "inappropriate sexual behavior—can be an early sign of dementia" doesn't work.
Yes, I was hoping to find some clues for myself.

Uncharacteristically bizarre behavior can also be a sign of a brain tumor.

And... maybe the guy just didn't have the money to buy a chocolate shake.

My theory is the guy had to take a medical test for work and needed healthy shit for a sample.

@ 15 and @16, hilarious both and way more rational than the situation as presented.

There's a market for drug-free urine, I wonder if it is connected in some way (or could be) to piss fetish folks?

Could it be that he wanted to have a sample of healthy biodome for a fecal transplant? There are some (unproven) ideas that it might improve aging. It also helps with a number of issues and, at the cost of healthcare I know a few people that tried the rogue way. So... Yeah it is a thing and... It is nor sexual. Most likely it was a kink but there is also un unkinky explanation.

@2 I've been here a long time and your comment is the rapiest comment in the history of this column, congratulations.

Could it be that he wanted to have a sample of healthy biodome for a fecal transplant? There are some (unproven) ideas that it might improve aging. It also helps with a number of issues and, at the cost of healthcare I know a few people that tried the rogue way. So... Yeah it is a thing and... It is nor sexual. Most likely it was a kink but there is also un unkinky explanation.

@quietlaugh -- totally think this guy wanted a fecal transparent. Asked a young health guy which makes sense. I believe this practice will become more common if the science podcasts I listen to are right.