#bathroom equality

Okay, so later this week i will be participating in a panel discussion between members of the community and a few trans individuals. This will be a panel discussion followed by Q&A exploring Gavin Grimm's appeal, Title IX, and Constitutional protections of transgender people. We will be discussing the ramifications of the case for transgender students' restroom access. 

I would like to know what the outcome of this case means to you, and how it will affect your life. You can be as personal as you like or not at all, I’d like to compile a few comments from trans individuals to bring up during the panel!

Don’t worry about our Transgendered friends entering your bathrooms. 

Just like Men, most of them don’t physically or sexually assault others. 

And for those who do, can be handled on an individual basis.

In re: https://www.buzzfeed.com/meredithtalusan/when-trans-selfies-in-bathrooms-go-viral

With many states passing new discriminatory laws against the LGBT community, which often specifically target trans individuals and limit their ability to use public bathrooms, a new social media trend has emerged. Trans individuals who present as hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine are posting selfies asking if they belong in the bathroom of their biological gender. This tactic is certainly visually powerful and seems to have resonated with a lot of people. Most importantly, the selfie campaign may also be helping to sway people who might otherwise be moved by the inaccurate, fear-mongering notion that bathroom laws were enacted to prevent men dressed up as women from entering women’s restrooms to engage in child molestation or commit sexual assault. 

While I applaud the bathroom selfie campaign for humanizing the fight for bathroom equality, and find the tactic of sharing selfies of trans-individuals who are clearly “passing” as male/female compelling for dispelling the myth that trans persons are sexual predators in disguise, I think the message needs to go further. Unisex restrooms are founded on gender stereotypes and the new laws that attempt to further enforce the rule that men and women cannot be in the same bathroom not only serve to deepen misconceptions about trans individuals, they also force rigid gender conformity, promote negative, untrue stereotypes about men and women, and enforce a binary notion of gender identity that many individuals do not fall into. 

1. Policing unisex bathrooms forces gender conformity

Earlier this month, a story went viral about a lesbian teen being kicked out of the women’s restroom in McDonalds because someone mistook her for a man. As I have previously written, men or women should not be required to look a certain way to be accepted as their gender by society. By policing bathrooms based on gender, we are simultaneously requiring men/women to look like our stereotypical idea of a man/woman in order to be able use a restroom without harassment, which unfairly limits people’s freedom to express their appearance the way they choose. No one should be subject to discrimination or face harassment based on how they look.

2. The rationale for needing to enforce unisex bathrooms promotes negative stereotypes about men and women, as well as transgender individuals.

The commonly invoked rationale for needing laws enforcing separate bathrooms for men and women seems to be that men are sexual predators looking to prey on helpless women and little girls, who desperately need protection. First, the vast majority of men are not sexual predators, who wouldn’t be able to control themselves in a women’s restroom, and stereotyping men that way condones that type of behavior as a normal trait. Additionally, the people who are sexual predators are not prevented by these laws from preying on members of their same gender. BOTH little girls and little boys need protection from molestation, and we should not promote the stereotype that little girls are more helpless or that little boys don’t need to be protected. Plus, even if the stereotypes were true, there are laws criminalizing sexual assault and child molestation already, why do we also need to criminalize entering the bathroom to commit the act?

Further, even the design of unisex restrooms are sexist. Women’s restrooms are designed to promote privacy, because god forbid a woman be immodest in public; while men’s restrooms are more open and purely functional, because men obviously don’t need to worry about modesty and require a no-frills peeing experience. These experiences help enforce the stereotype that women should be uncomfortable about their bodies, and that men aren’t allowed to feel uncomfortable or exposed.

3. Unisex bathrooms force people to unnecessarily label themselves based on gender

Gender is not a binary construct and many people believe they fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum or not on the gender spectrum at all. What good do we gain by forcing those people to pick a gender in order to pee? People do not have bathrooms labeled by gender in their own home, why do we have bathrooms labeled that way in public? Public bathrooms could easily be designed in a way where there could be descending levels of privacy to meet individuals’ preferences. Having more inclusive restrooms based on privacy needs rather than gender would provide a more comfortable experience for transgender individuals, as well as mothers and fathers with young children of the opposite gender, and the elderly or disabled who may require additional assistance using restroom facilities.