I don’t know if it’s the reason, or just a side effect, but I’m pretty sure it prevents a bunch of sexual assault, or at least makes some people feel safer.
Trans people who don’t pass will also feel awkward walking in there, and many of them don’t. Often times, you’ll primarily just see people who pass going into the restroom matching their gender. Just the fact they identify as the gender doesn’t often mean even they are comfortable going in there, so it’s not like anyone presenting as masculine going into the women’s restroom is even a common occurrence in places where trans people are accepted
Anyone who would be willing to visually change themselves to pass as the opposite gender doesn’t need “being trans” as a concept to do so, and could be just as willing to engage in that regardless.
Gay people exist and they don’t feel awkward walking in to those spaces, yet could just as well engage in sexual assault of people matching their gender without anybody questioning their right to be there.
I feel like that’s the only justification I’ve ever really heard, but I find it to be rather flimsy. It assumes that someone willing to assault someone else would be deterred by a sign. It also assumes that assaults only happen across genders and not within, which is either very narrow-minded or willfully obstinate.
Personally, I would think individual unisex bathrooms that each contain their own sink would be the safest option. You enter fully aware and lock the door behind yourself, only leaving once you are fully aware and alert again. Given that the common area between stalls is essentially public, you could have cameras observing the entrance without invading privacy and capturing anyone attempting to force their way in or tailgate someone entering a stall. Better, safer, gender neutral.
It also assumes that assaults only happen across genders and not within, which is either very narrow-minded or willfully obstinate.
Ya know I’ve actually sat down and talked with my cisfriends on how they feel about the whole thing, way way back when the bathroom scares started… One thing they brought up that I didn’t even think about was “Do these Republicans not know that lesbians exist?”
Do these Republicans not know that lesbians exist?
Of course they do, they were using the exact same talking points against (cis) gay people before that proved to be unviable at the time, and they’ll drag the culture war back to that front if they get what they want with regard to suppressing trans people’s rights to exist as members of society.
Sadly this rhetoric works with transpeople because it’s harder to convince the masses we were “born that way”, when our existence seems to require medical intervention.
As long as Republicans can say we’re weirdos cutting our cocks off to go along with some “New Age Fad”, we won’t be taken as seriously as cis-gays, and it’s hard to argue otherwise because that unfortunately requires nuance that looks too much like “This isn’t what it looks like” to idiots who will not take the time to understand medical science.
It also doesn’t help that because we live in an era of fake news and multiple choice narratives, people are more willing to call bullshit when you tell them that transpeople have existed throughout human history.
I’m worried that there is no winning this time as they’ve successfully created a narrative where to the masses, Trans Rights and Women’s Rights, is a “Pick one you can’t have both”, scenario despite that being as far from the truth as you can get. (Not to mention that Republicans do not value either. Which is the beauty of their little shell-game)
My former college has gender neutral bathroom in the gym. I have never heard any issues in the many decades that it has been there. Besides, the wall of the toilet stalls are really high and there are no gaps underneath the stalls to dissuade peeping. Just do how my college did with gender neutral bathrooms.
If space efficiency is a priority, I would say just take a normal restroom, add better locks, stall walls that actually go the full height and all of the way to the ground, and have a urinal section around a corner so that it is fully out of view from the (security camera monitored) common area where the sinks are
I don’t know if it’s the reason, or just a side effect, but I’m pretty sure it prevents a bunch of sexual assault, or at least makes some people feel safer.
This is the justification.
My only comment to that is: the “women’s washroom” sign isn’t going to stop an attacker.
Right? A No Guns sign isn’t going to stop a shooting, but a Women Only sign will stop all rape forever!
Republican “logic”
But imagine how awkward that attacker must feel walking in there
I feel like that’s the only justification I’ve ever really heard, but I find it to be rather flimsy. It assumes that someone willing to assault someone else would be deterred by a sign. It also assumes that assaults only happen across genders and not within, which is either very narrow-minded or willfully obstinate.
Personally, I would think individual unisex bathrooms that each contain their own sink would be the safest option. You enter fully aware and lock the door behind yourself, only leaving once you are fully aware and alert again. Given that the common area between stalls is essentially public, you could have cameras observing the entrance without invading privacy and capturing anyone attempting to force their way in or tailgate someone entering a stall. Better, safer, gender neutral.
Ya know I’ve actually sat down and talked with my cisfriends on how they feel about the whole thing, way way back when the bathroom scares started… One thing they brought up that I didn’t even think about was “Do these Republicans not know that lesbians exist?”
Of course they do, they were using the exact same talking points against (cis) gay people before that proved to be unviable at the time, and they’ll drag the culture war back to that front if they get what they want with regard to suppressing trans people’s rights to exist as members of society.
Sadly this rhetoric works with transpeople because it’s harder to convince the masses we were “born that way”, when our existence seems to require medical intervention.
As long as Republicans can say we’re weirdos cutting our cocks off to go along with some “New Age Fad”, we won’t be taken as seriously as cis-gays, and it’s hard to argue otherwise because that unfortunately requires nuance that looks too much like “This isn’t what it looks like” to idiots who will not take the time to understand medical science.
It also doesn’t help that because we live in an era of fake news and multiple choice narratives, people are more willing to call bullshit when you tell them that transpeople have existed throughout human history.
I’m worried that there is no winning this time as they’ve successfully created a narrative where to the masses, Trans Rights and Women’s Rights, is a “Pick one you can’t have both”, scenario despite that being as far from the truth as you can get. (Not to mention that Republicans do not value either. Which is the beauty of their little shell-game)
My former college has gender neutral bathroom in the gym. I have never heard any issues in the many decades that it has been there. Besides, the wall of the toilet stalls are really high and there are no gaps underneath the stalls to dissuade peeping. Just do how my college did with gender neutral bathrooms.
If space efficiency is a priority, I would say just take a normal restroom, add better locks, stall walls that actually go the full height and all of the way to the ground, and have a urinal section around a corner so that it is fully out of view from the (security camera monitored) common area where the sinks are