Bathrooms In The Bathroom

Statement of the Problem/Issue

Bathrooms are a necessary part of one’s life; however could public restrooms be causing harm? Currently in the United States people are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. Someone can either be a male or a female, and depending on the gender a person is they are expected to act and look a certain way. These gender binaries are so prevalent in our lives; it is to the point where a large group of Americans are being overlooked. This group of Americans identifies as transgender, which means they do not fit society’s expectations of how a specific gender should look and behave. (gaycenter.org, 2012). When using a bathroom a person is most likely only offered with two choices, men’s and women’s. By only giving the choice of using a Men’s or a Women’s bathroom has further enforces the gender binary: “In the moment that one must choose between two doors—one marked “men” and one marked “women”—the binary construction of gender is never more blatantly

This can help to address many of the issues stated above with the current policies in place. The comfort of the trans person is key throughout the entire movement, the creators of the movement even have a set of rules and guidelines currently in place to assure this. The first rule being to confirm what your buddy is asking of you. (Illgowithyou, 2016). Sometimes the trans person is not comfortable with you joining them inside of the restroom and would prefer you to wait at the door. The second rule that is made clear is only do what your buddy asks of you, don’t try to make conversation and make it obvious as to why you’re joining them on the trip to the bathroom. (Illgowithyou, 2016). The goal of this movement is to enforce to the 1.4 million plus transgender people currently inside of the United States that they are not alone, and that cisgender people care about their rights