Essay On Bathrooms

A person born as a male but who identifies as a female would feel very uncomfortable in the men’s bathroom, yet could be in trouble for going into the women’s restroom. Gender-neutral restrooms are an easy solution to the ever growing issue of which bathroom should be used by transgender people. Another simple, yet effective, solution would be to allow the transgendered community to simply use the restroom of whichever sex it is that they identify with. Gender separation in public restrooms has long been the norm in the United States. While in the past it was not designed this way to be discriminatory; in this day and age it creates a physical exclusion of the transgendered community.

Many people believe that letting transgender people use the bathroom they want is violating the rights of the rest of the population. Due to this, bills have been and continue to be proposed that would make everyone use the bathroom that matches the sex on their legal documents. In order to avoid discrimination and other issues, this would mean that restaurants and other establishments would have to make every customer provide identification to get into the bathroom (Metlzer). For those who are not transgender, this would seem annoying and unnecessary. For those who are, it might be a sensitive subject, as many consider it a very private part of their lives.

… These activists deny and disregard the real threat to females by males, even males who want to dress in feminine clothes or who “feel like women inside” or who have a psychiatric disorder that causes them to claim they are actually female, even though they are male. These men do not give a shit about the actual people they want to minstrelize and dress up as and mimic (GenderTrender). His mistake is assuming that transgender women are actually heterosexual men who would use the opportunity to spy on women. Transgender women are not men and it’s already illegal to spy on people in the bathroom. If it was truly a case of fear about females being sexualized in the bathroom, people would also be fighting to deny access to lesbians and for gay men in the male bathroom.

When using the bathroom, some women could become anxious and frightened that men will gaze through holes in their doors. Additionally, some women desire to shelter their children from seeing other gender’s personal and private areas. This can create a discomfited situation for mothers when their children observe the opposite sex using the bathroom. According to Amanda Prestigiacomo (2016), a man in Seattle was able to gain access to a women’s public changing room, where little girls were preparing for an upcoming swim class. Mothers asked him to leave, but he refused, citing that transgender bathroom laws allowed him to use the women’s changing room.

Transgender people want privacy just as much as Cisgender people. Companies might balk at the cost of remodeling restrooms. It is the time that companies update the bathrooms regardless of the transgender bathroom issue. The majority of people keep their privates private. The people that are flashing their privates around are going to do so whether they are in a restroom or not.

This however, only aggravates the difficulties that already exist within the changes occurring, because it causes some to feel uncomfortable at the thought of two different sexes sharing one bathroom at the same time. Although this is often not the case, because the transgender person will often if not always use the bathroom they feel best matches their gender. (Transequality, 2016). It is common misinterpretations such as these that are averting people from supporting and understanding how simple the issue is. Like everyone else the trans population would like equal access to public restrooms.

In the case of trans bathroom access one of the issues being presented is that cisgender people have a discomfort with the idea of sharing a bathroom with a transgender identifying individual. Another setback existing is that some believe that allowing transgender people into public restrooms is a health hazard and could create a dangerous situation. In the past there have been conflicts such as, sexual assault, harassment, and mugging of someone who identifies as transgender, but as of right now there are 18 states that protect transgender right to use the bathroom. Which has no seen a rise in attacks or incidences of violence within the shared bathroom. (Transequality,

The school and work place environments are becoming more aggressive because one person rights outweigh a whole slew of people that have their own civil liberties on safety and privacy. Everyone in the public communities will not accept transgender using opposite sex bathroom. While the Title IX Education Amendment that protect transgender choice to use the restrooms of the opposite sex should be defended, the privacy, respect and consideration for others should be supported; therefore, it is important that this amendment get revised so that no one can misuse the context of the term sex, for the protection of the youth own developing sense of self and influence to want to change due to the newest sexuality

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.

The scene that many people think about is a heterosexual male pretending to identify with the female gender identity trying to go in the woman’s bathroom to spy on women and harm them. In reality, there are many transwomen that may be still anatomically male that will never harm women in the bathroom. To solve this problem, I don’t think that we need a bill such as this one. Instead, we need tougher laws on criminal offenses. For example, having no time limit on when charges can be brought up a person for rape.