Legal discrimination and segregation is alive and well in the United States. All over the country, groups of people are being forced into situations that are converse to the very nature of their being, subject to extreme violence and hatred. The very narrow minded view of how the country sees sex and gender, as exhibited by the media and politics, is causing immense harm to many American citizens, as the idea of a binary gender system and long-standing sexist views has contributed to the segregation of bathrooms under the thin veil of protection. Bathroom facilities should no longer be segregated by gender to prevent discrimination against those in the transgender community, therefore decreasing the prominence of mental health issues associated …show more content…
Because America views gender in only two categories, people who upset the binary are subject to mass discrimination by members of the general public, causing them to lose their homes, jobs, or life savings. For example, in a study of Northeastern business students, 34 percent gave a hostile response when approached with a situation regarding a transgender employee. Each student was given the same scenario where a female employee was uncomfortable sharing the bathroom with a male-to-female transitioning co-worker. Of the 194 students, only 27 percent gave an inclusive response, making all restrooms gender neutral (Rudin 726). The study exemplifies how transgender individuals are misunderstood and discriminated against in the workforce and even in the broader society. It is shown that transgender people are more mentally secure when they exist in a society that accepts their identity. Michael, a transgender man, cites the importance of support networks and the assistance that comes with it. His mom is “still pretty hostile about” his gender identity, which has affected his life negatively and has made it harder for him to talk to her openly (Dentice …show more content…
Since bathrooms are based on sexist views that hold men as protectors and women as weak and since gendered bathrooms cause many problems for people who do not follow conventional rules of gender, bathrooms without gender can even-out the lines to the women’s restroom, provide transgender people a safe place to use the bathroom, and allow non-binary people the chance to not feel excluded or discriminated against. It is the duty as American citizens to fight for those who are treated unequally, even in places like bathrooms. Everyday- people should push for comprehensive legislation mandating that at least all public restroom facilities are gender neutral, or that all public buildings have at least one multi-stall gender-neutral bathroom. Citizens should stand up for the minority, who are currently being smothered by rhetoric with no factual backing, under the thin veil of protecting children. This way, America can progress as the land of the free once
Recently, in a poorly written article for The Federalist, Mrs. Nicole Russell let her feelings about allowing transgender people in the bathroom that best matches their gender identities known. In her uneducated opinion expressed in “The Sexes: Don’t Put My Five-Year-Old Girl In A Bathroom With A Transgender Boy” Mrs. Russell claims that transgender people should stick to the gender, and by default, the bathroom that was assigned to them at birth.
So I 'm washing my hands and a woman comes out of the stall. She looked at me for a second and told me I was in the wrong bathroom and I didn 't belong in there (Masculine Presentation).” The woman is correct, he does not belong in the women’s bathroom, but people don’t consider situations like that when they endorse these bills. By supporting a bill that forces people into the bathroom of their assigned gender at birth, they are putting transgender men in the women’s bathroom. If that were to happen women would become accustomed to having people who are and who look like men in their bathroom. This opens the door to the very thing they are trying to prevent which is, cisgender men going into the woman’s bathroom and claiming they are
In order for people of opposite genitals to use the same facility, changes for privacy should be made. American public restrooms have huge gaps in between the doors and stall dividers. These gaps do not allow for adequate privacy. Urinals with no dividers offer no privacy. 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. Changes should be made in all restrooms that do not allow complete privacy. Other than installing adequate stalls and dividers for privacy no major changes would need to be made for unisex or gender neutral restrooms. If privacy issues are addressed, then there would be no stigma of using a gender-neutral
“Gender identity One 's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One 's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.” (hrc) The problem with this, is anyone can say they identify as a man or woman. “Gender Transition The process by which some people strive to more closely align their internal knowledge of gender with its outward appearance. Some people socially transition, whereby they might begin dressing, using names and pronouns and/or be socially recognized as another gender. Others undergo physical transitions in which they modify their bodies through medical interventions.” (hrc) This is also known as Trans male or female or MTF and FTM. There is a big difference between both. The issue we are dealing with is gender identity, which allow anyone to use the opposite gender bathroom if they say they identify as a male or female. Therefore, I disagree with this law (some states) and this policy (some companies) have
Grant, Jaime M., Ph.D., Lisa A. Mottet, J.D., Justin Tanis, D.Min., Jack Harrison, Jody L. Herman, Ph.D., and Mara Keisling. Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Rep. National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011. Web. 22 May 2014.
Currently the citizens living in the United States are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. It is only acceptable for a person to identify as a male or a female. Depending on the gender the person identifies, as there is an expectation of how that person should look and act. The person identifying as the specific gender, must maintain the gender norms that are in place. 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). The trans population does not fit the expected gender molds that are
150 college campuses have at least one gender neutral bathroom, but that is less than three percent of all colleges in the United states, and less than thirtyfive percent of Americans receive a college degree. The negative response to gender neutral bathrooms is depicted in a Tucson Progressive article written by Pamela Hannley. The article, entitled “Bathroom Politics: Preserving the Sanctity of the ‘Ladies’ Room’”, asks of the readers “[if] the school districts want to allow transgender boys to use these facilities with the girls?”8 Later in the article she again refers to trans women as men. The article embodies a deep fear of trans women and gender nonconforming people as a whole. For example, darkness is an actual and metaphorical fear; we fear what we cannot see, understand, predict, control. The darkness that surrounds trans and nonbinary people is what is feared by the agent of society: cisgender people. This positioning of power gives cisgender people privilege in a world the defines their identity as normal, correct, and default. Any change to the current culture and therefore power structures is a threat to their social superiority, including changes to how bathrooms are used and by whom. In Hannley’s article, trans women are treated with the fear that they may do something to cisgender women with whom they share a bathroom. This does not happen, yet cisgender men and women do attack trans women for using the women’s room. Trans and non binary people are not dangerous to individuals, we are dangerous to
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
author’s note: i really wish this was a fictional story but sadly people were actually treated like this in the past and the present. i decided to completely rewrite my essay after Trump lifted federal protection over trans youth using the restroom of their choice. i decided to go for a sad story rather than funny.
The Transgender bathroom issue has become an important issue. Then, there have been laws passed in North Carolina and Mississippi about transgender people having to use the bathroom of the gender, which they were before becoming transgender. I don’t agree with this in a few cases. I agree with the fact that if say they are a pervert or sex offender dressed up like a man or a woman than that is not okay. A transgender person’s harmless; except for when they are not transgender and pretend to be is when we have a problem. Therefore, before all of this became news, we went to the bathroom with transgender people all the time and didn’t know it, however now that it’s brought to our attention people are lashing out. I hate to say it, but maybe the
Statistically, 0.3-0.5% of individuals in the United States (approx. 700,000 people) identify themselves as transgender and global estimates provide similar percentages (Gates, 2011). Studies conducted regarding transgender individuals show that this class of people suffer from unusually high physical, verbal, and sexual abuse, as well as discrimination in housing and employment (Patel, 2013). Patel (20...
The topic of trans-genders has risen to become one of the most conversed about matter in the year of 2016. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary; denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender. In other words, an individual may be born as a male but feel as if they actually are meant to be a woman, and as it goes vice versa. The transgender people have begun to demand to be accommodated for and that is not virtuous. There has become an upheaval controversy with the transgender community trying to fight for their rights. States have modified a handful of places that supply public bathrooms, to have three bathrooms instead of just two. Certain colleges
Government agencies such as the Affordable Care Act law defines no sexual discrimination including gender identity, transgender status prohibits majority of insurance companies and healthcare providers from refusing to cover transition-related treatments or using incorrect pronouns under the law. However, the greatest effect can only occur when we — as an American society — change our paradigm. What we can do to help to contribute the changes of degrading experience for many LGBT people in healthcare setting are educating ourselves and creating more awareness in general public to ensure that everyone needs to be treated equally whoever they are. We should be more open-minded to create a welcoming and acceptable workplace environment inclusive of all trans people, to prevent transgender from getting reluctance to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity to their health providers by training on the full scope of this minority group health in medical schools, and to keep fighting for the state-laws to ensure equality in for transgender individuals in the public utilities and services since only almost half of U.S. states discriminating against transgenders is considered
The issue of gender neutral bathrooms and transgender bathrooms is a hot topic right now in North America. Some people are strongly for it and others are going to great lengths to stop it. The majority of public bathrooms in Canada and The United States of America are gender segregated. Public bathrooms are one of the last places to still be separated by gender. Men and women work with each other, sit next to each other in restaurants, use public pools together, and much more. A bathroom with a locked stall, or single occupancy washrooms with a lock, should not be much different. When the idea was raised by the LGBTQIA*+ community to have transgender bathrooms or gender neutral bathrooms, North America was divided. There were those with no
Recently, there has been an uproar of debates on the topic of gender neutral bathrooms. Most of the debates have had to deal with the LGBTQ+ community trying to use the bathroom they identify with. However, these debates have mainly focused on transgenders, “transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate” (GLADD). There has been several bills that “have been filed in three states to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity” (Tannehill). Kentucky has tried to pass bills that target transgender students, but the bill in Texas and Florida would apply to everywhere (Tannehill). There are many different sides to this