Gender Neutral Bathrooms

This is going to be one of the few articles I write where you’re going to hear my opinion on this and hear my thoughts and feelings. I was inspired to write about this issue when it was brought to my attention by a lovely person named Jack. So, thank you Jack for bringing this giant issue to my attention and inspiring me to write about it.

Lately the push for gender neutral public bathrooms has drawn a lot of attention and controversy. It’s drawn a lot of support and criticism. Of course transgender people should be able to use facilities for the gender which they live and identify as, the creation of more unisex bathrooms seems like a good move. But, not everyone thinks it’s a good move. A lot of people disagree with it or think they should’t be allowed. They think if this happens horrendous things are going to star happening.

So, here are some reasons people who are against gender neutral bathrooms give on why they think thy shouldn’t exist and why those reasons are complete shit.

Allowing people to use the gendered bathroom of their choice or providing multi-user, mixed gender bathrooms is unsafe for cisgender women and children. 

Safety fears are based on a few misconceptions. One is that allowing trans women to use women’s bathroom or providing mixed gender bathrooms will create a perfect opportunity for predators to attack their victims. This is completely erroneous view that is not only oppressive, but also puts trans people in danger.

This was the stance taken by Michelle Duggar, a reality TV star known for giving birth to 19 children, fundamentalist Christianity, and more recently, a vocal and hostile opposition to an Arkansas ordinance which would have protected a trans person’s right to use the bathroom associated with their gender.

“[hurt] the safety of Northwest Arkansas women and children [by allowing] men, yes I said men, to use women’s and girls’ restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas, and other areas that are designated for females only. I don’t believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls.”

In addition to the blatant transphobia of this message, the notion that protecting the rights of trans ans gender non-conforming individuals to use whatever bathroom they please will allow predators to enter a bathroom is just illogical and the implication that trans women are more likely to be predators is just wrong.

Gender separated spaces are crucial in our society since men and women have inherently different needs. 

The idea that men and women require distinct spaces is one that people from religious conservatives to some feminists often turn to when trying to shore up support for their positions. One of the most outspoken feminists to adopt this view is Maryland based attorney, Catherine Brennan. Brennan, who has been labeled a trans-exclusionary radical feminist by her critics, has publicly opposed protections for trans people, including the rights of trans women to use women’s bathrooms. Recently she tried to explain her stance to Bustle magazine.

“I think women have a right to say we are women, we have a shared experience of being a woman and don’e want to organize with [trans women]. Let women have their space. If they’re excluding you because you’re male, well, I’m sorry but you are male. Deal with your reality. We didn’t create that reality, that reality exists.”

Much more common, however, are conservatives and religiously motivated arguments about the differences between men and women. For example, the website of a 2014 Republican candidate for Governor of Arkansas, Curtis Coleman, explained that if the proposed bathroom ordinance in Fayetteville passed, everything their conservative Christian movement believed in would be under attack.

“Your faith will be criminalized. Judeo Christian faiths predominately [sic] include instruction to be modest. This ordinance infringes on what many believe to be sacred… [It] poses a threat to public safety and privacy rights by forcing people of opposite sex to share public bathrooms, dressing areas, and showers. (refer to the ordinance stating that gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation can be ‘real or perceived’)… Family values can be scrutinized in schools. Parents and guardians may be held accountable by the City of Fayettevile and any person who may issue complaint about a child’s professed belief system. Parents who opt to teach values differing with those of The City of Fayetteville may feel pressure to coach their children not to express core values of the home.”

Other people, regardless of political or religious learnings, feel that it would just be uncomfortable for women to use a bathroom with men present and that men would just be horrified by the reality of female bathroom habits. Periods, excretions, make-up applications! Oh no!

But these arguments don’t really look at the fact that multi-gender bathrooms are generally single user, or if multi-user, made up of single user stalls with shared sinks. Plus, they imply that if people really knew the truth about what the other gender does behind closed doors, they would be horrified by what they’d learned.

Who is really at risk in public bathrooms? 

In reality, the people who are most at risk in public bathrooms are trans and gender non-conforming individuals who are subject to verbal and physical attacks at an alarming rate. The Canadian performer and author Ivan Coyote writes of using women’s bathrooms as a trans person.

“Every time I bring up or write about the hassles trans and genderqueer people receive in public washrooms or change rooms, the first thing out of many women’s mouths is that they have a right to feel safe in a public washroom, and that, no offense, but if they saw someone who ‘looks like me’ in there, well, they would feel afraid, too. I hear this from other queer women. Other feminists… What is always implied here is that I am other, somehow, that I don’t also need to feel safe. That somehow their safety trumps mine… If there is anything I really do understand, it is being afraid in a public washroom. I am afraid in them all the time, with a lifetime of good reason.”

In addition to personal anecdotes (of which there are many), a 2013 study from the Williams Institute found that transgender people experience high levels of discrimination and harassment when trying to use public bathrooms. Of the respondents:

• 68% reported verbal harassment, which in some cases, involved the police being called.
• 18% of respondents reported they were denied access to a restroom.
• 9% were physically assaulted. In some instances, this included being forcibly removed from the restroom and even sexually assaulted.

Using a public facility can be a daily struggle for a trans or gender non-conforming person and that is not okay.

Bathroom access is a basic human right. But when a person’s appearance or body doesn’t conform to what people think of as male or female, this right is often denied. Challenging assumptions and advocating for inclusive bathrooms can help make safe bathroom use a reality for everyone.