I’ve had pretty much a *meh* attitude about whether someone decides to go through surgery to become a different sex. I learned about hermaphrodites some years ago, but beyond that, I don’t really care if someone believes they were born in the wrong body or for whatever reason want to be seen as opposite the sex they were born with. How in the world does that hurt me at all??? I find it weird that there are some nosy parkers that, self-righteously, look for opportunities to humiliate and bully others. And frankly, I wonder why there is a fixation about this, particularly it seems from Republicans and christians. MYOB!!!!!
Now, I don’t think, on principle, that people who are minors should have major surgery before they are adults. That also includes, though, plastic surgery unless for some kind of medical emergency, not cosmetic. I also, although not being much of a sports person, except for soccer, believe that sports ought to be kept to one gender only and that there may be reasons not to have transgender women in women’s sports.
But I could give a hoot about bathrooms. Seems pretty mean to ban people from school bathrooms, where the heck do the people go during a school day to pee? Behind the school dumpster? Sheesh. I was in Copenhagen over the winter and the airport bathrooms are male AND female. Each stall has a door and people come out after to a unisex sink area to wash their hands. In fact, in a number of European bathrooms, the layout is quite good and private. At home, both men and women use our home bathroom, probably in yours too.
Anyway, overall, I think I believe in Mind Your Own Business. Anyone remember reading Dear Abby or Ann Landers and MYOB was the watchword in a lot of columns? Seems lilke this suits here.
The woman above is the first transgender woman in Congress. Only a kook would harass her but Republicans are full of them.
I actually don’t disagree that there is an issue with peepers in bathrooms but it is not limited only to trans people or men cross dressing as women. Here are some examples of men secretly spying on women in bathrooms
New York- CREEPY CAMERA: Perv hid cameras in ladies room of public par
Pennsylvania Family counselor accused of using hidden cameras to spy on wom
Texas Conroe teen accused of spying on women in neighborhood pool b
New Jersey NJ high schooler recorded nearly 40 videos of women and minor
Florida Man caught peeking under bathroom stalls in Lake Worth Beach – W
AA Flight attendant Flight attendant pleads guilty to secretly recording a 14-year … – CNN
North Carolina App State student details shocking moment she found hidden ca
Tennessee 60 females recorded on hidden camera in Tennessee
and a good article about fighting back, from South Korea
Anyway, my point is this. Every example above was a man spying on women, hiding cameras in public toilets and the way our bathrooms are, being able to peep through the cracks in the stalls. (remember Larry Craig and his *wide stances*?) The problem is not with trans people; the chances are if a trans person or a cross dresser comes into a public bathroom it’s because he (or she) is wanting to fit in but not for the purpose or harassment. Heck, everyone knows that Trump, who is a felon, sexually harassed a women in a store dressing room-is Trump trans? Nope, Just a creep.
There are some issues here. One is that people, when out, need to use bathrooms sometimes and, I don’t know why, our bathrooms are not built to be very private. The European toilets I’ve seen are actual enclosed stalls, with locks and no sightlines around the doors. Have even seen one with its own sink inside. No one should be attacked for harassed by anyone over their private business, what, are people going to demand that genitals be shown by anyone coming into a bathroom? Ick. When I went to a public bathroom, I took my kids in there with me OR waited outside the bathroom for them if they were below a certain age. A second issue is that there ARE creeps that want to put cameras into bathrooms and peep on people. I don’t know how prevalent, most of the stories I see about this involve men, not trans people or cross dressers. Does it mean that every women in a stall needs to try to “sweep” the stalls for cameras or places someone might look? Third, could it be that some men decide to wear women’s clothing in order to go peep in a women’s bathroom? Sure, but at least, anecdotally, the news items I see about peeping and cameras are almost always men. Interesting study about safety and privacy in public restrooms and other gendered facilities. Fourth, what percentage of people in the US are trans, anyway? “
Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender or sense of personal identity does not match the sex they were born with. In other words, a transgender person may have been born as a male but identifies as a female or vice versa.
Transgender people are part of the LGBTQ+ community. According to the Williams Institute, 1.4 million adults identify as transgender in the United States. About 0.5% of adults 18-24 identify as transgender, and 0.3% of adults 65 and older identify as transgender.j
This is a really small percentage. I don’t think people, PEOPLE, should be shut out of being able to use public bathrooms on this basis. It’s mean. I also think that with the prevalence of cell phones that if someone is in a public bathroom and being harassed, that one can record the person and then turn it in to store personnel or the police. Note I saw harassed, different that some Karen that wants TO harass a person just wanting to do toilet business.
Finally, is there an answer to making public bathrooms truly safe for everyone? Probably not, but personally I wish the toilets were European style, as they are much more private and safe.
I saw this yesterday from Jonathan Last and it gets to the heart of what I think.
Leave Trans People Alone: A Rant
“Trans sports” isn’t an actual problem in the real world. The problem is that life is hard. Don’t make it harder.
Even under the best of circumstances. If you’re a neurotypical kid with both parents at home and enough money to be comfortable, growing up is still hard.
If you’re different in any way—if you’re black, or autistic, or your parents split up; if you’re dyslexic, or you have a sibling with special needs, or you’re just kind of quirky—growing up is even harder.
As Don Draper once said: The universe is indifferent. No one cares about your struggles; everyone has problems of their own.
So why are some people determined to make the lives of trans kids harder?
