By Sophia Rijo
Staff Writer
The world is always changing, it never stays the same for a day or for a couple of hours. America changed when it abolished slavery, it changed when it allowed women the right to vote, it changed when it allowed LGBTQ+ marriage/equal rights. Now, its faced with another life changing event and that is creating gender-neutral bathrooms across the country.
The topic is not one that is at a large scale where it is being talked about constantly, but it is present. Transgender students want to be able to go into the bathroom of which gender they identify as. The only problem is that they either face ridicule from either gender, or are at the risk of being attacked.
Of course, some who feels outraged or offended does not immediately turn to violence, for example, The Washington Post recently reported on boys who stormed into the girls’ bathroom as a sign of “protest.” This took place on April 4 in North Pole, Alaska at North Pole High School.
There was a student transitioning from female to male and they posted a selfie on Snapchat from the boys’ bathroom. Some of the boys from that school saw the snap and “decided they would walk into the girls’ bathroom to take their own Snapchat selfie.” As the boys were in front of the bathroom one of them got kneed to the groin by a girl exiting the bathroom and that ended their “protest.”
The Issue: While it’s wonderful to support the integration of gender-neutral bathrooms, there has to be a pause so that we all look at the pros and the cons. Some of the pros of gender-neutral bathrooms are that by taking away the two gender segregated bathrooms there would be one large one which, would eliminate the long waiting lines that usually appear for female restrooms.
The most common pro is that it would help with the inclusivity of people who are transgender.
The 2015 United States Transgender Survey Report asked students about their experience in school from K-12. According to the survey, “77 percent of respondents who were out or perceived as transgender had one or more negative experiences, such as being verbally harassed, prohibited from dressing according to their gender identity, or physically or sexually assaulted. 54 percent of people who were out or perceived as transgender in K-12 were verbally harassed, and 24 percent were physically attacked.”
By trying to implement the policy of gender-neutral bathrooms it might create a safe space for those who identify as transgender, but also help inform those who aren’t transgender that people who identify as trans pose no problem and are just regular human beings who wish to just go to the bathroom.
Another piece of evidence of mistreatment – referring back to the survey, “one in ten respondents reported that they’d been denied access to a bathroom in the past year.” It’s sad that people especially kids can be so cruel to one another.
How is another person using a bathroom of their choice affecting others mentally or physically? Why does it matter to them what someone else wants to do in the restroom?
I understand children are anxious when they see something different than them that they can’t understand, which is why the gender-neutral bathrooms could help show them that they don’t have to be afraid.
One last pro for unisex bathrooms is that according to Washware Essentials, “it would allow parents to accompany their child of the opposite sex into the bathroom.”
In 1998, there was a case where a nine-year-old boy was murdered in the bathroom because his aunt let him use the bathroom alone. By having unisex bathrooms, it would make it easier for parents to keep an eye on their child.
While there are pros to this situation, there are always some cons as well. The biggest concern about unisex bathrooms is the fear of sexual assaults.
Based on various leading sexual assault and domestic violence prevention organizations they claim: “Those who are pushing these proposals have claimed that these proposals are necessary for public safety and to prevent sexual violence against women and children…we speak from experience and expertise when we state that these claims are false.”
Meaning that there haven’t been any records of sexual assault claims against someone who is transgender. Another con is that some people do feel embarrassed when they need to do their business in a public area. It is a form of social anxiety known as Paruresis or shy bladder syndrome, it prevents those that have it from going to the bathroom when there is someone else in the area. Although, to combat that there haven’t been any reports that correlate shy bladder syndrome to unisex bathrooms.
These are all the pieces of evidence that can allow you the reader to make a decision on whether or not you would support gender-neutral bathrooms or not.
Obviously, there is more pro than cons, but it is a process that has to happen gradually. Exposing this kind of change quickly can cause massive confusion and make people uncomfortable.
Either way, whether it’s in five years or 10, there will be another change where at some point a law will be passed where gender-neutral bathrooms will be implemented all across the country. I don’t doubt it because history has shown that there is a pattern where the unimaginable can happen.
