Gender Neutral Restrooms

A trending topic in the news right now is schools and businesses allowing people to use the restroom that matches their gender identity. According to Professor Davis’ lecture on Sex & Gender, sex is biological and is defined by our reproductive organs. On the other hand, Gender is socially constructed and it is what sex we identify with, whether or not we were born that way. In Western culture, sex and gender is often categorized into the binary of male and female and masculinity and femininity. As a society we assume everyone is Cisgendered, which means that “one’s self identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to their biological sex” (Davis). So if a child was born of female sex, we assume that it will always identify with the female gender and embrace femininity. Same thing goes for males. However, sex and gender isn’t always binary. People identify their gender as men, women, a combination of the two, or neither of those two.

Allowing people to use the restroom that matches their gender identity and not sex, is forthcoming to a more progressive future for the transgender community. Transgender is a category that describes those “whose gender identity and/or expression is perceived not to match stereotypical gender norms associated with our assigned gender at birth” (Davis). This means that a child who is born of male sex may identify with the female gender and embrace femininity. The film Paris is Burning focuses on the drag and transgender community in New York. Like transgenderism, drag challenges gender identities. Drag is referred to those, often males, who dress up as the opposite gender, usually for a performance. Homosexuals, transgender, and drag, aren’t Cisgendered and don’t fit within the typical male and female binaries, which makes them the subject of violence, ridicule, and alienation, which this will hopefully be alleviated by allowing them to choose their bathroom. 

Schools and major retailers have begun to implement this new restroom change. Specifically, "Michigan’s State Board of Education has drafted a guidance that would push the state’s schools to allow all students, regardless of parental or doctoral input, to choose their gender, name, pronouns, and bathrooms" (Hasson). The document states this will advance Michigan's “goals of cultivating and sustaining caring, supportive, respectful, and affirming learning environments that provide for the education, safety, and welfare of all students" (Hasson). Also, Target has announced that "transgender customers at its stores are welcome to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity" (Target). 

Although this is very progressive, “opponents […] fear that men would dress as women in order to sexually assault women in their restrooms — as though rapists have just been waiting for such a law to make it easier to rape” (Peck). However, the real problem isn’t that the transgender community can now use the bathroom of their gender identity instead of biological sex. In fact, like Paris is Burning shows, the transgender community are often victims of sexual assault and violence. The real problem is the fear of rape within society. This fear stems from patriarchy and male privilege dating back centuries ago. As one in six women in America are sexually assaulted or raped, opponents have every right to be fearful of these new restroom changes (RAINN).

What can be done to eliminate this fear, but still create a safer restroom for those who identify as trans? One solution is to better educate society about the trans community and their need for a safe environment to use the restroom. Another solution is to create an “all-gender or singleuser restroom” that either sex or gender can use that features a toilet and sink inside (Hasson). A third solution is to create a unisex bathroom with “a row of individual toilet stalls with doors that open onto a common area where everyone can wash their hands and check the mirror” (Peck). We might have only just begun to scratch the surface on this debate, but there are solutions that could create an environment for all sex and genders to use the restroom safely.

Davis. Sex & Gender: It's Complicated. Lecture 5.

Hasson, P. (2016, March 21). Michigan Schools To Let Students Choose Gender, Name

And Bathroom. Retrieved from http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/21/michigan-schools-to-let-students-choose-gender-name-and-bathroom/

Peck, E. (2016, March 31). We Don’t Need Separate Bathrooms For Men And Women.

Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gender-neutral-bathrooms_us_56fd6ccbe4b083f5c607262c

RAINN | Who are the Victims? | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Retrieved

            from https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims

Target: Transgender customers can use restroom that matches their gender identity.

(2016, April 20). Retrieved from http://fox17online.com/2016/04/20/target-transgender-customers-can-use-restroom-that-matches-their-gender-identity