The clash over bathroom policy and other elements of a federal regulation finalized last week could set the stage for another wave of legal battles over how transgender kids should be treated in the U.S.
Solution? No one needs to hang out in the bathrooms, anyway. America needs to end the culture of cliques hanging around the sinks in the bathrooms, waiting to start a verbal confrontation with people that are also using the bathroom. Why does the bathroom need to be in a room? It isn’t a social lounge.
Or, you know, people could just stop caring which bathrooms other people use. It’s not a big deal.
My concern is for the safety of children using the bathroom. I don’t want someone to be beaten to death in a bathroom, for any reason (gender or otherwise). I think the problem starts with young people being allowed to use the bathroom areas as a place to hang out and talk with their friends, or as a place to arrange fights. That whole area between the sink and the stalls needs to go, in my opinion. People should be in public view as soon as they exit a stall. I know that might sound extreme, but it prevents some poor child from being cornered by a group of bullies and being beaten to death before a school staff member, or security guard, realizes what is happening in that room. I don’t want anyone’s child to be beaten to death. You can’t change everyone’s mind, but you can safeguard the bathrooms eliminating the isolation factor of the stalls.
It sounds like your concern is mainly around school bathrooms, which yes, fights are possible in bathrooms no matter which gender anyone involved is - but that negates the entire point and has nothing to do with gendered bathrooms. Your concern is a problem much higher than “what gender is allowed to use which bathroom” - bullying and fighting is a much more general problem and can also happen outside of the school, and even outside of school hours.
Source: I was bullied, although never in a bathroom.
But the bullying and fighting is tied to the gender issue. Look at what happened to Nex Benedict. Also, consider what can happen if a small, feminine appearing male uses the men’s room when a group of larger, very masculine males are in the bathroom, too. Maybe nothing will happen to that person, and everyone will use the bathroom, leave, and go about their day. There’s also a chance that person could be bullied where teachers and school resource officers can’t see it occur. Better safe than sorry; especially when it means someone’s child could die at school. PEOPLE need a bathroom. People do not need a bathroom lounge for groups to congregate and bully others, regardless of the reason as to why they might bully others.
If it doesn’t matter which bathroom people use, wouldn’t such a person use the women’s restroom if they were worried about that? It’s not like bathrooms are suddenly going to have an even mix of genders using them. I’m a guy. I’m going to use the men’s restroom either way. That’s going to be the same for almost everyone.
Also, if they want to fight someone for being trans, it’s going to happen regardless of the bathroom situation.
I agree with that last part, but the bathroom is the one place that isn’t patrolled and in public view. If schools had one stall bathrooms with the big steel door that closes behind it (like a classrooms have), then at least no one could be followed into the bathroom or ambushed there. That eliminates the need to label bathrooms by gender. Suddenly the bathroom is just a bathroom, just like faculty one stall bathrooms! Also, people with medical problems could have a little privacy on the toilet. Does anyone ever think of them?
That’s great, but does little for the current situation. Schools aren’t just going remodel bathrooms, or more, to accomplish this. I’m also saying that preventing them from using the bathroom of their choice changes nothing for bullying. They could just as easily just get ganged up on off school property where the school can’t do shit in the first place.
Sorry… are you suggesting schoolkids should use (pretty unsanitary) outdoor porta potties?
In the Midwest? In February?
I spent my childhood using port-o-potties during summer athletic events/tournaments, with weather that was above 105F. In the winter, I played on travel sports teams that practiced in places that had no other bathroom facility except port-o-potties. Sometimes the weather was around 32F during those winter mornings. So, yeah, I guess I’m saying you’ll survive it.
Another alternative is to build single stall bathrooms that have a door which opens into the main hallway of the school. Many schools have already built these for faculty use. It’s just a small room that contains one toilet, one sink, and has ac/heat for climate control. They would need an entire wing of these for student use, to accommodate everyone, but at least there wouldn’t be a large open room for students to congregate and cause fights. No one is going to be beating another student’s head against a sink, or the floor, in a single occupant bathroom.
Sorry… “you’ll survive it” is your reasoning there? Also, you do know it gets more like -32F in the Midwest in February, right?
I guess you’re ignoring the indoor equivalent that I mentioned.
I was ignoring it because you were suggesting it wasn’t necessary.
It’s just another alternative. Just so you know, I didn’t downvote you.
That’s fine, although I wouldn’t have been bothered by it if you did. If someone doesn’t like what I have to say, downvote away.
Although there’s some crazy person who regularly goes into my post history and downvotes everything. I’m not going to tell them to stop, but it seems like quite a waste of time.
The reason highschool. Authors act like a social lounge is because generally there’s very limited faculty oversight.
It’s why kids go there to smoke (or used to… smoke detectors….); do other drugs, bully kids, or anything else that they know faculty would not approve of.
The only real way to end that is to put monitors inside the bathroom… which gets fucking creepy rather quickly,
So, genderless bathrooms? Seems to be the solution for most of this. One of my first thoughts when all this bathroom stuff came up was, “Hm, I suppose I never considered how gendered the removal of bodily waste products is. Seems antiquated now that I give it some thought.”
At least your solution is gender neutral, on that I agree. Pooping and peeing is not gender specific, why should bathrooms be? Sure, gendered bathrooms can still exist for those who prefer, but I don’t think it should be the default.
Just have one poopy pit, problem partially solved. No one needs to admit their gender to use the poopy pit.
I haven’t read the law, but my knee jerk reaction is it doesn’t pass muster against the new Title IX.
