Read on Twitter
Thread! On Gender Neutral Bathrooms! I made a smartarse tweet earlier it's not even original (hat tip to Danez Smith for making this observation originally) but because its gathered so much engagement I want to just comment seriously on this issue in case its of any use https://twitter.com/sarahmaintains/status/1385498914955145217
People who incorrectly in my view believe that respecting trans gender people's rights and humanity will diminish their own rights have been using Bathrooms, prisons, sports fields as kind of rhetorical battlegrounds to argue their case
For the very most part all this does is set up a false argument which says if trans gender people are given what they need, then women and girls will lose. They say little about trans men or any men at all and men actually have a big role in the whole argument
Why do people feel women and girls might be at greater risk in gender neutral bathrooms? Angry sinks? Powerful flush mechanisms? No. They believe that they may be vulnerable to attacks or assaults or harassment. So a few things about that -
1. There is a widespread problem with harassment, assault, rape and murder of women BY MEN. This is true, abhorrent and not particularly linked to public bathrooms, most frequently this happens in women's homes, cars or in personal space and is committed by men they know.
2. There is no comparative equivalent systemic problem of such acts being committed on other women and girls by trans women (or by trans men on other men). This doesn't mean it can't ever happen or that a person who is trans is somehow magically prevented from committing crime
What I'm trying to say is that the current discussion about gender neutral bathrooms on national radio or every day in certain newspapers is very very frequently actually a way of linking trans people (women mostly) with fear - and trying to make that fear gain traction
And that is a real problem because what it is saying is that if trans people are allowed in small public spaces with certain white goods, then we are all, or worse 'our women and girls' are at risk and we should 'fear' another word for that fear is a phobia. Transphobia.
I'm no expert on any of this but I think when we are being told to fear a minority group, themselves frequent targets of harassment we should really really question that. There are extremely easy ways to make public toilets safe and universally accessible through good design
and not the exclusion of any category of people and lastly just to deal with the other supposed feminist argument that trans women might somehow take hold of the few hard won spaces cis women have earned in struggle- this is not feminism, feminism seeks for all women to have
equal access to spaces, resources, safety, relationships, positions, power etc not a fraction for us to fight amongst ourselves over. Whatever your thoughts about bathrooms please don't let them be manipulated into joining in the anti trans movement
