Let's sum up in a thread what's going on in Ireland this week around unisex toilets in schools. The Department of Education has published guidelines that specify toilets in new build schools and retrofit schools should be unisex. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/what-will-new-gender-neutral-toilets-in-schools-look-like-1.4545084

What we have is an open area for males and females with cubicles down each side and a central area for washing hands. The full link to the guidelines is in the article above but here's a quick look: https://twitter.com/JinnysJoe/status/1385641518166315013?s=20

Erm, where do we fecking START? Well, we start by saying that this thread is going to be about the right to privacy and dignity around bodily functions for ALL schoolchildren, but especially for teenage girls.

Teenage girls need to be prioritised because they're the most vulnerable group in this situation. They get periods. They have to learn to deal with them. Sometimes they have accidents and need to wash blood from themselves and their clothes.

They need to be able to do this without some eejit from 3B pointing a camera phone at them and letting the whole school know about it.

Or a bunch of goggle-eyed adolescent fellas doing that mocking group laugh that every teenage girl dreads.

And that's by far the mildest scenario. Let's get to some tougher points. There are ENDEMIC levels of sexual harassment against girls in schools. The DoE's own report states that ONE THIRD of secondary school girls have experienced sexual harassment. They need safe spaces.

If you need your eyes opened, look at this UK website which has clocked up 15,000 reports of sexual harassment in schools (vast majority against girls) in SIX WEEKS. https://www.everyonesinvited.uk/  (There's also a Dublin one- perhaps someone can help with a link.)

Worldwide, the lack of access to private toilets is a major barrier to the education of girls. Girls skip school when they're having their periods because of stigma, taboo, discomfort, embarrassment. Sex-segregated toilet spaces are central to policy in the developing world.

Strangely, policy with regard to safe spaces for girls is exactly the opposite in the West, which leads to some difficult questions (this therefore might be a difficult read). https://twitter.com/JamesBarry1789/status/1319106203935510529?s=20

Anyway, as might be expected, the reaction from libfems and TRAs in Ireland to the DoE's announcement was the very definition of "disingenuous." All the old nonsense arguments were trotted out: "ThE tOiLEt in mY HoUse iS gEnDeR neUtrAl!" "Not ALL boys..." "It's INCLUSIVITY."

Good ol' Colm O'Gorman got the runner up prize, but the award for sheer disingenuousness had to go to Roisin Bungle herself, who tried to skip off in a totally irrelevant direction, then chose to disregard and block anyone who tried to draw her attention to, erm, the Point.

The reaction from the TENI-TRAs was characteristically low-key and measured. Harharhar, NOT. (For the record, there wasn't any bullying or harassment except BY a trans rights activist who had to be taken off the air on #Liveline for abusing @anliathluachra)

The level of disingenuousness/naïveté about teenagers was also quite striking (have any of these people ever MET a group of teenage boys?) "Boys and girls mix, what's so unusual about a toilet?" "They go to the cinema, don't they, and we trust them there?"

Clearly none of the "stout Irish libfems" on Liveline had ever heard of peeping/upskirting/nude selfie bullying/cameras under cubicle doors/endemic sexual harassment of teenage girls. What's WRONG with these people and their wilful ignorance of what's being done to girls?

As one sensible person pointed out- where does it stop? Today it's toilets, why not showers next? Pity the teenage girl with body issues around her breasts (already the target of jokes/bullying) forced to bare them for the lads of 3C to goggle at? In the name of "inclusivity"?

And don't give me "that would never happen." Showers and changing rooms are the logical next step. For "inclusivity." Just how many teenagers (boys and girls) need to be shamed and embarrassed, in the name of a policy that caters for nobody?

Extra notes: lots of talk about "but there are mixed sex toilets on planes/in my house/in X restaurant on O'Connell St., etc" If it's a stand-alone single unit/room with a washbasin, to be used by one person at a time, it's not relevant to the discussion about COMMUNAL spaces.

More: It became clear (from radio) that well-meaning people were conflating "homophobic" with "transphobic" and not being clear on the difference between homosexual and transsexual. Nice that people are minding their words, but it would be even better if they understood them.