Let’s face it, people are arguing about what bathroom you can and can’t use – and it’s ridiculous. But since it has become such a controversial topic, let’s talk about it. The arguments for both sides are: it’s not safe and, well, it’s not right.
One side believes that using the restroom that matches up with their bodily anatomy, or what you have in your pants, is absolutely what everyone should do. But why? Simply put, because people are afraid that their daughters, sisters, and even themselves are going to be subject to sexual assault. But is this logical?
Right now, I can walk into whatever restroom I want, as can anyone else. The reason I don’t just walk into the men’s room—it’s embarrassing. I know that I’ve walked into a restroom before and wondered if I’ve walked into the wrong one, my face reddens and sometimes I even go check to make sure the tiny stick figure hanging from the door is, in fact, wearing a skirt.
Consider feeling that embarrassment every time you had to use a public restroom. If these bathroom laws don’t come into place people are saying we will create a “loophole” allowing anyone to just go into whatever restroom they please—except we can already do this. So what are we really outlawing? Also, how is this law going to be enforced?
Are people planning on putting bouncers in every bathroom in America, and if you don’t look female or male enough they will ask you to take off your pants and prove it, then escort you to the correct restroom? Seems a tad extreme to me, but how else are we going to prove what’s in your pants than the pat-down method.
We aren’t making the world a safer place by telling people they have to use certain bathrooms—the simple fact is bad people will make bad decisions regardless of the law—and that’s universal. No one with the intention of hurting someone is going to change their mind just because a law states that you can’t go into a certain restroom.
Sexual assault is illegal, but that doesn’t seem to make it stop. A law making people use the bathroom with their assigned parts is only going to put transgender people in a situation that makes them feel even more like an outsider—a worse feeling than the one you get when you feel you’ve walked into the wrong restroom because you don’t deal with that every day.
I don’t think we fear the man walking into the ladies room with less than noble intentions. I think we fear a person who identifies as a girl and goes into the girls' restroom and we aren't able to tell the difference between her and every other girl out there—not because we are afraid of getting hurt, but because it breaks down the social construct that we have created. We aren’t afraid it’s not safe, we are afraid it’s "not right"— and that’s what we need to be talking about.
