When Target recently publicized their trans-friendly bathroom policy — allowing customers to use whichever bathroom they felt best suited their gender — I was thrilled. Even though I'm a heterosexual, cisgender woman (meaning I was born female and I identify as a female), I love seeing progression in the LGBT community. I love seeing recognition that gender is not binary, even more so when it's by a store we all know and love. Now, let's start with a disclaimer: I'm not a mom. Target's bathroom policy outraged mothers of young children who once frequented the store, but have now threatened to boycott it, claiming that Target is completely ignoring the safety of their children.
...What?
First of all, do these angry moms realize that it's extremely offensive to relate transgender people so closely with sex offenders? I understand that moms have inherent instincts to put the safety of their children first, and that's part of being a good parent, but let's get real here. To these mothers: would you prefer your daughters using a bathroom stall next to a transgender man? A person born female, who is still biologically a woman, but identifies as a man and looks like a typical man? Your daughter would have no reason to doubt that this person was a man aside from the fact that he was in the woman's bathroom. By opposing Target's bathroom policy, you're basically saying you'd be OK with this scenario. Think about it. You've probably encountered multiple transgender people in your day-to-day life without even realizing you had. Your daughter will not be emotionally or physically traumatized by sharing a bathroom with a transgender woman. I think these mothers are just denying their fear of a population they're unfamiliar with.
Children learn by example. With a corporation as beloved as Target broadcasting their trans-friendliness, other big names will follow, and children can grow up in a society where they feel more free to be whomever they think they truly are. Target is paving the road for raising a generation that is happier with bountiful self-love. That's just awesome.
On a darker note, Target has had plenty of sexual assault cases take place in their bathrooms and dressing rooms when this policy wasn't so openly recognized. Sex offenders are sick, yet clever people; I fully believe that if anyone were going to molest a young girl (or boy!) in a Target bathroom, they would've found their way to do it without using gender identity as a scapegoat. Sexual assault is a crime no matter what. Not to mention that 80 percent of sexual assault victims knew their assaulter, and over half of transgender people will experience sexual assault, according to ABC News. I'm no criminologist, but it doesn't seem like Target's bathroom policy will elicit any spike in sexual assault cases. When have laws ever changed the behavior of rapists, anyway?
I do have to admit that the thought of using a stall next to someone who isn't a cisgender woman is a little weird and uncomfortable for me to think about. But that's just because, at least to my knowledge, I haven't had that experience yet. Anything radical takes an adjustment period, but adjustment is virtually always possible, and this situation is no exception. I think the people who are enraged by Target's bathroom policy are just using the safety of young children to cover up the fact that they themselves are terrified of the change.
And although I'm not a mom, I'm still a 20-year-old woman who wants to feel safe wherever I go. Target's bathroom policy won't make me feel any less safe. It shouldn't make you any more concerned for your children, either. It's long overdue for the world to wake up and stop acting like transgender people aren't important.
Lastly, if this policy really bothers you that much, then just do everyone a favor and pee somewhere else.
