# Confused about transgender bathroom issues **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901 "2016-04-23T14:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/41 "2016-05-17T19:56:37Z")
Re: The locker room issue. Note that these bills are overall anti-LGBT. The rightwing found out via the Houston HERO referendum that bringing up men perving on girls in bathrooms blanked out all the other aspects of their agenda out. It really hits certain peoples’ hot buttons. Even the opponents of the law get suckered into only talking about only the bathroom thing! **patrickishere** : That’s not a boy in your girl’s locker room. That’s a girl. Once you accept that, you’ll find your previous worries silly. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/42 "2016-05-17T19:58:27Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I did, but the towel dance was strong and the showers were individual ones with curtains. Plus, most if not all of us were too busy getting through the process to see anything that wasn’t shoved in our faces. Well, if you’re getting _anything_ shoved in your face in the locker room, you’ve got bigger problems to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/43 "2016-05-17T20:01:16Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > **patrickishere** : That’s not a boy in your girl’s locker room. That’s a girl. Once you accept that, you’ll find your previous worries silly. Same question to you: What if she is simply uncomfortable with a person with a penis showering next to her, regardless of gender? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/44 "2016-05-17T20:11:44Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t understand this. Doesn’t the birth sex bathroom requirement try to ensure that people with penises, regardless of gender, are not in the ladies room? > [@Slash1972](#): > > Same question to you: What if she is simply uncomfortable with a person with a penis showering next to her, regardless of gender? Under the birth sex requirement, a born female that has been transgendered into a man, and had a penis attachment surgery, would be taking a shower in the ladies room. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/45 "2016-05-17T20:36:03Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Under the birth sex requirement, a born female that has been transgendered into a man, and had a penis attachment surgery, would be taking a shower in the ladies room. Fair enough. But my real question is what the answer would be if his daughter felt uncomfortable showering next to a person with a penis, regardless of birth sex or gender? Is she bigoted for not wanting to be around a naked person who has a penis? Is pushing for “penis free” zones bigoted? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/46 "2016-05-17T20:40:24Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t understand this. Doesn’t the birth sex bathroom requirement try to ensure that people with penises, regardless of gender, are not in the ladies room? No. Some trans men have had lower surgery to create a penis. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/47 "2016-05-17T20:41:27Z")
How is forcing a male to female trans girl to use the boys’ showers appropriate? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/48 "2016-05-17T21:01:17Z")
I’m just curious about the statistics of post-op transgendered people in the US, under the age of 16. More than 10? ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/49 "2016-05-17T21:02:21Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Perhaps her daughter is uncomfortable showering next to someone with a penis, regardless of gender? Then she should teach her daughter that staring at other people’s genitals is rude behavior, and should not try to punish trans people for her inability to act like a decent human being. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/50 "2016-05-18T01:51:41Z")
To put it another way, say your daughter was complaining that one of the other girls had a missing arm and that she was creeped out by it. Would you demand laws to ‘protect’’ her from the hideous deformed kid and force that kid into the boys room or somewhere else, or would you show some really basic empathy and tell her that trying to shut people with medical conditions from public life is inappropriate behavior in the 21st century? ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/51 "2016-05-18T02:04:48Z")
I’ve been arguing off and on with my very conservative and Christian co-worker about this whole transgenders in the “wrong” bathroom issue. The thing I notice most is that to him, it’s all about men dressed as women. I keep introducing the idea that there are also women transitioning into men but it doesn’t register with him. I think at the core it’s all about men being afraid that they will be attracted to a pretty girl and then finding out it’s a trans, a normal, hetero sexual man will be turned GAY! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/52 "2016-05-18T03:12:21Z")
> [@patrickishere](#): > > I don’t care who uses what bathroom b/c bathrooms have stalls and nobody knows who anybody is or what they’re packing. However Locker rooms are different b/c you change cloths and take showers; and usually they are in open environments. My biggest concern is my daughter taking a shower after gym class and a transgender girl (biological boy) showers right next to her. I’m not comfortable with this situation and I’m sure my daughter wouldn’t be either. Why is no one discussing this part of the problem? Transgender people aren’t exactly new, it’s this recent batch of laws that is making issues out of nothing. No ones discussing it because there is no evidence such a situation will even exist. So far no one has been able to cite an incident in which a transgender person was using a open shower room that created an issue for review. I’d like to see an actual incident rather than trying to examine implausible hypotheticals. Transgender people aren’t very keen on showing off genitals of the wrong sex so I’d expect they would avoid even being in an open locker room all together. Does your daughters school even have open showers? Do girls at your daughters school even walk around the locker room exposed. Even in men’s locker rooms such things are becoming uncommon. With the younger guys at the gyms almost all of them do silly towel dances hiding their stuff. Newer gyms are going to private stalls even for men’s locker rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/53 "2016-05-18T06:19:38Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I’ve been arguing off and on with my very conservative and Christian co-worker about this whole transgenders in the “wrong” bathroom issue. The thing I notice most is that to him, it’s all about men dressed as women. I keep introducing the idea that there are also women transitioning into men but it doesn’t register with him. I think at the core it’s all about men being afraid that they will be attracted to a pretty girl and then finding out it’s a trans, a normal, hetero sexual man will be turned GAY! > > 😃 The Crying Game syndrome. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/54 "2016-05-18T06:21:59Z")
> [@patrickishere](#): > > I don’t care who uses what bathroom b/c bathrooms have stalls and nobody knows who anybody is or what they’re packing. However Locker rooms are different b/c you change cloths and take showers; and usually they are in open environments. My biggest concern is my daughter taking a shower after gym class and a transgender girl (biological boy) showers right next to her. I’m not comfortable with this situation and I’m sure my daughter wouldn’t be either. Why is no one discussing this part of the problem? The thing is that most transgender people aren’t comfortable with doing that themselves, because of the negative attention and worse it draws to them. And, as has been said before, please cite how this has been a problem when HB 2 didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/55 "2016-05-18T17:05:40Z")
> [@patrickishere](#): > > I don’t care who uses what bathroom b/c bathrooms have stalls and nobody knows who anybody is or what they’re packing. However Locker rooms are different b/c you change cloths and take showers; and usually they are in open environments. My biggest concern is my daughter taking a shower after gym class and a transgender girl (biological boy) showers right next to her. I’m not comfortable with this situation and I’m sure my daughter wouldn’t be either. Why is no one discussing this part of the problem? This issue (rather than “problem”) IS being discussed, all across the country, in everywhere from city halls to the comments sections on local newspapers (and rarely will you find more hate-filled people than in the latter area). The fact that you are not part of the conversation, nor seeing it, does not imply that it does not exist. How much thought did you give towards a transgender girl who has to change in front of boys in a locker room? I can tell you from personal experience it’s pretty fucking terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/56 "2016-05-18T17:09:00Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Fair enough. But my real question is what the answer would be if his daughter felt uncomfortable showering next to a person with a penis, regardless of birth sex or gender? Is she bigoted for not wanting to be around a naked person who has a penis? Is pushing for “penis free” zones bigoted? What about a transgender girl, who doesn’t want to be around people with penises in the locker room. Aren’t you going to white knight her cause as well? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/57 "2016-05-18T18:21:25Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > What about a transgender girl, who doesn’t want to be around people with penises in the locker room. Aren’t you going to white knight her cause as well? I wasn’t aware I was white-knighting anyone :dubious: The question is simple - Do you consider a woman bigoted if she doesn’t want anyone with a penis in the shower with her, regardless of the gender or biological sex of the person with a penis? Is there something wrong with a woman not wanting anyone with a penis in the shower with her? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/58 "2016-05-18T18:24:39Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Then she should teach her daughter that staring at other people’s genitals is rude behavior, and should not try to punish trans people for her inability to act like a decent human being. Seems great! “Mommy, there is a man in the shower!” “Stop staring at genitals, you are a rude, rude person!” right…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/59 "2016-05-18T20:35:23Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > The question is simple - Do you consider a woman bigoted if she doesn’t want anyone with a penis in the shower with her, regardless of the gender or biological sex of the person with a penis? Is there something wrong with a woman not wanting anyone with a penis in the shower with her? Bigoted is not the best word. But I don’t know what that word would be. _I_ don’t want to shower with a _man_ with a penis. But I would shower with a transgender woman with a penis (have done, actually). Because I know they’re just another woman (via gender identity) who has a physical difference, most likely one which will be corrected at some point. I’m actually more uncomfortable showering with a cisgender lesbian than a straight transgender woman, because there could be some attraction or ulterior motive which becomes apparent in the former case (been there, done that too…) ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901/60 "2016-05-18T22:13:40Z")
I’ve never been in a women’s locker room with an open shower area. Never seen any neighboring penises or vaginas. Some men really don’t get women’s restrooms and locker rooms. We just don’t do the genitalia on parade thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-transgender-bathroom-issues/752901.md?page=4)