The “quiet majority” needs to get over it. If I grow up in a small rural town, I might be uncomfortable around black people. I might have false notions that they will hate me because I’m white, or might steal my stuff when I’m not looking.
Does this mean, when I go to college, it’s reasonable to refuse to shower in the same room as a black guy? No. That’s unbelievably rude and racist. Everything you’ve ever been taught might tell you that he would probably steal your wallet while you’re showering, so the fact that you have that fear might be understandable, but nurturing that fear is wrong.
Gay people are not going to molest or leer at their straight roommates in the bathroom. Making policies which accomodate people who fear this is just going to validate the stereotype. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect us straight boys and girls to take time getting used to the existence of gay people in our bathrooms and locker rooms (which is why andygirl should just shrug and let it go), but get used to it we must.
The point isn’t that you’re surrounded by a bunch of pretty, naked women. The point is that you make one wrong move or glance, and you’re going to be in an extremely hostile environment for as long as you continue to live with those woman and share their showerroom. So you will pretty quickly learn not to make any wrong moves or use the circumstances for sexual arousal. Much the same way most gay men learn pretty quickly not to use the circumstances of a dorm shower room to approach the straight students who live with them, for fear of having to live under social ostracism and a hostile environment thereafter…
Oh well, enough said about this situation. I think Giraffe’s last post summed things up nicely.
And I offer my apologies to any feminists on the SDMB. I never claimed to be PC. But I have to admit that I was exploiting a stereotype myself (the stereotype of strident feminists as man-hating harpies) in order to make the point that gays live in a potentially hostile environment much of their lives and generally don’t see a showerroom in a college dorm as an opportunity to seek sexual arousal. But it was a low shot at feminists, and I’m supportive of women who address inequality and work to empower themselves and other women.