# Puzzled by transgender bathroom laws. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 17, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498 "2016-04-17T20:00:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/121 "2016-04-19T18:54:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Does anybody want their 8 year old daughter to see some dude in a dress schlong? > [@aceplace57](#): > > I explained in a later post that it’s a bathroom at work. We have quite a few employees that use the lunch break to jog, bike or play pickup basketball games. The bathroom doubles as a makeshift locker room. > [@aceplace57](#): > > yes, underwear is left on. We’re changing dress shirts and pants and wearing sweats. > > If you’re familiar with boxers. You know theres a long slit in the front. I wouldn’t want to be in the woman’s bathroom and have a 7 or 8 year old girl wander in. They typically stand at waist height to an adult. A very unfortunate eyeline. > [@aceplace57](#): > > My comments about changing clothes or cleaning off a stain were obviously referencing bathrooms at work. I’m in there three or four times a day. They are an extension of my work space. Changing clothes for a basketball game at lunch. Or a short run. Bring a newspaper in there when taking a dump. Its a safe and comfortable environment. It is used occasionally by the public but usually its employees. So is there nudity in your bathrooms with genitals a’flyin or do you mean “people in their underwear”? And why are there 7 and 8 year olds in your work bathrooms? Do you work at an elementary school? Hell even elementary schools have adults-only bathrooms. Are you afraid for your own safety and comfort or that of others? ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/122 "2016-04-19T19:13:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > y > If you’re familiar with boxers. You know theres a long slit in the front. I wouldn’t want to be in the woman’s bathroom and have a 7 or 8 year old girl wander in. They typically stand at waist height to an adult. A very unfortunate eyeline. A) A man hanging out in his boxers in the ladies’ room is gonna have a verrrrrrrrry hard time explaining himself without getting kicked out and possibly arrested because… B) Ladies’ rooms don’t have urinals, because… C) Women go into stalls with doors closed to do their business, and the fact that your wife pees \*at home \*with the door open does not change the fact that every woman in this thread agrees that we close the stall door in a public bathroom, and since… D) Transwomen are women so they’d do as women do, since I’d assume the last thing they’d want is for someone to have a reason to pay extra attention to them in what’s already an awkward place, and furthermore… E) I can’t say that no transwomen ever wear boxers, but I’d think they’re more likely to wear either women’s underwear or some kind of undergarment that helps with “tucking,” so even in the unlikely event that she was parading around in her skivvies there wouldn’t be any kind of frontal opening at a child’s eye level. > [@](#): > > I know unisex bathrooms are coming. Theres no stopping them. Doesn’t mean that I or millions and millions of other Americans have to like it. this film crew certainly wasn’t happy with them. No one dares say anything because of the PC groups out there. > > ['Transparent' Crew Up in Arms Over Trans-Friendly Toilets](http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/19/transparent-transgender-bathrooms/) So it’s not about the children, it’s not worry about women being harassed by pervy cis-men, it’s not about unwanted homosexual advances. All it really is is “Change hard. Me no like change. Different people mean change. Me make every excuse to no make change.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/123 "2016-04-19T22:18:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Women are particularly worried about walking in and seeing a dude peeing at the urinal. Speaking as a woman, I’m not quite getting this. Is this a fear of penis? I don’t find penises particularly scary. Sometimes ridiculous, but not scary. Now, the _owner_ of the penis might scary, but that would be true whether his wang in wagging in the breeze or not. Certainly a penis performing the perfectly normal function of pissing isn’t worrisome because, well, natural function. And who are these women who are staring at men pissing at a urinal anyway? Isn’t that considered rude? Is this another case of men making assumptions about what women think, or am I an outlier? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/124 "2016-04-19T22:49:25Z")
Well I walked in on a circle-jerk today in the restroom. There was some oafish-looking white dude seeming to lead the 'jerk. He kept saying he could beat anyone, as he normally maintains his erections for days at a time. I couldn’t leave fast enough. So there is one data point, at least. Pervs _do_ hang out in public restrooms. Oh yea, I was vacationing in Massachusetts at the time. Maybe they’re just weird up there. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/125 "2016-04-19T23:06:44Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > If you’re familiar with boxers. You know theres a long slit in the front. I wouldn’t want to be in the woman’s bathroom and have a 7 or 8 year old girl wander in. They typically stand at waist height to an adult. A very unfortunate eyeline. I’m familiar with the sweet science of pugilism, but the rest of this paragraph makes no damn sense at all. Obviously no child should see fisticuffs in a restroom. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/126 "2016-04-19T23:08:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Does anybody want their 8 year old daughter to see some dude in a dress schlong? > > If some guy wants to call himself a woman fine. I could care less. Dress up all you want. I got no problem with it. But at least have the decency to go to the men’s restroom. Kids don’t want to look at your hairy dick in the women’s restroom. That’s not asking too much is it? > > Same goes for women who are transitioning to men. Dress like you want but our young boys don’t need to see your vag in the men’s restroom. > > After surgery, then yes it’s a different story. The plumbing matches the gender of the bathroom. Having shared a public bathroom with a trans person before surgery, there were no dress schlongs on display. We all behaved like adults who sit down to pee. We sat down, in our separate cubicles to pee and pulled our panties (and trousers) back up before exiting our little private cubicles. Note that this was 20 years ago. The trans person actually requested that we know she was supposed to start using the women’s room. We all agreed that it was okay. Yes, kids used the bathroom too. Women get to sometimes see penises on display in the women’s room but they are the penises of babies being changed or toddlers who don’t know better. I’ve never seen an adult displaying uglies in the women’s room ever. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/127 "2016-04-19T23:12:21Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > …I’ve never seen an adult displaying uglies in the women’s room ever. Uglies? It’s that bad, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/128 "2016-04-19T23:13:26Z")
I’d venture that kids don’t want to look at hairy dicks, regardless of restroom. Which is no problem, because _no one_ looks at hairy dicks in the restroom. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/129 "2016-04-19T23:17:48Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I’d venture that kids don’t want to look at hairy dicks, regardless of restroom. Which is no problem, because _no one_ looks at hairy dicks in the restroom. Except Republican senators. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/130 "2016-04-19T23:30:41Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m familiar with the sweet science of pugilism, but the rest of this paragraph makes no damn sense at all. Obviously no child should see fisticuffs in a restroom. Boxers remove all their clothing before engaging in a knife fight to defend children. Duh… ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/131 "2016-04-19T23:51:28Z")
Let’s see. Aceplace is worried about pervs in bathrooms. So worried that his imagination takes him to children! At eye-level with boxer shorts! Potentially viewing penises! Children! I think we’ve found the perv in the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/132 "2016-04-20T00:38:48Z")
> [@Septima](#): > > This thread is a really good illustration of how exhausting it must be to be trans. I’m exhausted and I barely participated. Thank you for expressing this. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/133 "2016-04-20T01:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Women are particularly worried about walking in and seeing a dude peeing at the urinal./quote > Speaking as a woman, I’m not quite getting this. Is this a fear of penis? I don’t find penises particularly scary. Sometimes ridiculous, but not scary. Now, the owner of the penis might scary, but that would be true whether his wang in wagging in the breeze or not. Certainly a penis performing the perfectly normal function of pissing isn’t worrisome because, well, natural function. > > And who are these women who are staring at men pissing at a urinal anyway? Isn’t that considered rude? Is this another case of men making assumptions about what women think, or am I an outlier? We had unisex bathrooms in college, including urinals, stalls, and showers. No one had the slightest difficulty with it. You really don’t see much when a guy is using a urinal, and yeah, it’s kind of bad manners to really stare. Not that most women care much about an accidental glimpse of a penis. Most of us have seen them before, you know. Not that it matters; if a transwoman comes into a woman’s bathroom, there won’t be any urinals. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/134 "2016-04-20T02:14:09Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > Let’s see. Aceplace is worried about pervs in bathrooms. So worried that his imagination takes him to children! At eye-level with boxer shorts! Potentially viewing penises! Children! > > I think we’ve found the perv in the bathroom. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Give me a break. Of course I’m aware of a kids eyeline. I raised two of them. You gotta be careful to put on a robe late at night or very early in the morning. I guess this is an issue we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m not comfortable with guys in the women’s bathroom. Even if they do insist on calling themselves women. That may change in a few years after this alternative lifestyle gets more common. I sure as heck won’t be bullied into thinking otherwise right now. You think differently. We’re both entitled to our own opinions and we should respect others that don’t agree with us. I see some valid points in this discussion and maybe in a few years I’ll agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/135 "2016-04-20T02:21:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not comfortable with guys in the women’s bathroom. How often are you in the women’s restroom that a guy being in there is going to discomfit you? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/136 "2016-04-20T02:22:48Z")
As a dude, I have seen exactly one penis in a public restroom, and it was an accident because someone was breaking the “rules” about talking while being forced to use the adjacent urinal, and I naturally turned to look. And I remember how horribly awkward it was that it happened. That’s with urinals. You don’t see anything in the stalls. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/137 "2016-04-20T02:30:59Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > How often are you in the women’s restroom that a guy being in there is going to discomfit you? No but you see, women walk around the restrooms with their vags unclothed and if there is a person with a penis in there as well, he may trip and fall in. Hey **ace** , how about \*you \*answer the question of the OP. Would you want someone who looked like [Buck Angel](http://i.imgur.com/Hdj9smI.png) using the men’s or women’s room? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/138 "2016-04-20T02:31:51Z")
Is anyone concerned that they’ll now start putting urinals in women’s restrooms? Because from here, and my own not-being-terrified-if-I-did-glimpse-a-penis belief system, I rate the likelihood of that happening at about a -87. However, I doubt seriously if any rationale will ever dissuade people like that. They’ve never met a transperson and they pray to God that they never will. Why would they even want to be disabused of their silly bigoted notions? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/139 "2016-04-20T02:32:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I guess this is an issue we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m not comfortable with guys in the women’s bathroom. Even if they do insist on calling themselves women. That may change in a few years after this alternative lifestyle gets more common. I sure as heck won’t be bullied into thinking otherwise right now. Well, since YOU won’t be using the women’s bathroom, then it’s really not your problem, is it? > [@](#): > > You think differently. We’re both entitled to our own opinions and we should respect others that don’t agree with us. I see some valid points in this discussion and maybe in a few years I’ll agree with you. I don’t have to respect jackshit. Especially since most of your so-called “opinions” are based on outright ignorance. > [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m familiar with the sweet science of pugilism, but the rest of this paragraph makes no damn sense at all. Obviously no child should see fisticuffs in a restroom. Not to defend ace, but I assume he’s referring to boxer _shorts_. Of course, why HE would be in the lady’s room makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498/140 "2016-04-20T02:33:06Z")
Also, if they did, I’m pretty sure I could carry on the male honored tradition of not leaning in, peering closely at it and pulling out a ruler and dispensing with a critique. What about you guys? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzled-by-transgender-bathroom-laws/752498.md?page=8)