Question for the ladies, and also business owners/store managers, etc., although anyone can answer:
Suppose you see a man going into a woman’s restroom and you *know *that that is a cisgender man who is not trans in any way - that he’s going into the restroom to stir up controversy. Kind of like a transgender false-flag agent. When accosted, he claims, of course, to be transgender. What would you do?
Kind of like the “What would you do if someone brings a “service animal” into a store, who is obviously just a pet and not a service animal” question.
I’m not asking this to stir up a fight, I’m sincerely asking what the response should or would be.
If I was a customer, I would immediately block his entrance to the restroom and call for security and/or the store manager. If I were the business owners/store manager I would immediately block his entrance to the restroom then inform him has two options 1.) leave and never return to my business again or 2.) continue arguing further and let the police settle the matter.
And how do you know this wasn’t a transgender MtF person? You’re just causing undue problems. Just what sort of horrible things do you expect this person to be doing in the bathroom anyway, that will hurt anybody else?
Rape, robbery, murder, and assault come to mind. Men (cis or otherwise) should not enter women’s restrooms unless they wish to be treated as potential criminals. Also, Velocity’s question presumes, I absolutely know the individual in question is male.
Like others, I do not believe that this anecdote really happened. But speaking as a (cisgender, although I am rather tall…) woman, I’d much prefer to share a public restroom with someone who’s minding their own business in their own stall than someone who would climb up onto a toilet to get a look at my genitals. I’m pretty sure that peeping on someone in a bathroom stall is also a crime. So my response to this scenario is that the peeping woman is a criminal pervert and should be dealt with accordingly.
I don’t think that quietly masturbating in a closed stall in a public bathroom is a crime, but if it is then I’d consider it a far less serious one.
Conservatives in general are not more comfortable with transgender men in the women’s room. This is why Texas considered an anti-transgender bathroom bill to be introduced this last January that would have only applied to transgender women (my contact in the Texas legislature said that was dropped as even conservative attorneys said the law would be thrown out by the courts within hours of passage). But at least it was actually was a more honest approach to what anti-transgender bigots are really driven by. Namely, the heart of anti-transgender bathroom laws and feelings are misogyny, homophobia, and fear of loss of masculinity.
Hysterical homophobia that they might be attracted to a person who once (or may still have) the Almighty Penis.
Fear that their concept of masculinity as being the greatest gift from God may not be so great if people can willingly “give it up” (the irony being, we never really had it in the first place).
A desire to reinforce paternalism and get a masculine "I am the protector, rawr ego boost by “protectin’ all them weak womenfolk.”
Transgender men are not seen as a threat because most of the anti-transgender bigots see them as just “confused women,” and because they are just women, then they are not a threat. There is also a smattering of admiration for some transgender men, because it reinforces the high value that some place on masculinity. Obviously, since these “confused women” are so incredibly driven to be masculine, it means masculinity must be really awesome.
I’m not sure how you intend that, but I read that as “knock it off, you guys [liberals], you look stupid and no one is taking you seriously and we’re wasting a lot of resources fighting you on this”. To which a simple reply would be “knock it off, you guys [republicans], this is a really, really big deal to some people and if it’s so minuscule to everyone else, stop wasting so many resources fighting it”.
When I see the two arguments:
A)I’m transgender and would rather use the other bathroom
B)I’m worried people will lie about being transgender to sneak into the other bathroom and masturbate in the stall next to me (or take pictures?).
I see the first one as being a legitimate concern, it’s the second one that I see as silly looking and not just that, I see the real motivator being “I don’t want those people in the bathroom with me”.
Transgendered people are a very small minority, so I guess it’s okay to discriminate against them? Or its just not worth anyone else caring if they get discriminated against? I’m not entirely sure what you’re trying to say here.
I think the point everyone is missing is that it’s not about safety it’s merely about conventions. There is no policy in place that prevents bathroom assaults other than normal law enforcement. IT’s not like there’s a scanner at the door that doesn’t let you in unless you’re the correct sex and very few places post security at bathrooms, so even if it’s in theory not allowed for a male to enter a female bathroom, he can still slip in very easily.
On the other hand, suggesting that transgendered are safe and straight men are a threat is offensive. And the right to use the most convenient bathroom should apply to all.
Wow - that’s going to make it really hard for the janitor at work to clean the restrooms - which could stand more frequent cleaning, just sayin’. He’s just doing his job, he’s not a criminal.
This specific article has come up repeatedly. Why? Because it’s literally the only example anyone on this board has been able to uncover of a transgender woman assaulting women by entering women’s spaces. And it contains a key line:
Even with the broader worry–that cisgender dudes will follow in this asshole’s footsteps–it is, as I said, a vanishingly rare occurrence. If you really want to worry about men committing sex crimes in bathrooms, you should have separate facilities for Republican lawmakers, who commit such crimes at vastly higher percentages.
So, [agreeing with you, if this comes out clumsily], of the over 300 million people in the US, there’s been one case where this has happened. Seems to me all the people that say ‘don’t we have better things to worry about’*, should go worry about those other things.
*Better things to worry about, as in, let’s just pass the bathroom bills, leave well enough alone and move on.
