I support coed locker rooms, provided the coeds are okay with it. As I am past that age (as are my kids), I support coed locker rooms at my gym but that ain’t gonna happen.
The issues expressed in the thread so far seem to me to boil down to:
Heterosexual teenagers can have certain levels of body modesty that means they don’t want to be seen in their underwear (or less) by anybody.
Towards this end, you’ve got multiple instances in this thread of straight girls changing under towels, in the toilet, or just not taking a shower at all after gym class, and guys much the same, except instead of changing under towels, they just don’t change underwear.
Teenagers have so little traction on getting anything their way that, given this opportunity to say “Hey, now, wait…”, they’re running with it.
There are (apparently), three possible changing areas.
The “boys’” locker room: no objection on record to this student’s presence from the boys; this student objects.
The private “gender-neutral” facility: no one objects but this individual.
The “girls’” locker room: many girls object to the presence of this student.
The student has been provided with two potential changing areas. No one else at the school has been provided with more than one, but even having twice as many possible places that no one objects to the student changing is not enough. The only place the student is willing to change is the only one that anyone else objects to the student changing. The “need” of the student not to change in the boys’ locker room was met when the school provided the student with an alternate changing area. Insisting on forcing your own nudity on others who do not wish to see it is obnoxious and often illegal.
Imagine you are at the park. You are a woman, going for a jog. Crouched in the shrubbery is a trench-coated individual. The individual stands and opens the trench coat, revealing a schlong. You avert your eyes and continue on your way.
You spy a police officer ahead and decide you should report the incident (or should you? You’re not sure, but you do). The officer questions the individual for a minute, then turns to explain that the schlong belongs to a woman. He points out that the person is wearing a Halloween costume wig that appears to have been scavenged from a trash can and asks if you are going to insist on pressing charges against the lady.
Of course you say no, right? I mean the sight of a lady’s schlong hasn’t actually harmed you in any way, has it? Sometimes people just feel the need to make others look at their genitalia or maybe they want to air them out or whatever and there is no cause for concern, right?
I know a number of teens, including my daughter, who are gender fluid. They try on and off being the opposite gender or no gender at all. I suspect the vast majority of them will settle into the biological birth genders as they get older.
A few of them additionally like to push buttons and challenge the status quo as well. Often because it needs to be challenged (and gender and sexuality issues in school is one where some challenging definitely needs to be done on everything from same sex dates to the prom to dress codes to transgender issues), but other times just because its disruptive or because they get to make the administration dance. And gender is one that can set the administration completely on end. Everything from Phy Ed to dress codes aren’t set up for a transgirl and its usually the first time the school is being asked to come up with solutions.
But what’s her problem with the male changing room?
Is it the presence of the penises or is it something else?
If it’s the presence of the penises isn’t it then a little presumptuous to force the presence of her penis on the other girls?
If it’s “just a body” - why can’t she stay in the body shape changing room that matches her body shape?
We already know that “sexual attraction” isn’t a very good way of sorting changing rooms.
'What sex the brain says" seems even worse.
Out of curiosity - and this is probably too “Southpark Intellect” - but can this young lady get an erection? And how would that be managed in the girls changing room?
If nothing else, she believes that she is a girl, and has so for years. She’s been living as a girl and wanting to do all the things girls do. Girls change in the girl’s locker room. That’s also why the non-gender-specific changing area they came up with isn’t her first choice, either.
That’s a strange question. I assume she can get an erection. Just like gay guys could get an erection in the boys’ locker room. (or the straight guys too, for that matter). It just doesn’t happen (not to my knowledge at least, and I have spent a fair amount of time in locker rooms over the past 50 years). I don’t know anything about this girl’s sexual orientation, and she may find other young women attractive. I doubt that would lead to an erection while changing clothes after class. Despite the best efforts of the porn industry, the locker room is not a sexual setting.
My college dorm had co-ed showers. I was a very horny straight college kid. On the rare occasion I shared the room with a naked woman, there were no erections.
What if a girl (no gender dysmorphia) simply doesn’t believe this particular girl (gender dysmorphia) is telling the truth? What if she thinks her classmate if full of it, or simply doesn’t get gender dysmorphia and doesn’t want a person with male genitalia in the traditional female bathroom for whatever reasons?
At what point of diagnosis is a school or classmates supposed to accept someone’s real (or proposed) gender? When is it official? Obviously someone can’t just walk into class, say I’m really a girl and be treated like a girl. So what is the diagnosis process?
One of the gender fluid teenagers I know did just that. One day said “I want to try being a girl” and the school had to adapt. Three weeks later, back to being a boy (a very gay boy with some gender fluidity, but more boy than girl).
Now, in an ideal world, you shouldn’t get treated any differently if you are a boy or a girl. Dress code rules should be consistent, if someone with a penis wants to wear a skirt, shouldn’t be a big deal. There are things - bathrooms and locker rooms - that are gender segregated, but teachers shouldn’t be treating boys differently than girls. But there are things we need to overcome. Boys who don’t make the hockey team, but could make the girls hockey team - can they be gender fluid to make varsity?
This kid had real issues with getting the administration to adapt - definite button pusher type kid, but the administration also fought it. No wigs in class. Really, since when is that a rule. Boys can’t wear skirts. Really, since when is that a rule. Boys can’t wear makeup… In other words, the school gave him something to fight against, and he ate it up for three weeks - had the school said “ok” it would have lasted less time.
Or, like this kid, s/he would have felt the need to up the ante and done whatever that would take. This school is obviously permitting the wig and skirt-sans-underpants with highly-visible penis outline, plus provided a special changing room, so the next frontier became the girls’ locker room. High on attention, the kid is smirking through every interview while condemning the students who aren’t on board with the fact that their classmate who self-identified to them as male until six short months ago is now a girl with a penis.
Do you have a link to a story about this student? Because that seems really weird. My son, who hasn’t asked to use the ladies room, has been wearing a skirt for a couple of year, now. And no, it doesn’t show his penis any more than a pair of jeans would – less, really, and much less than a pair of men’s swimming trunks would.
I think we’re all basically assuming that the student in the OP at least has a doctor’s note. Because if all it takes to use the girls’ restroom is someone saying “I’m a girl now”, that’s kind of bonkers. Pronouns, fine. Pants/skirt, fine. That stuff won’t hurt anyone, so whatever. But presumably restroom choice requires more documentation before it is even considered. I was certainly taking that as a given.
If that’s not the case… I think I’ll need to reconsider my stance on this.
OK, I’ve basically frame-by-framed the video a few times over now, and… yeah, I guess that could be a schlong. If so… wowza. But I’m not convinced that it’s not just a skirt fold.
That’s some pretty eagle-eyed spotting of possible schlong from AnaMen there, I must say.