House Bill 752 criminalizes trans bathroom use in all private businesses with severe penalties. While passing it, Republicans argued trans people won't be harmed because they don't exist.
Their logic, such as it is, is that since trans people don’t exist, anybody in the “wrong” bathroom is there for nefarious reasons.
It’s false to anybody with a brain, because trans people do exist. In fact, even if you think gender dysphoria and trans identity are not how they’re commonly described, harsh punishments for using the “wrong” bathroom still don’t make sense, because the logical conclusion would be that those people are misguided or deluded, not predatory.
Still, it behooves us all to understand the emotional reasoning behind gender-segregated bathrooms: in most cultures (at least Western ones, but I think it goes further) there is a deep-seated idea that certain things are wrong if done in the presence of people of the other gender. Cultures with very different attitudes to nudity, for example, still have gender-segregated baths and saunas. I don’t think there’s any logical reason for this, but people (especially conservatives) feel the need to preserve it: the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms is crazy to them.
What, then, do you do with people who say their gender is other than what you, the dominant culture, say it is? Do you let them use the bathroom/shower/sauna they say they should? But then ANYONE could say their gender is different, and you wouldn’t have gender segregation at all! Oh no!
And actually, I agree with this. I think if you’re going to let people pick which bathroom they use according to their self-identification, gender segregated bathrooms are pointless, so we should get rid of them. Of course, this is not a popular view even among moderate left-wingers in Western countries, never mind Republicans, so we have this stupid culture war.
When my college moved to gender-neutral bathrooms they took every urinal out. It was a 60% loss in places to pee. Gender aside, it was a stupid decision.
Their logic, such as it is, is that since trans people don’t exist, anybody in the “wrong” bathroom is there for nefarious reasons.
It’s false to anybody with a brain, because trans people do exist. In fact, even if you think gender dysphoria and trans identity are not how they’re commonly described, harsh punishments for using the “wrong” bathroom still don’t make sense, because the logical conclusion would be that those people are misguided or deluded, not predatory.
Still, it behooves us all to understand the emotional reasoning behind gender-segregated bathrooms: in most cultures (at least Western ones, but I think it goes further) there is a deep-seated idea that certain things are wrong if done in the presence of people of the other gender. Cultures with very different attitudes to nudity, for example, still have gender-segregated baths and saunas. I don’t think there’s any logical reason for this, but people (especially conservatives) feel the need to preserve it: the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms is crazy to them.
What, then, do you do with people who say their gender is other than what you, the dominant culture, say it is? Do you let them use the bathroom/shower/sauna they say they should? But then ANYONE could say their gender is different, and you wouldn’t have gender segregation at all! Oh no!
And actually, I agree with this. I think if you’re going to let people pick which bathroom they use according to their self-identification, gender segregated bathrooms are pointless, so we should get rid of them. Of course, this is not a popular view even among moderate left-wingers in Western countries, never mind Republicans, so we have this stupid culture war.
Agree. The fuck is wrong with a bathroom that has le gasp a urinal AND a toilet in one?!
Gender truly is a fuck.
When my college moved to gender-neutral bathrooms they took every urinal out. It was a 60% loss in places to pee. Gender aside, it was a stupid decision.