Trans Bathroom Myths Pt.1
- Cody
- May 21, 2016
- 4 min read
Hello friends. Bear with me, since this is my first real post.
META DATA DATA
StartFragmentSomething has been weighing very heavily on my heart lately, and I think that I speak for all trans folk - and, by extension, all folk who support and promote equality in all of its forms - when I say that something has got to be done regarding this issue. Of course, the problem at hand is the recently-publicized media circus surrounding the anti-trans bathroom legislation in places like NC, GA, SD, TX, and SD. EndFragment
First of all, the media – and especially the far right’s media outlets – has been perpetuating extremely harmful out-right lies about transgender people as of late. You cannot turn on the television, open Facebook, or look at a newspaper without seeing horribly-twisted untruths that equate trans acceptance with the acceptance of sexual predation. These lies aim to scapegoat transgender folks and whip the public up into an anti-trans fervor so as to distract from the real issue, which is that the majority of rapists, sexual predators, and violent criminals are cisgender, straight men – nearly 99%, according to verified statistics. These lies are beginning to take the form of legislation that aim to further discriminatory practices and create segregated “separate but equal” spaces that do not acknowledge, respect, or provide validity to the gender identities of trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.
One of the most wide-spread falsities during this wildfire of misinformation and bigotry is that, by allowing transgender folks access to the bathroom, changing room, or locker room that corresponds to their gender identity, we are opening up a veritable Pandora’s box of sexual deviance. The far-right is using scare tactics to make people believe that pro-trans bathroom access equates to children being unsafe in public facilities by saying that, “if we allow ‘men’ to use the women’s room, little girls will be put in danger.”
This of course does two main things: (1) it misgenders, and therefore commits an act of violence against all trans people by labeling them as their assigned sex rather than their identified gender, and it also (2) gives the safety of cisgender children priority over the safety, acceptance, and comfort of transgender children.
There is no debating that misgendering a trans person is a flagrant act of transphobic violence, hatred, and ignorance. There are individuals whose gender is unclear, or who may not be able to express their identity due to not feeling safe or comfortable outing themselves to certain audiences. There are also individuals with fluid gender identity, who may present one way one day and a completely different way the next. The thing is, all of these presentations of identity are just as valid as that of the cisgender person who is seeking to police them. In most cases, politely asking a person’s preferred pronouns – and then respectfully adhering to them – is an easy remedy if you are uncertain, but at the end of the day, no one is beholden to anyone when it comes to something as personal and private as gender identity.
These bathroom bills attempt to segregate people by both the gender binary (a basic male/female system that does not take into account trans, intersex, or non-conforming individuals) and according to their assigned sex. This kind of harmful gender policing facilitates misgendering of individuals on a vast scale.
By saying that “we are letting men into the women’s room” when you refer to transgender folks – or referring to transwomen specifically as “men in dresses” as some media outlets have – an act of transphobic violence is taking place that shamelessly refers to a group of people in a way that is diametrically opposite to their identity. Intentionally misgendering a trans person is unjust, unkind, and extremely disrespectful because it asserts that you know what someone’s identity is better than they do, and that their identity is invalid or a falsity that is deserving of your correction.
Acting on prejudice based on preconceived, socially-constructed notions is horribly detrimental to the individual who the violence is enacted upon: it can cause self-esteem to diminish, and can spread seeds of self-doubt: “Am I not female/male enough? What do I have to go to be more of a woman/man, so that I can get the respect I deserve, and be gendered properly?”
By demanding that people use the bathroom that corresponds with their assigned sex, we are dismissing a wide array of factors (both biological and psychological – all scientifically verified as valid) that work in tandem to validate a person’s gender identity. We are saying that our brief interactions with someone we are passing in the restroom give us more authority and knowledge in regard to their gender than the person in question has about themselves. We are saying that something as flimsy as the gender binary has more substance than someone’s very real, life-long, lived gender experience. We are saying that, simply looking at someone in passing, we are able to gain more accurate information about who and what they are than they themselves have. We are saying that their identity is invalid, and that they should be forced to use a facility that we designate for them simply because their mere existence challenges our preconceived notions of gender in a way that we are not willing to interrogate or deal with like mature adults. This of course has proven to be disastrous in places with these anti-trans bathroom bills, such as NC, where certain cisgender women are now being humiliated and violated because they simply do not fit into the social stereotype of what women “should look like” (ie. butch femmes).
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