Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’
The world is slowly changing around us and all most of us can do is watch it unfold. There are many groups that are fighting for their rights so that they can be respected. Transgender is a group that comes to mind as more people are just now understanding more about this type of sexuality. However, there is still some issues that need to be worked out and one of the main issue is their use of public restrooms. In Emily Bazelon’s article, ‘Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’’, she discusses the struggles that many transgenders have when it comes to using a public restroom and how we can make it better for them.
Bazelon starts off the article as an illustration of the struggles of the public restrooms we have now. There is a restroom that says MEN and one that says WOMEN. When it comes to the wait, it seems that many men have no issue to quickly use the restroom and then come right back out. Meanwhile, women sometimes have to wait in line because of the amount of time it take women to use the restroom. She claims that both restrooms have a slightly different environment as like females who like to chat with their other girlfriends. However, “…some of them are disturbed by what they see as an incursion by male anatomy” (Bazelon) some women can only see transgender women as men. When a man or woman go into the opposite restroom is perceived as a mistake and becomes very discomforting to the people in that particular restroom. This is when Bazelon take the time to explain issues transgenders have. She gives a story of a transgender trying to use the girls’ locker room. However the school district claims, “…‘privacy concerns’ required sending her to a separate room down the hall” (Bazelon). According to Bazelon, it does not have to be this way.
Just like the changes that America did when it came to the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, Bazelon claims that we should be able to accommodate the public restrooms to transgenders as well. She claims that it is hard to do so through because many people have just been grown up in a manner where there is a separate restroom for men and women (or a one stall unisex restroom). People can not fathom over the idea that there ‘women with penises’ or ‘men with vaginas’ can just go into the opposite sex stalls. Some things are going in a positive direction as Bazelon tells another story of a transgender who is able to use the girls’ locker room and how it has been going fine.
Our society just continues to change around us. As people. we should try to accept these changes so that people can feel welcome. We should not judge people but only respect each other the way that we want to be treated. Bazelon was able to show us a community that wants changes and now it is up to us to decide if we want to accommodate these changes for them.
Word Cited:
BAZELON, EMILY. “Making Bathrooms More Accommodating.” New York Times Magazine. 17 November 2015. Web. 2 January 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/making-bathrooms-more-accommodating.html?_r=0
Picture: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/ore-school-creates-unisex-bathrooms-trans-students-article-1.1298269