In her work Emily Bazelon sheds light on one of the most private and vulnerable places that we all share: the restroom. Many people, including myself, take for granted the simple luxury of walking into our respective toiletries and walking out, knowing which we belong to and being accepted whether it’s the mensroom or women’s room. However for those that are transgendered or gender fluid that is to the case. Bazelon points out the fact that in many places across the country and across the world, people that identify as something other than what is classified as standard do not have the same luxury as many people do. A transgendered woman is forced to enter a male bathroom in many places, and what isn’t talked about in the article is that for a lot of transgendered men and women this often dangerous and sometimes deadly. In places like Houston where people in masse voted against the accommodation of transgendered idividuals, some even stating that they don’t want men in a woman’s bathroom. Accommodation is a word that is under a microscope in this article and I believe it’s because many people are unaware of what it truly means. Some believe the word to mean “having to give away to make room for someone else’s needs” whereas the true definition is a lot closer to “an equal exchange for a more harmonic outcome.” Either definition you use, it is still no excuse as to why the morally compassionate individual cannot accommodate someone just trying to fit in in this world. Bazelon brings up the good point when stating that the women’s bathroom is more than just somewhere to go when your body asks of you, but it’s a place where girls can’t all and feel vulnerable and safe with one another, and a transgendered woman who wants to be apart of that world has the right to do so.
Internal Design Summary: Making Bathrooms More Accommodating
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