“Grown adult men — strangers — should not be alone in a bathroom with little girls.” — Ted Cruz bashing Trump for saying people should be allowed to use whatever bathroom they choose.
In case you haven’t heard, they’re arguing over North Carolina’s “bathroom law” requiring people to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex. One problem I have with this law is how will it be enforced? According to the bill, “biological sex” is the one specified on your birth certificate, short of medical or legal documentation proving otherwise.
The fact that “biological sex” needs quotations, already tells you it’s complicated. We live in a culture where you can’t tell gender by how a person looks, not even if you were to peek into their underpants. According to the transgender community, gender is self-identified, independent of the nature of a person’s junk, which they may or may not choose to change. Even then, the physical change comes gradually. At what point has a man successfully crossed over to a woman, and what bathroom should he/she/it use in the meantime?
It wouldn’t be enough to have a guard at every bathroom door scanning birth certificates for entry. We would need a bathroom TSA asking to see our wares, checking for scars, reviewing our medical histories and psychological profiles. (Just think — more jobs!)
Bathrooms are open to the public, and until now, we’ve trusted men and women to choose the place appropriate for their gender. Most men do not want to walk into a women’s room, as much as they might be curious about what goes on there, why women like to go together, and why they disappear for so long. Most women do not want to see the backs of men standing at urinals while they do their business. I still have nightmares about the time I opened the wrong door at a health club and saw a hairy backside.
On the slim chance that a person wanted to use the “wrong” bathroom, they would probably be very discreet. They might get some strange looks, but otherwise it would be an uneventful visit.
Today there are more people wanting to cross over and not caring so much about being discreet. Every day, pedophiles, voyeurs, murderers, kidnappers, or other ill-intentioned folk, enter public restrooms unnoticed. We’re not safer for singling out the ones disguised/dressed as the opposite sex. In fact, given the choice between being in a bathroom with some guy who looks like a guy and a guy dressed like a woman, I think I’d feel safer with the latter. Just saying.
No little girl should be alone in a public restroom. She should always be accompanied by someone who is watching out for her — in a good way. That goes for little boys, as well. When my son was very young, I took him to the women’s room, rather than let him go unaccompanied into the men’s room. I don’t think we got any weird looks, but even if we did, better weird than sorry.
Call me old fashioned, but I like the exclusivity of a womens room just for women. I don’t even like using single person unisex bathrooms, especially if there’s a guy coming out when I’m going in or vice versa. That said, I just don’t see the point of the bathroom law. As far as I can tell, it would be a nightmare to enforce, and it won’t keep out the bad guys — or girls.
Thank you for saying it “all”. My thoughts exactly. I too made a mistake once. I was 17, working at Bakelite and walked into the men’s room. Mortified….tho thankfully no one saw me. Since then I check and re-check sign at rest rooms before I enter.