Let Them Pee
Recently, in a poorly written article for The Federalist, Mrs. Nicole Russell let her feelings about allowing transgender people in the bathroom that best matches their gender identities known. In her uneducated opinion expressed in “The Sexes: Don’t Put My Five-Year-Old Girl In A Bathroom With A Transgender Boy” Mrs. Russell claims that transgender people should stick to the gender, and by default, the bathroom that was assigned to them at birth.
Nicole begins by quoting Ms. Jenner’s speech about respecting transgender individuals, including herself that she gave while receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. She then proceeds to talk about how uncomfortable the presence of transgender people, both inside and outside the bathroom,
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Russell first goes wrong is claiming that transgender people are not the gender they identify as. She seems unaware of the fact that transgender folks are similar to their cisgender counterparts mentally and emotionally even if their genitals are not. In fact, according to an Amsterdam-based study found in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology conducted by endocrinologist Richard Swaab found that forty-two brains of transgender individuals that had gone through hormone replacement therapy, showed similar nucleus structures to their cisgender counterparts (p 47). Nicole also seems to be under the impression that transgender youth rely on fleeting emotions to determine their gender when that is not the case. All transgender individuals, regardless of age, are required to attend gender therapy for a minimum of six months in order for them to receive a referral to an endocrinologist who will decide if they are mentally stable enough to understand the full effects of taking hormones. During that time the therapist works with the individual to break down why they may want to transition. The therapist goes over the person’s past, they talk about any forms of abuse they might have faced, and attempt to have the patient build a support group that can help them during their transition. The same process is also required to receive any sex-changing surgeries because doctors will not preform them without written consent from a certified …show more content…
That battle being when African Americans were forced to fight to end segregation between them and the white community, which of course, included segregation in restrooms. Oppressors then would also claim that allowing desegregation would lead to an increase in bathroom violence, perpetrated of course, by the oppressed group seeking their basic civil rights. Their fears turned out to be false then, (that’s not to say bathroom harassment and abuse doesn’t happen just that the rate did not see a particular spike due to desegregation when it came to African Americans being the perpetrators), and it seems that the same can be said to be true thus far of the “penis scare”, as many Americans have come to call it, occurring from transgender women and men being allowed to use the bathroom of their
Throughout reading this novel, my thought on transgender and transsexual individuals was pretty set and stone. For example, I knew from reading the textbook that a transgender is a person that is born—in Jenny’s case—a male, but was psychologically and emotionally born a female. However, Jenny took things one-step further and became a transsexual, which is an individual that underwent surgery to obtain the genitals that match the psychological and emotional gender within, which in her case was a female. Therefore, Jenny Finney Boylan would be considered a transsexual female. What I did not know prior to reading this book is how tedious the process is to make a sex change. To be honest I never thought about the process a transsexual needed to go through to become one’s self, I did not think about the many steps taken to obtain the voice, or look of a female that Jenny was striving for. I also did not think about the surgery, and how scary that type of surgery could actually be. For example, on page 124 Jennifer is discussing the process of transition with her psychologist, Dr. Strange. On this page Dr. Strange is beginning to inform Jenny, and essentially myself, on how to begin the transition of becoming a female. First Dr. Strange was listing off the effects the hormones will have on Jenny’s body, and I first they made sense to me; softer skin, fluffier hair, but I never knew the physical changes hormones could have on someone, especially a man. For instance, I learned that there is such a thing called “fat migration.” This is when the fat on previous parts of your body migrates to another location. I learned from this novel that fat migration is a result of hormones, and since Jenny was once a man, her face would become less r...
The news article I studied is from March 12th 2014 and found in the Fashion and Style section of The New York Times. Its title is “In their Own Terms- the growing transgender presence in Pop culture.” This article outlines the culture surrounding transgender and transgender situations in the United States, whilst following the lives and transformations of some known citizens of pop culture.
When a transgender person uses the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, it boosts well-being. It is legal to for transgender individuals to use whichever bathroom they feel to be is more beneficial. Many schools and states are trying to appeal this law. When the South Dakota House of Representatives were faced with the option to veto this law they chose to keep the law in place (“South Dakota House”). New York has also reinforced transgender individual’s right to choosing a bathroom (“New York mayor”).
The eye opening article utilized for this analysis is titled, “Trans Women at Smith: The Complexities of Checking ‘Female’” ,written by contributing writer, Sarah Fraas on August 24, 2014 (pg 683-685). Fraas starts off by introducing the audience with a school that accepts trans women, Mills College, and talks about how glorious this decision is. The author then begins to talk about other schools not as accepting as Mills, especially Smiths College. She spews many facts and analysis on the issues trans women face today throughout the article including how transgender women are not gaining enough support to succeed, most transgendered women are neglected in school, and the fact that many have been accused of being a woman for the “wrong” reason. She also mindfully includes the image of a woman of color holding up a sign saying, “Support your sisters, not just your CIS-ters!”. The author utilizes this image to show people that we are all one whether we
Early April 2016, North Carolina passed a law restricting governments from passing laws that are discriminatory. This law is intended to protect Transgender people from discrimination. Discrimination against Transgenders is against the law, and it has stirred up arguments throughout the nation. With more and more people standing up against discrimination regarding Transgenders, the debate about Transgenders is now nationwide. Unfortunately, Transgenders still continue to face public discrimination due to misinformation and misleading statements from the media.
According to the article, transgender have changed the way we define women and it’s not fair. As Burkett says, “People who haven’t lived their whole lives as women, whether Ms. Jenner or Mr. Summers, shouldn’t get to define us. That’s something men have been doing for too much long.” In this article Kairos comes in as it was published right now in the present, when you hear more about transgender even more in popular celebrities such as in this article Bruce Jenner now known as Caitlyn Jenner.
Rael, Andrea. "Coy Mathis, Colo. Transgender Child Banned From Using School Bathroom, Ignites Debate Over Anti-Discrimination Laws." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 May 2014.
Transgender and gender nonconforming people generally feel uncomfortable when they need to use the restroom. This problem needs to be addressed because 53 percent of transgender people report being harassed in bathrooms (Lambda Legal). In fact, bathrooms remain one of the only publicly gender separated areas in the United States (Kopas). It was not that long ago that the idea of mixed-race water fountains, let alone public restrooms was radical. Gender-neutral bathrooms should be required everywhere there are gender binary bathrooms. This would eliminate the general uneasiness with transgender people about bathrooms and result in a more inclusive society (Kopas).
Transgender Rights and Gender Neutral Bathrooms Cassidy Howell No one wants to feel like they do not belong or like they are not cared for. Transgender people are just like everyone else and deserve to be treated equally as cisgendered people. According to Sam Killerman, being transgendered means living "as a member of a gender other than that expected based on sex assigned at birth. " This definition is extremely important because a transgender person is still a person.
Within the recent years, the transgender movement has become more apparent than ever. With television shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Keeping It Up With Cait” and “I Am Jazz”, the voices of transgender people are more public than ever. Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverene Cox are changing the face of the movement by showing people that it is never too late to be their true selves. American laws are acknowledging the rights of transgender people, but not in a positive way. These are just people trying to be their best selves. Transgender people deserve to have all the rights that a non transgender person has.
Bathrooms are a necessary part of one’s life; however could public restrooms be causing harm? Currently in the United States people are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. Someone can either be a male or a female, and depending on the gender a person is they are expected to act and look a certain way. These gender binaries are so prevalent in our lives; it is to the point where a large group of Americans are being overlooked. This group of Americans identifies as transgender, which means they do not fit society’s expectations of how a specific gender should look and behave. (gaycenter.org, 2012). When using a bathroom a person is most likely only offered with two choices, men’s and women’s. By only giving the choice of using a Men’s or a Women’s bathroom has further enforces the gender binary: “In the moment that one must choose between two doors—one marked “men” and one marked “women”—the binary construction of gender is never more blatantly
In response to a rise in activism in support of transgender students, many college campuses across the nation are now offering, or plan to offer soon, gender-neutral housing in which members of the opposite sex can live together and share bathrooms (“Gender-Neutral”). As of right now, 13 states and the District of Columbia have laws that specifically protect students from gender-identity discrimination. While this is a great step in the right direction, the United States has a long way to go. Implementing gender-neutral bathrooms in public buildings and schools is a great way of helping make it easier for transgender individuals until the day comes that there are laws in place allowing them to use the restroom of their choice.
The issue of gender neutral bathrooms and transgender bathrooms is a hot topic right now in North America. Some people are strongly for it and others are going to great lengths to stop it. The majority of public bathrooms in Canada and The United States of America are gender segregated. Public bathrooms are one of the last places to still be separated by gender. Men and women work with each other, sit next to each other in restaurants, use public pools together, and much more. A bathroom with a locked stall, or single occupancy washrooms with a lock, should not be much different. When the idea was raised by the LGBTQIA*+ community to have transgender bathrooms or gender neutral bathrooms, North America was divided. There were those with no
Recently, there has been an uproar of debates on the topic of gender neutral bathrooms. Most of the debates have had to deal with the LGBTQ+ community trying to use the bathroom they identify with. However, these debates have mainly focused on transgenders, “transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate” (GLADD). There has been several bills that “have been filed in three states to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity” (Tannehill). Kentucky has tried to pass bills that target transgender students, but the bill in Texas and Florida would apply to everywhere (Tannehill). There are many different sides to this
In the last few years it has been a lot of gossip about equality and discrimination of having transgenders continuing to use public restrooms. The main focus of this argument is safety. People feel that transgenders should have a restroom policy. This conflict exploded into a mainstream most recently, when a judge in Washington, D.C ban this law in a few states. He felt as if transgenders should have a neutral right and accommodations like any other politician. But, this shouldn’t be the case when there are multiple crimes being committed. This is causing much violence in many different communities. People are feeling violated. In a few spots, inquiries can emerge, about which offices certain representatives can utilize, at that point clarified that