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Gender Neutral

There’s a group at Beloit college is pushing for ‘gender-neutral’ bathrooms. 

“There are people for whom that is a very troubling and unfair burden in terms of always having to identify themselves when they walk through a door to relieve themselves,” said Catherine Orr, who chairs women’s and gender studies at Beloit. “The bathroom becomes a very political space.”

My first thought on this is that it is not a right to not feel uncomfortable.  People feel uncomfortable all of the time for all sorts of reasons. 

My second thought is that if we are going to set rules to prevent people from feeling uncomfortable, shouldn’t we set them to make the fewest people uncomfortable?  I’m willing to bet that there aren’t more than a dozen kids at Beloit college who can’t figure out what gender they are.  As for the rest of the kids, I’m willing to bet that a great number of them would be uncomfortable with gender-neutral bathrooms.  I know that I would have been uncomfortable walking into a bathroom with a bunch of my female classmates and pinching a loaf. 

This is another case of an extremely small minority trying to make the world around them more comfortable at the expense of making everyone else uncomfortable.

UPDATE: HLN has come up with the perfect door label for these gender-neutral bathrooms.

Posted by Owen at 2212 hrs
Culture

1. I have no problem with gender neutral bathrooms, as long as they’re single occupancy.

   I don’t suppose this is what they have in mind.

   Posted by Harvey on February 12, 2004 at 0701 hrs
   
   
   

2. Sure, that would be great…except for the fact that it is a lot cheaper to make a single room with 4 stalls than 4 rooms with single toilets. It would then be “troubling and unfair” for all the normal kids who have to pay more money than they should.

   Anyway, why does it bother them? If theres that much of a question about their gender can’t they just close their eyes and pick one? A gal can squat in a stall in a room with a guy on the door just as easily as she can in a lady’s room. Similarly, a guy can sit on a toilet to take a leak. No identification necessary.

   Hell, they can pee outside for all I care.

   ...Who’s paying attention to this “troubled” kid in front of the bathrooms anyway? I mean…you’d think it would be more embarrassing to look indecisive rather than to just get in, get out, and walk away.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 12, 2004 at 1449 hrs
   
   
   

3. I literally sat and laughed at this story until I had tears in my eyes.

   If you’re in college and don’t know if you’re a male or female or you’re just too lazy read the sign on the door then I’m having a hard time believing you need to be in college.
   This story really just blew my mind.
   What are these people thinking???

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 12, 2004 at 1952 hrs
   
   
   

4. I usually link a different page at this site, the one with instructions for females wishing to use urinals, but “Understanding and Overcoming the Fear of Using Public Restrooms” is more on-topic.

   Posted by triticale on February 12, 2004 at 1956 hrs
   
   
   

5. LOVE the logo

   Posted by Harvey on February 13, 2004 at 0919 hrs
   
   
   

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