APOLOGIA
By Hendrik van der Breggen
The Carillon, May 12, 2016
Men
in women's bathrooms?
Should the use of public multiple-occupancy restrooms,
showers, and changing facilities be based on biological sex or “gender identity”?
I think the answer is biological sex.
Before I set out the reason for my answer, here
are four clarifications.
Clarification 1. All people are made in God's
image and deserve respect, including those who identify as “transgender.” (To
identify as transgender is to feel oneself is, or wishes oneself to be, the
opposite of one's biological sex; a.k.a. gender dysphoria, formerly known as
gender identity disorder.)
Clarification 2. According to John G. Stackhouse
Jr., “Gender dysphoria in particular, and the wider range of trans issues, are
matters disputed at the highest levels of psychological and psychiatric
expertise.” (Of related interest: A tracking of children who at one time
reported transgender feelings reveals that 70-80 percent of these children
spontaneously lost those feelings.)
Clarification 3. The percentage of the general
population that is transgender is small, apparently less than 1 percent and
perhaps even less than 0.5 percent.
Clarification 4. Love requires careful thinking.
In our desire to promote the well being of some, we also need to consider the
well being of others.
So why do I think the use of public multiple-occupancy
restrooms, showers, and changing facilities should be based on biology instead
of gender identity?
My reason is simple: prudence.
I think it's prudent (i.e., an exercise in sound
judgment on practical matters) to protect girls and women from the very real
possibility of sexual predators and perverts.
No, I am not saying that all transgender people
are sexual predators and perverts (though perhaps some are).
Rather, I'm saying that there are too many rapists
and pedophiles (whether transgender or heterosexual or whatever) from whom we,
as responsible citizens, must protect women and children. The concern here,
then, is not with transgenders, but with rapists and pedophiles who pretend to
be transgender.
We must also protect women and children from the
voyeurism of men and boys pretending to be transgender.
In other words, opening physically intimate
spaces such as public multiple-occupancy bathrooms, showers, etc. to anyone who
claims a transgender identity allows sexual predators to stalk their prey much,
much too easily.
Prudence also involves practicality. The fact is
that girls and women account for roughly 50 percent of the population whereas (as
mentioned) transgenders account for less than 1 or 0.5 percent.
Yes, the well being of transgenders is
important. But their bathroom and shower room needs can be easily accommodated by
adding some single-occupancy gender neutral facilities. And this can be done without
opening all women's bathrooms and shower rooms to every man or boy who claims
he feels female. Ditto for men's facilities and women or girls who feel they're
male.
Let me put it this way: I care about the comfort
and well being of a transgender person in his/ her using a bathroom or shower
room, but I think it's wise not to allow this care to trump the comfort and
well being of my wife, daughters-in-law, aunts, mother-in-law, and future grand-children.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz put it this way: “As a
father of daughters, I'm not terribly excited about men being able to go alone
into a bathroom with my daughters…And I think that is a perfectly reasonable
determination for…people to make.”
Stackhouse puts it this way: “[Government and
school] authorities can be sure that
many children will be uncomfortable and even traumatized by the presence of
members of the other sex in bathrooms, change rooms, gym classes, swimming
classes, and the like. To knowingly plan to upset millions of young people in
the disputed interests of the very, very few is not enlightened, but [ideologically]
doctrinaire.”
So, should any person who claims to feel they
are the opposite sex be permitted to use whatever public restroom, shower room,
and other related facilities they choose?
The reasonable (and non-transphobic) answer is
No.
(Hendrik
van der Breggen, PhD, is associate professor of philosophy at Providence University College. The views in this column do not always reflect the views of Providence.)
For further thought:
- The Unintended Victims of Bathroom Bills and Locker Room Policies (11 minute video)
- These Sex Assault Victims Want You To Know Why Open Bathroom Bills Are a Bad Idea (article for above video)
- Bathrooms, Identity, Rights, and Wisdom: Helping All Students in the Light of Trans* Issues (by John G. Stackhouse Jr.)
- A Rape Survivor Speaks Out About Transgender Bathrooms (by Kaeley Triller)
- Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme (by Paul McHugh)
- I Used to Be Transgender (by Walt Heyer)
- I Am Ryland - The Story of a Male-Identifying Little Girl Who Didn't Transition (by Lindsay Leigh Bentley)