J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

[Shinobi-san]

sundin13 said:

Shinobi-san said:
People should be allowed to identify with whatever gender they want to.

But surely common sense should prevail when we talk about the use of public spaces, sports etc. Which i believe is what JK Rowling referred to. If biological woman do not feel safe sharing a toilet with transgender woman then that should in my opinion be the end of the story. Based on the fact that there is a clear physical difference between the two. Quite literally if that was ever to become a law in my country, it would EASILY be abused - and would open up an exploitable avenue for legitimate criminals.

The problem with these laws dictating bathroom use is that it is basically impossible to formulate a law in which the cis women are never left to feel unsafe. I mean, first of all, I don't think the feelings of cis women should be the only deciding factor here, but lets put that aside for a bit. You seem to be advocating for access to spaces such as bathrooms to be dictated based upon the gender assigned at birth.

From what I can tell, the logic here is that if someone who looks like a man walks in, the cis women in the bathroom won't like it, and as such, trans women shouldn't be allowed in the bathroom. But what about trans men? Under this law, trans men would be required to use the women's bathroom despite the fact that they may look indistinguishable from a man, and would make cis women uncomfortable.

Similarly, the potential for abuse by cis men goes both ways. If individuals are allowed access to bathrooms based on gender identity, a cis man could claim to be a trans woman and enter the bathroom. On the other hand, if individuals are allowed access to bathrooms based on their gender assigned at birth, a cis man could claim to be a trans man and enter the bathroom. Either way the potential for abuse exists. This is one of the reasons why there hasn't been any noted increase in such crimes in areas where individuals are allowed to choose their bathroom based on gender identity.

I'm not really "advocating" for anything. I am stating what the current norms and laws are in most places I've been to and if we were to change them it would be disastrous - at least in some regions of the world. I would even go as far as to state all regions of the world, as most countries have poorer areas with a general lack of security and safety.

I guess currently these norms are handled by the public and society - if there are a group of guys hanging out in a female toilet, anyone can go and complain to security etc. It can easily be handled. But if all those guys are legally allowed to randomly claim that they identify as female nobody can do anything about it. That shift in reality is logically worse than the current status quo.