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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

"Wrong bathroom" sign in university toilet

320 replies

PinkChestnut · 03/03/2018 10:58

I peak transed a while ago, but then have leveled out recently and taken the live and let live approach in my thinking.

However this sign in a Scottish university bathroom, designed by transpeople, bothers me.

"they are using the facilities they feel safe in - please do not take that right away from them"

So if there's a petite young woman in the toilets beside a 6'3 muscular male appearanced person and she feels uncomfortable, where does she go to feel safe? The disabled toilet?

Also "don't challenge them" sounds wrong to me. Like they're untouchable. What if they're acting inappropriate?

"Wrong bathroom" sign in university toilet
OP posts:
stitchglitched · 03/03/2018 14:09

Women should never be told that they should ignore their discomfort with male bodied individuals no matter how much of the TRA ideology you've swallowed. For a university to endorse the idea that women and girls should ignore their instincts out of politeness, especially in situations where they might be particularly vulnerable, is so fucking irresponsible it's unreal.

Lovesagin · 03/03/2018 14:00

Hermione indeed, that pic is fake news.

Fake fake fake

Mmmm hmmmm.

brizzledrizzle · 03/03/2018 13:52

Ah, sense of humour and reading skills fail!

I guess it was that I have got used to seeing such daft statements meant seriously

HermioneWeasley · 03/03/2018 13:47

bizzle i was being sarcastic. The photos I uploaded require eye bleach.

brizzledrizzle · 03/03/2018 13:43

@HermioneWeasley

No man or transwoman has ever abused their access to spaces where women and girls are vulnerable.

What is the source for this sweeping generalisation?

rememberthetime · 03/03/2018 13:41

Pub toilets also have notices about what to do if you are being harassed - what to say to the people at the bar, how to ask them to order a taxi, how to indicate you are in trouble.

Toilets in many places are a place of refuge for women. The one place you can go to get away from men if you are frightened.

HermioneWeasley · 03/03/2018 13:38

No man or transwoman has ever abused their access to spaces where women and girls are vulnerable. You’re all just hysterical prudes and bigots.

"Wrong bathroom" sign in university toilet
"Wrong bathroom" sign in university toilet
MuddyInTheSnow · 03/03/2018 13:30

The whole minding their own business is incredibly naive.

I don't object to genuine transgender people using whatever loo they want when they need to pee. This isn't about them.

This is about the kind of perv whom we've almost all encountered- the flasher outside the school, the wanker on the tube, the drunk asshole who follows you home - now realising they'll be able to hang around in women's toilets.

They might not do anything either. They'll be just waiting by the sinks listening to women pee and getting off on the fact that they know their presence is making women and girls nervous.

There might be nothing obvious to challenge other than some leering which they'll deny and pretend they're the injured party.

This gives a green light to every single creep who gets a rush out of making women uncomfortable.

It also doesnt make much difference to those trans people who have been quietly using the loos for years anyway.

Clarissalarissa · 03/03/2018 13:11

Can you check the male toilets to see if the same sign is up there? If not, then challenge it.
Challenge it anyway, on the basis of women's safety.

counterpoint · 03/03/2018 13:11

It took a few decades, but universities are, once again, being claimed by men, for all men and their fetishes.

IfNot · 03/03/2018 13:11

Fucking hell. Yes HomeTerf. The safety of women and girls is just not a priority, is it?
I was ranting to dp about this whole thing, and he said quite angrily " but transwomen get beaten up all the time, surely it's better that they can use the toilets they feel safe in"?
I said " girls get harrassed, followed, threatened and intimidated all the time. Where's the outrage about that? Or is that just par for the course for us?"
We have to just accept we are not safe, but it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of men? Why?!

BigDeskBob · 03/03/2018 13:10

windchimesabotage, i think you are purposeful missing the point.

If it were easy just to stop men acting inappropriately, we wouldn't have sex segregated loos in the first place.

HomeTerf · 03/03/2018 13:04

I'm tempted to make some pleasantly-worded, passive aggressive posters to stick up on lampposts in towns and cities -

"Can you see a woman walking on her own?

Please don't

  • stare at her
  • challenge her
  • insult her
  • purposefully make her feel fucking terrified uncomfortable by shouting something about her breasts/general fuckability
  • respect her privacy
  • respect her right to actually be out in public
  • carry on with your day
protect her from harm (no, that's pushing it too far)

That'll work, won't it?

holycheeseplant · 03/03/2018 12:59

(To op - not rft sorry!)

holycheeseplant · 03/03/2018 12:59

How hypocritical is that!

whoputthecatout · 03/03/2018 12:58

They are using the facilities they feel safe in

So, if any woman feels unsafe in her own women's facilities because someone clearly male uses it, well bugger it. Because women don't matter, obviously.

I would rip it down and every time it is replaced I would rip it down again.....and again.....

IfNot · 03/03/2018 12:53

This is such bollocks. Men in frocks have been using women's facilities forever and as long as they are behaving themselves women have been tolerating this.
That sign makes it seem as though women are perpetually attacking/ staring at gender confused people in women's toilets! When has this ever happened?
I would like to know if there is the same sign on the men's. It would kind of make sense if it was directed at men regarding trans identifying females:
"Men, if you see a girl in here who is pretending she's a boy, leave her be."
Because it's not women who need to be told how to make other people feel safe!
Fucking cheek.

Wilhamenawonka · 03/03/2018 12:51

It blows my mind that at the same time as Brock Turner, Harvey Weinstein, Ian Huntley saying he's a woman, Liam Madigan, the me too movement and parliament finally waking up to sexual harassment that people are still questioning if men would pretend to be women to access safe places.

OF COURSE THEY WOULD! There's a massive problem with men abusing women and the scale of it is becoming better understood all the time.
At this point in time why would we even take the risk of making women even more vulnerable?

Have they not been reading the news for the past year?! Why is this so hard for people to understand.
And breathe.

53rdWay · 03/03/2018 12:50

Where on earth does it say that if anyone acts inappropriately at any time of any gender, that you should put up with it??

It says that if you see a bloke walk into the ladies’, he is doing so because he is “using the facilities he feels safe in”. And if you challenge his ‘right’ to be there, you are taking his rights to pee safety away from him.

I’m sure you can see the potential for abuse by inappropriate men there. Come on.

Meanwhile, if you, a woman, don’t feel safe in a mixed-sex toilet? Well, shut up and get over yourself and don’t dare say so out loud. Hmm

LangCleg · 03/03/2018 12:50

The men “taking advantage” will probably not be transwomen but common or garden men.

No, the men “taking advantage” will probably be AGP men.

Lovesagin · 03/03/2018 12:50

The sign is quite clear, I'm not misunderstanding anything, thanks.

Have you ever seen Danielle muscato? Are they a bit masculine looking do you think?

SimonBridges · 03/03/2018 12:47

If someone of any gender is being inappropriate or aggressive with you then you should report them/tell them to stop regardless of where you are.

But what if that person isn’t being openly aggressive?

So everyone is going to use the toilets where they ‘feel safe’. That means that women, trans women and trans men are going to be using the ladies. That’s fine then, because it’s never like there is a queue or anything.

Gacapa · 03/03/2018 12:45

I'd rip it down too.

Every time I think I couldn't get more angry...

senua · 03/03/2018 12:43

Anglia Ruskin isn't a Scottish University, I appreciate that isn't the issue but just wanted to point that out.

It's not very clear but I think it says ARU at the top but then, at the bottom, designed by students at St Andrews.

windchimesabotage · 03/03/2018 12:42

I dont think this sign is saying that if you notice someone trying to look at women over the doors or generally hanging around being weird or inappropriate, you cant say anything! Of course you can!
If someones in a toilet perving at you then say something.

I really dont think that that is what this sign is about. I think people are willfully misunderstanding it in order to get angry.

It just means that if someone who looks a bit masculine in some way (or vice versa in the mens) just walks in and uses the toilet then leaves, that you should not shout abuse at them or ask them to leave.

Where on earth does it say that if anyone acts inappropriately at any time of any gender, that you should put up with it??

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