workplace changing rooms

A transgender MTF announced that he wanted to be referred to as Jane. He came to work in heels and makeup and other than being a little flamboyant, he still acted like a man and sounded like one. He was in a management role and the owners and HR held a meeting stating that we had to refer to him as she/her and that he was to start using the women's locker room to change into work attire. Our small group of actual women were told that if we were uncomfortable with him being in there, we could walk half a block and get changed in an entirely separate building which you would need a manager's pass to get into.

My problem was that I did not want him in the locker room. Even if he likes men, it made me highly uncomfortable. He had no right to be in there. It was his choice to change his body, but why was my choice to get undressed only around other women taken away from me? Not to mention his role as a manager meant that I feared retaliation if I were to begin dressing in another building. And why should I have to move bathrooms, waste the time walking 4 mins both ways because he says he's a 'she'?

I don't think it's right that transgender people can just say they are the opposite sex and then be able to use opposite sex bathrooms. Just because you believe you are a woman, does not make you one.

#unitedstates #workplace #lockerroom #changingrooms #privacy

stand-up comedy & funding/publicity for women

I had a go at stand-up comedy a few years ago and had a lot of fun going to open mic comedy nights. There was one guy there that was extremely open about their kink being dressing up in women's clothing and that it was always a sex thing. I even went to their comedy shows a couple of times and they were pretty good. Then they 'transitioned' and started going by female pronouns (when all this was becoming popular).

At first I didn't have a second thought except 'good for them', but now this person is getting a lot of funding and publicity as a 'woman in comedy'. I stopped following them because frankly, I felt bad for the biological women I met doing comedy who never received that kind of credit for their work. I didn't do it for very long, but even I could observe how stand up comedy could be a bit of a 'boys club'.

Should female comedians transition to be men so that people will stop saying 'women aren't funny'?

#australia #arts #comedy #standup #funding #publicity #shortlistedspots #maleprivilege

bathrooms: trans men get it

I went to an LGBTI conference about 7-10 years ago. The venue had men's and women's toilet facilities, but the usual signage had been covered with paper signs that read things like: 'this facility contains 6 urinals and 3 stalls with toilets and shared hand-washing basins' and 'this facility contains 6 stalls with toilets and shared hand-washing basins'.

The organisers celebrated how this was a wonderful example of how all public toilets should be, making toilets safe places for trans people. During the plenary session, I challenged this, asking why it was OK to make such changes for a tiny percentage of the population at the cost of 50% of the community. I explained that given the incidence of sexual assault, women need to know that they are safe to take down their trousers or pull up their skirts when going to the toilet.

The trans men on the panel understood this and recommended that single toilets with their own basin (like disability access ones) would be better for everyone.

#australia #lgbti #bathrooms #genderneutral #unisex #safety #privacy #SingleSexSpaces