unisex toilets

There was a line to use the new unisex toilets in the park. The cubicles are long and thin with the toilet at the far end and the door opening directly onto the public pathway. The first available toilet was filthy so I allowed the man behind me to go first. He said that if I was waiting for a clean cubicle I would be wasting my time as they all had urine covered floors and seats.

I was about to leave and try my luck in the shopping centre when one of the cubicle doors opened and three little children came bursting out leaving their mother on display sitting on the toilet and unable to reach the door to close it. Strangers had to close the door and promise to look after her kids while she finished up. Every woman except the one minding the children left the line without using the toilets.

#australia #unisextoilets #bathrooms #privacy #dignity #genderneutral #singlesexspaces

college dormitory

At my college in Michigan they let trans people tick the box of what sex they want to live with. They made this change after a trans-identified male lived in a female dorm with 3 women and there were no incidents. The reason the women didn't complain is because they didn't know he was trans. I think that women have a right to know that they're living with a male. They signed up to live in an all female dorm, and that's not what they got. This will surely cause complications in the future because future trans people that choose to room with the opposite sex might not pass, which will at least mean that the people they're living with will know what's going on and will have the opportunity to complain. Another problem is that the only way to avoid being roomed with a trans person is to tick the box that says you're "not LGBTQ+ friendly" which is a box gay people will not be ticking, leaving lesbians stuck living with men that fetishize them. This is going to limit the options of who gay people can be roomed with because people will say they're not LGBT friendly just to avoid living with the opposite sex.

#unitedstates #collegedorm #dormitory #accommodations #students

women's football team

I loved playing football on a women's team. I had played mixed sports in the past but noticed that men always seem to take over, passing mostly to other men and generally playing aggressively towards women. Compared to this, an amateur women’s football team felt like a safe space where women could play sport with other women without fear of being bulldozed by men. My inner-north Melbourne football team was very welcoming of women of all skill levels and abilities, and was generally just a fun time. As a lesbian I felt like I fitted in because there were a lot of other lesbians who played footy. There were also a few women who identified as gender non-binary, which at first I didn’t see as a problem at all. However, it wasn’t long before one gender non-binary woman complained about the language used at the club, such as ‘woman’ and ‘girls’ (girls was sometimes used in reference to the group of players such as in the way that male footy players call each other ‘boys’). She very aggressively told the coach off for using ‘gendered language’ and insisted that instead of referring to anyone on the team as women or girls, we should say ‘players’ or other gender non-specific terms. She also insisted that instead of referring to each other as ‘she/her’ (as in ‘pass her the ball’ or ‘she kicked a goal’) we should all use ‘they/them’ for all players, regardless of a player's gender identity. Thankfully, the coaches pushed back on the pronouns so we were still allowed to use she/her, unless of course someone had a personal preference for they/them. It wasn’t long before signs were posted up all over the club rooms reminding everyone of this. The next thing that happened was the promotion of a ‘gender-inclusive’ policy, that stated that anyone who identifies as a woman (though we can’t use this word) could play on our team. This meant that even people with fully intact male bodies could now play on our team and share our change rooms, if they said they were a woman. The culture of ‘inclusion’ meant that no one felt like they could speak against this policy, so many women just left the team without saying anything. I didn’t bother joining another team in the hope that it remained women-only, because I know it will be the same everywhere, eventually. I loved being part of a women-only team, there was something special about being around other women, without men, and I’m sad that it’s not possible anymore.

#australia #womensfootball #footballteam #sports #womenssport