Faculty experts shed light on trending topics

“Laws regulating access to gender-appropriate bathrooms are inherently unjust, as they discriminate based upon identity. An individual should have the right to use whatever bathroom they* feel most comfortable using. Some argue that allowing biological men into a women’s bathroom puts women in danger. This defense has two flaws. First, it suggests that biological sex matches gender identity. Second, it suggests that women need to be protected from predatory men. Both assumptions are inherently false. A more radical notion is to make all bathrooms gender-neutral. Gender is a social construction that has been used to organize society, privileging one group over another. Perhaps ceasing to regulate bathroom use based on gender will lead to the destruction of other gendered divisions, such as workplace promotion patterns and divisions of caregiving in the home, thus leading to a society that actively supports all people in leading happy and productive lives.