Canadian Politics Today

Kudos to you, BCC, for trying to elevate the level of discussion in this topic.

I really see both sides of the issue here. 

I agree that it's bad etiquette to be looking at anyone who is naked in a change room and we all should mind our own business.  Seeing a **** should be no different than seeing anything else that makes us uncomfortable. 

I think the flip-side argument inevitably gets back to creeps misusing the rules, and given the perversion of many men to be peeping toms, flashers and voyeurs (something very much associated with the y chromosome, just like serial killing and ****), it's kinda warranted. 

It really comes down to the alternative.  It is ethical to ask trans women, the actual 99% who are not creeps in disguise, to go into the men's room? 

How can you tell who is actually transgender and who is a creep in disguise?

There is no answer to that question.   We can't even agree on an answer to the question of who is actually transgender.  Some people believe that someone with actual diagnosed gender dysphoria is trans; other people believe that anybody who says "I am transgender" is transgender. In the view of trans activists, the statement "I am a woman" is the only requirement to get into a womens' changing room or shower.

That's one of the things that I find very frustrating about trans activism as it currently stands. It demands that I view Jazz Jennings (who apparently knew she was a girl in a boy's body as a young child) as being the same as Caitlyn Jenner (who didn't realize she was a woman in a man's body until age 65). It demands that I view Contrapoints or Blaire White (the super-feminine trans celebrities) as being the same as Ruby Eby (the stubble-faced goon from last page).  It demands that I view a male who has lived as a woman for many years as being the same as a male who declared that he is a woman 10 seconds ago.

I am undecided on the issue of whether I could consider some trans-women to be women.  But I completely reject the notion that I need to view any and every male who says "I am a woman" to be a woman.

If it really just is being traumatized by seeing a ****, I think it's high time we get over it and accept it. 

If we automatically think everything with a **** has an ulterior motive,

I don't think anybody is seriously arguing that everything with a dick has an ulterior motive. However, we know that there's no shortage of scrotum-havers who do.

And, I would also like to mention again, as I have before, that women deserve the right to privacy even if there's no imminent threat of harm.  I wouldn't pee while my dad or my brother were watching, even though I know they would never harm me. I wouldn't shower in a glass booth in Times Square, even though I'm sure nobody would harm me if I did.  I shouldn't need to demonstrate a threat of harm to justify my need for privacy from males.

then maybe we need to stop hating men and only criminalize actual criminals.

You know, and I know, and probably most of the men here know, that placing your faith in the basic goodness and harmlessness of male people will get you hurt.  Asking women to just trust males until after they've proved they're abusers is asking people to politely close the gate after the horses have left.  We have been trying to "educate" males to "be better" for millennia and we have been disappointed for millennia. Most are better, some non-zero and significant portion aren't.  Men say #NotAllMen, but there has always, always, always been #EnoughMen to ensure that #AllWomen need to be always wary.

The creation of female-only spaces is an advancement that has allowed women to participate fully in society in western countries. The absence of female-only spaces in many 3rd-world countries is a serious hindrance on women's ability to participate in society in those countries.  We in the west should be very reluctant to let women's spaces be turned into "gender-neutral" spaces.

 -k