Summary:
Universities all over Canada are beginning to recognize
the struggles transgendered students are facing but are finding it hard to
implement an environment that can be considered safe to all students. One of
the main concerns of transgendered individuals who are attending a University
is being able to feel safe while they are using the bathroom. One student, who
spoke for transgendered individuals as a whole, spoke about how using the bathroom
provoked anxiety because of fear of violence and rape. Because of the
difficulties transgendered students faced, students at Simon Fraser University
staged a protest outside a men’s bathroom. This was done to encourage students
to take away the separation of gender within the bathrooms and attempted to have
all genders use the same bathroom.
Analysis:
As I read this article I think about the strains
placed on universities all over the world. There are many universities in
Vancouver who are making gender neutral restrooms, to get to a place where they
are willing to make changes means that Canada is in the process of overcoming the
inequalities that are being faced. The idea of gender neutral restrooms is a
concept that I do not believe will be everywhere around the world because of
heterosexual preference that tends to be the dominant point of view. Even though most households consist of both
sexes that use the same toilet it is still difficult to wrap our heads around
males and females using the same bathroom in public. But the article makes a
valid point. Why is something as silly as a bathroom being associated with a
gender? The citizens that reside in Vancouver are for the most part supporting
making things appear more equal, but what are the chances this will spread to
other parts of the world?
Karen Bent
February 20, 2015
8:40 PM
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