Storify is shutting down in May and has informed users that we have to migrate our content elsewhere if we wish to save it. This is one of my old threads.
I feel I need to talk to some of the cis fence-sitters out there. I grew up with the same and I need to say this. Everyone else, mute me.
Let's say you believe that trans women are women and you DON'T think trans women are rapists waiting to pounce. So far so good. If the thing keeping you silent on these bills is the fear that cis men will PRETEND to be trans women in order to hang out in bathrooms? First of all, that doesn't happen. Several states have had bathroom rights for trans people for YEARS and that scenario isn't happening.
@gaywonk: NC's vicious anti-LGBT bill is meant to solve a problem that doesn't fucking exist.
Second of all, "hanging around being creepy at me" is not a bathroom right for anyone. You can report them, regardless of gender. If you think "what if I CAN'T report, what if they've already pounced", that's WHY cis men DON'T pretend to be women in order to assault.
[TW] I went to a public university where a cis man was committing rapes in the women's bathroom. Multiple rapes, same bathroom, same TIME OF DAY. Not only was there no security, the school wouldn't even change the light schedule. The hallways were set on a timer, you see, so the building was dark in the morning even if you had reason to be there.
So I'm sorry to say that the depressing news here is:
-cis men rape
-authorities don't care
-trans people are harmed in a pretense of caring
If you're cis, please speak up against these bills. Don't stay silent. The scenario being sold to you of cis men lurking for hours unchallenged in restrooms is pure fiction. Thanks for
@haircut_hippie: North Carolina has a 2-year backlog of rape kits waiting to be tested. They are patently not serious about sexual assault.
I want to continue this thread for a bit. If you're this far, you follow that "cis men in bathrooms" is a fictional confection created to wrap around the poisonous hate of this bill. Now let's talk about other (and better) reasons to oppose this bill.
The entire point of this bill is to hurt trans people and make them live in fear. Do you carry your birth certificate around with you in order to pee? I'm guessing no. Do you think anyone will BELIEVE a piece of paper? We've seen trans people talk about how they come from states where birth certificates can't be altered. Where do they pee?
We've heard from trans people who explain how their doctors won't prescribe hormones until AFTER they've changed which bathroom they use. If you can't get the state to change your birth certificate until you've had genital customization surgery but you can't get medical treatment until AFTER you've changed bathrooms, then effectively trans people can never get treatment. If trans people can't safely pee in these places, they can't safely work there or be educated there.
I want to make a note re: the option for trans people to move to a different state/country. Please recognize that this is what I think of as "The Little Mermaid" problem. Moving can uproot us from our families. ("If I become human, I'll never be with my father or sisters again." --Ariel) For many of us, that's an agonizing choice. Please understand. Many of us can't or won't cut those emotional ties.
And for those of us who are #disabled and need family caretakers, there are physical considerations to moving, as well as emotional ones.
0 comments:
Post a Comment