Respectfully Disagree

I just read a post on FB by a christian who does not like the fact that schools are allowing children who suffer gender dysmorphia to come to school as the gender they associate with. it is a toilet issue for her. she said: Young girls are learning to deal with their monthly issues in later primary school. This will be made even harder if they are going into the toilets with boy/girl in the next cubicle. How will the boy/girl feel knowing he/she is not really a she and not getting monthly's? Then you have the issues of changing bodies in change rooms. How is this going to work if the boy/girl has boy bits in the girls change rooms?

I replied...

I have been to many a bar where the toilets are unisex, so the person in the cubicle next to you can be either gender. two of my favourite bars are like this and I have no issue.


Disabled toilets are generally unisex.


My pre-school had one toilet that both boys and girls used.


I think that in part we (as women) are taught to be embarrassed about our bodily functions particularly around men (or people we perceive to be masculine) because our bodily functions are not pretty and we see things as not pretty as not being feminine. Ugly things are a slight on our femininity.


We should not be embarrassed about our bodily functions because they are natural. if we are embarrassed about them then they are harder to talk about and harder to get help with if something is wrong.


I have never been one to get the point of asking to see a woman doctor. a male doctor is equally qualified. it was a male doctor that diagnosed me with a ovarian cyst, and i had previously presented with the symptoms to a female doctor and a male doctor who refused to touch me (for religious reasons). Now that was weird. he would move my hand to press my belly to find out where it was sore.


As much as we are embarrassed by our bodies, guys are too. even more embarrassed with their bodies are people who suffer gender dysmorphia


You will probably find that a girl with gender dysmophia is more likely to get changed in the toilet rather than out in the open because they don't want to be seen or perceived to be a boy. This would go the other way too.


generally children are more accepting of these things than adults give them credit for. I have no issue with letting a child be the gender they identify themselves as being