First of all, let me be clear- Being cisgendered, I will not have to endure the same type of ridicule as trans* gendered people do. I don't have to worry about hormones, I don't have to worry about any kind of surgery, I don't have to face the extremely severe (not to say that gay people don't deal with poor treatment, we do, but realistically it is not as severe as what trans* gendered people go through.) transphobia and poor treatment. I don't have to go through the pain of feeling like I was born in the wrong body. Gender dysphoria is horrible to go through. I have a question, to ask, though! When you first came out as trans*/genderqueer/androgynous/etc, or first realized that you were, what problems did you face with bathroom situations? Did you use restrooms for your biological gender, or your real gender? Did people give you weird looks/say mean things/disallow you to enter? The transition from getting people to recognize your gender and accept it is difficult, so how hard was it for you when it came to using public spaces?
I usually go bio if there isn't a unisex restroom around. I don't exactly pass, even if i have all that makeup. Or cover my entire face with a hoodie. AND I am about 5'11". Height would be a dead giveaway.
First off, you are amazing!! ♡ I use the men's room, even though I'm not always comfortable in there (especially if a man, or more is in there )... might use the women's if it was socially accepted, but what I would really LOVE are gender neutral washrooms!!! I live in a redneck area and have never seen one.
Jesus. I'm 6'1 and if anything gives me away it's that... And my voice. I was fully decked out at pax and went bio... But even there I got a lot of funny stares. Considering I'm in the very VERY beginning stages of starting to transition, I'm still not comfortable going into the women's bathroom yet.
A gender neutral bathroom would be lovely. And not like, a family restroom- like just a gender neutral one. I suppose that people would abuse that, though, huh?
Le sigh, a source of great contention for me. If I'm not at work I usually go with female bathrooms. I'm most comfortable in there (believe it or not) since it just feels right. I haven't run into any females while heading into one though so I'm really not sure if I would get funny stares, rude comments or what. At work though it's another story. Since I've worked at this store for almost a year I hate to say that I use the men's room. I hate it. It's awkward, embarrassing and uncomfortable. The only reason I still use the men's room is just because I want to avoid any rude comments or customers going to management and saying that I'm just a guy using the women's room. :icon_redf It's a horrendous situation to be caught in and I can't wait for the store to close just so I can use the right bathroom. Granted I shouldn't have to be concerned about what bathroom to use but society hasn't made it that far yet sadly. So until then I guess I'm stuck. The flip side is that that's part of why the ASM I told put in the ticket to HR for me. Le sigh indeed.... ---------- Post added 24th Apr 2014 at 02:07 AM ---------- Also, I echo the "awesome sentiments from above"
Who uses the bathroom to creep on people? It smells like piss and shit in there, and I mean that very literally. Also, if you're at your house, then the bathrooms there are gender neutral! I like neutral bathrooms;they usually smell cleaner than single-gender bathrooms. Of course, this doesn't take into account the gay pervs perving on those of the same gender, and as we all know, rapers gonna rape, wherever they are. Gender neutral bathrooms will have no correlation with perving.are. Gender neutral bathrooms will have no correlation with perving. Seriously, though, rapists don't really target bathrooms that much.
Gender neutral bathrooms are my lifesaver. If there aren't any in close proximity, I'll just use the men's rather discreetly, but I'm usually on campus where there's plenty of unisex bathrooms so I'm good. If only they were common elsewhere.
While this is very, Very, VERY true we actually had a customer complain because a lesbian friend of mine was using the women's restroom. Went up to a female supervisor and said, "That boy was using the women's restroom!" The supervisor calmly looked at her and responded, "That is a woman. She is just as woman as you or I." And then went back to her paperwork. Granted I'm out to this particular one and I don't believe that anything more than a few snide comments would be said to me. On the flip side though I also started out at this store as "Patrick." Granted I've transitioned my appearance to that of females but people at work know me as "Patrick." I WANT them to know me as Sofiya but this isn't something that I want to get blown up or blown out of proportion. So I try to use the restroom during nonbusy times. Sometimes it doesn't happen though. Monday I REALLY had to go so I rushed into the guy's room and sure enough all the stalls were in use. I used the urinal and it was the most uncomfortable and humiliating thing to do. I felt absolutely wretched and I still feel uncomfortable even thinking about it/talking about it :\
I avoid public bathrooms as much as possible or hope they have a gender neutral one. If worse comes to worst though, I'll take a deep breath and use the Women restrooms. I don't believe I pass enough to go into the men's. Plus I'd hate to see anyone I knew in there...that'd be quite awkward.
I used the mens quite early on. I passed as male before I so much as knew what transgender meant, so I never really faced difficulties with bathrooms. I do still have to sit, unfortunately, but I'm hoping to be getting bottom surgery next summer, so maybe things will get better.