In either privacy or anarchy of restrooms, why does gender matter?

There is a lot of frantic objection to letting transgender people use the public restroom of the gender with which they identify. People say they will feel threatened or invaded upon.

I can settle this with a single observation: A women’s public restroom has a row of stalls with locking doors — total privacy. Women do not do anything in the common area but wash their hands, maybe fix their makeup, things they would do in public. A men’s room has a wall of stalls and a wall of urinals. The only way to use a urinal is to expose your genitals in a group setting.

Anyone who has been to a large public event in the modern era knows that there is a line for the ladies’ room, and there are just as many women in the (usually shorter) line to use the men’s room. Inside, the ladies form a row waiting for a stall, and the men take turns pulling out their junk at the urinals a few feet away. Nobody thinks anything of it.

To summarize, a public women’s restroom is a totally private affair. Men’s rooms are anarchy. In this context, why would one’s gender identity ever enter the picture?

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 8:29 PM with the headline "In either privacy or anarchy of restrooms, why does gender matter?."