We've been hearing a lot lately about how tough it is for transgender kids in American schools. Now there's a move afoot that could make it easier for them ... but it could change things big time for all kids. I'm talking about unisex bathrooms.
High schools in spots like Medford, Massachusetts are already designating certain facilities for boys AND girls to go do their business. Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?
It's about darned time!
Yup, I said it. I am all for unisex bathrooms in American high schools, and here's why: at some point we need to start teaching teenagers how to deal with the other sex without getting all squicked about it.
I grew up in the sticks where not only were the bathrooms segregated, but our lockers were split by gender too. It was the strangest thing watching all the girls go to one side of the hall, all the boys to the other, as if that gap down the middle was somehow going to keep us from ... what? Jumping each other's bones when we got some alone time?
Unisex bathrooms can go a long way toward easing the troubles for transgender kids who are trapped between two genders, but they offer something worthwhile for kids who aren't gender confused too. They're one little step toward the real world, one bit of faith in them.
I know, I know, we're all terrified that our kids are going to be teen parents if they spend an iota of unsupervised time with the opposite sex. But let's get real, y'all: keeping them separate every chance we can get doesn't really prepare them for the real world where women and men share offices and, yes, often share the same office bathroom.
Does every bathroom need to be unisex? No. There's no reason schools should have to spend huge amounts of money retrofitting restrooms. But if they're making renovations anyway, it's not a bad idea to consider forcing kids to grow up just a wee bit.
Would you allow your kids to attend a school with unisex bathrooms?
Image via thisreidwrites/Flickr
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Comments 62
I don't see a problem with unisex bathroom as long as it's only stalls with doors. I've used the men's room before. Not the end of the world.
I understand why this is good for some but I DEF worry about sexual harrasment. Esp teen girls being harrassed, spyed on, ect in the bathroom by boys. I hope these bathrooms are IN ADDITION to girls/boys bathrooms. As a teen girl, I'd want to change my tampon in a bathroom that didnt have a boy snickering in the next stall bc he figured out what Im doing.