NY Times: P&G will open “Charmin” holiday bathrooms in Times Square

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Curbed is linking to a New York Times article about how Charmin toilet paper is planning to sponsor a twenty-stall bathroom in Times Square for the holiday shopping season. The article is vague, but as far as I can tell it will all be individual stalls.

There’s no mention of transgender people in the article, and ideally, it should be taken for granted that we’ll be welcome. The PR possibilities are intriguing. If a TG person were denied use of the bathroom, would that be good press, or would people be sympathetic to Proctor and Gamble? On the other hand, would it be possible to get a positive photo-op, say with some glamorous drag queens? Would P&G be too afraid of freaking out the square tourists?

Transgender Verbal Hygiene: Feelings or Actions?

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I first posted this on May 6, 2006, and I’m surprised I haven’t reposted it here. Thanks to various people from the My Husband Betty Message Boards for helpful feedback.

Introduction

In linguistics, there are many who frown on the idea of conscious control of language use, individual or collective, such as in the book published in 1950 called Leave Your Language Alone. People who try to control language are sometimes called prescriptivists, a term that conjures up images of stuffy grammarians writing pedantic articles about punctuation. However, in her 1995 book Verbal Hygiene, Deborah Cameron argued that there are all kinds of reasons to advocate or attempt language change, and some are good (eliminating sexist generic statements like “A good doctor talks to his patients”) and some are bad (using natural variations as shibboleths to discriminate against people from stigmatized ethnic groups). Cameron’s point is that the important thing is to be aware of the reasons and to subject them to an open decision-making process.

With that in mind, I have some things to say about the use of the word transgender. I am not doing this to discriminate or belittle people, or out of blind deference to tradition. I’m also not out to demonize anyone or blame anyone else for these problems. I have specific reasons for arguing against a current change in usage, and for a specific way of thinking about the term. I also want people to be aware of the effects of the language that they use, and the consequences of their choices. I’m going to be drawing on the field of lexical semantics, which itself draws on psychology, artificial intelligence, computer science and philosophy. Continue reading “Transgender Verbal Hygiene: Feelings or Actions?”

Bathrooms: Amnesty International on the Sforza incident

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Amnesty International has put out a press release on Christina Sforza’s case, specifically focusing on the NYPD Midtown South Precinct’s inadequate response to the situation. I hope this will get some action on the matter.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE

Friday, October 27, 2006

NYPD Must Investigate Response to Alleged Assault of Transgender Woman at McDonald’s, Says Amnesty InternationalCharges Against Sforza Dropped But Justice Still Not Served, Group Says

(New York) — Amnesty International called on the New York Police Department to investigate possible human rights violations by its officers in their handling of the case of Christina Sforza, a transgender woman involved in an altercation at a McDonald’s restaurant in Manhattan. Sforza claims that officers responding to the incident failed to exercise due diligence in not taking seriously her claim that she was the victim of a hate crime, that they subjected her to false arrest and that they further abused her while in their custody. All charges against Christina Sforza were dropped on Thursday, October 26. Continue reading “Bathrooms: Amnesty International on the Sforza incident”

Bathrooms: Tom Chandler’s Questions

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Thanks to MHB message board regular Veronica for linking to an op-ed piece in the North Country Gazette, an Upstate New York newspaper, on the bathroom issue. The article takes a skeptical viewpoint on transgender rights, but unlike some of the nastier knee-jerk right-wing blogs, doesn’t stoop to crass insults.

Most of the concerns expressed by the author, Tom Chandler of the New York State Tyranny Response Team, are understandable for someone who knows nothing about transgender rights. They’re phrased in the form of questions to New York State gubernatorial candidates. I have no idea whether any of the candidates will read them or respond to them. I’m not running for governor (although I encourage you to vote for Malachy McCourt), but I’ve got answers to Mr. Chandler’s questions.

Will men who feel they are really women now have to get sex segregated jobs such as rape crisis counselor, (there are still jobs even progressive women argue should be for women alone)? Will you ever be able to deny a man is woman enough to do a job that he feels proves he is a real woman?

There is in fact an example of a transwoman in Vancouver who wanted to become a rape crisis counselor, but was denied, and in fact, the trans community is not unanimous in believing that she has an automatic right to any such job. Some of us do recognize the role of socialization and childhood experiences. But this is a slippery slope argument, and without much more evidence, I don’t accept the idea that outlawing harassment of transpeople in bathrooms will lead to a flood of demands for justifiably sex-segregated jobs. Continue reading “Bathrooms: Tom Chandler’s Questions”

WorldNetDaily rant completes right-wing attack trifecta on Grand Central bathroom issue

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First FreeRepublic, then Drudge; now WorldNetDaily has run a story on the Grand Central bathroom agreement.  What’s next, Michelle Malkin?  Jonah Goldberg?  The blog “Good As You” has a post covering most of the errors in the article.  I’ve only got a couple of things to add.

First of all, I’ve read WorldNetDaily before, and I’m aware it’s not exactly the pinnacle of journalistic ethics and style, but still, if you’ve read the Daily News and New York Post articles I’ve linked to in previous posts, it’s obvious that the quotes are all taken from one or the other of the articles.  Yet the WorldNetDaily article gives these newspapers absolutely no credit for the work they did of interviewing Helena Stone and the three “woman-on-the-street” subjects, not even a link.  That’s called plagiarism, and it would earn a failing grade if any of my students turned it in.

Second, to expand on the point made by the Good As You blogger, I’ve been in both men’s and women’s bathrooms in Grand Central Station.  My memory’s a little hazy, but I’m pretty sure that, unlike some public bathrooms (Rockefeller Center, for example), the partitions between toilet stalls are floor-to-ceiling.  The fact that these particular bathrooms have been a focus of paranoia is especially bizarre given that they actually have more privacy than your average bathroom.  They also tend to be well-trafficked at all hours of the day and night.

I do have to give the WorldNetDaily “exclusive commentator” credit for giving background on the harassment that Stone experienced at the hands of the MTA Police, so that the idea of sensitivity training doesn’t seem like some knee-jerk liberal response.

Why regret matters

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I was hoping not to have to write this post, but recently I’ve noticed a tendency for some transpeople to dismiss stories of transgender regret. I’ve seen a couple of blog posts that attribute regret concerns primarily to “people who think transition is bad,” and criticize regretters who claim they were deceived. I don’t think there’s any malice intended, but it’s not a good thing.

A lot of transgender politics is based on the idea that MTF transpeople are women, and FTM transpeople are men, and thus that anything that interferes with transition is thwarting their destinies, and amounts to a crime against nature. Figuring out which gender-variant people are “really trans” and thus deserving of this categorizational boost is tricky, and the subject of endless flamewars, but what seems to matter most are action and intention: if you live full-time or have concrete plans to do so in the near future, a lot of transpeople will admit you to the club.

(As an aside, I have a fairly fluid, Roschian definition of “man” and “woman” that seems to please nobody but me: I believe that everyone is a woman in some ways and a man in others, and everyone’s balance varies. It’s not even the same for a single person from day to day. I just want to go on record that I am not interested in denying anyone’s claim to be either a man or a woman. What bothers some transpeople is that I’m also not interested in helping them to repudiate their categorization in the other gender.)

What causes a bit of a problem for the transgender worldview is that there are people who were once considered “really trans,” went all or partway through transition and became dissatisfied and regretted transitioning. There is a range of actions in response to this regret, just as there is a wide range of actions in response to transgender feelings. If they can manage and/or afford it, some will have surgery to undo or reconstruct as many of the body modifications they’ve done. Others will quietly share their feelings with their loved ones. Most people seem to be somewhere in the middle. No one knows how many cases of regret there are (Principle One), but I personally know of at least five, and there have been others documented by David Batty of the Guardian. Five people have recently come forward to accuse English gender psychiatrist Russell Reid of encouraging them to transition and have body modifications that they later regretted. (For balance, you can read testimonials from some of Dr. Reid’s satisfied patients.) Continue reading “Why regret matters”

Bathrooms: The Daily News hatchet job

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I’ve mentioned before that the right-wing blogs seem mostly to be responding to Pete Donohue’s Daily News bathroom article, instead of Clemente Lisi’s more sensitive Post article or any of the others. This is a bad thing, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it were intentional on the part of Drudge and FreeRepublic. I think I’m going to have to dissect the article to show just how badly it portrayed the issue:

The line for the girls’ room just got longer.

If it did at all, it probably wasn’t to the extent that anyone would notice. But it’s a cute lead-in, and was taken as a serious point by many bloggers, who were apparently unaware of the Bathroom Parity law passed last year.

Men who live as women can now legally use women’s rest rooms in New York’s transit system under an unprecedented deal revealed yesterday.

They already could. The deal just ensures that the MTA Police (who patrol Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations, not the subway) will commit to following the law.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to allow riders to use MTA rest rooms “consistent with their gender expression,” the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced yesterday.

The group filed a complaint against the MTA on behalf of a 70-year-old telephone repair technician who was arrested for using the women’s room at Grand Central Terminal.

The technician, who is assigned to the terminal by Verizon, was born Henry McGuinness but now goes by Helena Stone.

“I’m a 24-hour woman,” Stone declared proudly. “I just feel like a woman and I like to wear women’s clothes.”

The MTA would not comment on the settlement but Stone’s lawyer said it also includes mandatory transgender sensitivity training for MTA employees and a $2,000 payment to the technician for legal fees.

Just the mention of “sensitivity training” pissed off a lot of the right-wing bloggers. Note that Donohue didn’t mention the extent of the harassment Stone endured at the hands of the MTA Police, which was described by Lisi. Some of the bloggers might have understood the point of the training if they’d read about Stone being repeatedly arrested, insulted and searched.

Michael Sullivan, Stone’s lawyer, called the settlement of the complaint with the Human Rights Commission a “milestone” toward recognition of the city law that prohibits discrimination against transgender men and women.

Stone’s lawyer is named Michael Silverman. But a fake name may make it more difficult for vigilante Freepers to harass him.

But some Metro-North riders at Grand Central yesterday were stunned by the ruling.

“I would not like that,” said Gloria David, a retiree from Connecticut. “I have nothing against gay men or drag queens, but they can use the men’s room. I just don’t want to go to the bathroom next to a man.”

Presumably Donohue knows that most of the people using the women’s room under the new law are not gay men or drag queens, but he doesn’t use the opportunity to point out David’s misconception.

One rider feared predators might dress as women and lurk in the women’s room.

I addressed this point in detail in an earlier post.

But Rena Gantz, 23, a college student, shrugged off the settlement.

“It doesn’t bother me because it is a reality,” she said. “If they believe they are women, they should be treated as one.”

Interestingly, the one sensitive quote in the article was often left off of many of the reprintings by blogs.

Update from City Council Speaker Quinn

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Today I got an email from Christine Quinn, the first out lesbian speaker of the New York City Council, regarding transgender rights in bathrooms. It concerns the recent arrests in the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Statement by Speaker Christine C. Quinn:

Transgender Arrests at Port Authority Bus Terminal

 

On October 3, 2006, Port Authority Police arrested three young transgender individuals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal for allegedly trespassing. In response, I wrote the attached letter to the Port Authority asking them to fully investigate the circumstances under which this arrest occurred.

 

New York City Human Rights Law makes it illegal to discriminate based on individuals “actual or perceived gender” in housing, employment, and public accommodations. In my letter, I also made it clear that the Port Authority must fully investigate the circumstances of the arrest as well as claims of possible abuse and must initiate sensitivity training on LGBT issues for all Port Authority Law Enforcement personnel.

I’m very pleased that Speaker Quinn has taken action on this issue, and hopefully the other security forces in the city will take the hint and ensure that their personnel are familiar with the law.

I’m disappointed, however, because I contacted her four weeks ago with regard to the transwoman who claims to have been assaulted by a McDonald’s manager in Quinn’s district. I can understand if Quinn felt that the issue of three transwomen at a large public institution was a higher priority than a single-person bathroom in a restaurant. But to me, someone getting attacked with a lead pipe (and then arrested) is a higher priority than people being arrested. I hope she does something about this soon.

The bathroom issue makes its way ’round the blogosphere

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Cool, thoughtful post from a cop named Steve Douglas in Denver.

This seems to have been getting a lot more commentary on blogs than earlier incidents. Unfortunately, it’s mostly been of the hateful, fearmongering type. Quite possibly because this story has been picked up by FreeRepublic and the Drudge Report.

Which version of the story, you might ask? Drudge and the Freepers often link to New York Post articles, which tend to be right-leaning and sensational. However, in this case the Post story was actually balanced and sensitive. Too balanced and sensitive for the right-wing bloggers, who have all linked to the right-leaning and sensational Daily News story. Big surprise there.

I’d link to more of these stories, but they’re so formulaic it’s downright uncanny:

HEADLINE CONTAINING APOCALYPTIC PREDICTION OR ATTEMPT AT WIT

Intro containing apocalyptic prediction or attempt at wit (whichever wasn’t in the headline, or both).

Quote or entire text of Daily News article.

Uninformed fear-mongering about rapists, pedophiles or peeping toms using trans status as an excuse to invade women’s bathrooms. If the poster is a man, a tasteless joke about claiming to be a woman in order to peep at women.

Vicious bashing of transpeople as “freaks,” “deviants” or worse.

Blaming the liberals for letting society get to this point.

Hm. I’m actually wondering if the similarities in these posts are more than the simple result of these people all being raised with the same intolerant, small-minded viewpoint, and they’re actually being coached on this stuff. If so, ick.

The mythical transgender bathroom stalkers

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The most disturbing aspect of the negative reactions to the recent settlement between the MTA about the use of bathrooms by transgender people is the coalescence of a new “talking point” about transgender bathrooms: the fear that they will allow peeping toms, rapists and child molestors to enter the women’s rooms unhindered. People seem particularly disturbed at the idea that the judgment as to which bathroom to use is left entirely up to the pisser. Here’s a quote from the New York Daily News article:

One rider feared predators might dress as women and lurk in the women’s room.

Jerry Fuhrman, “From On High“:

If I choose to go to New York, have a few shots and beers, decide to “consider” myself a woman for the night, and camp out in the women’s restroom at the Ritz-Carlton to see what I can see, am I now protected by the law?

I know where I’m going on vacation …

Here’s a taste of the venom and hysteria in the FreeRepublic discussion thread, but then again, what do you expect from Freepers?

Now, will any provision made for safety for “real” women who don’t want to be preyed upon by rapists and thugs dressing in drag to gain access to, literally, sitting ducks? Or do they have to just suck it up in order to appease the freaks?

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised at the thoughtful and reasonable attempts to clarify the issue by poster Dukat. I wonder how long Dukat will last on FreeRepublic; they have a reputation for purging posters who don’t toe the party line.

The tricky thing about the safety argument is that, like all lies and hysteria, it’s based on a kernel of truth. The sad fact is that women are disproportionately victims of violence and are less safe than men anywhere they go. Everyone is more vulnerable when they’re half-dressed and peeing, shitting or grooming themselves. Combine these two, and a public bathroom can be a very scary place for a woman. Gossip isn’t the only reason women go to the bathroom in groups. Continue reading “The mythical transgender bathroom stalkers”