Althouse: San Diego University students hold a "Shit-In."

October 29, 2014

San Diego University students hold a "Shit-In."

"We find that restrooms and lockers rooms are the places where transgender people encounter aggression and micro-aggression... The most important thing is everyone needs a safe place to do their business."

79 comments:

mccullough said...: What would the Aztecs do?; 10/29/14, 10:26 AM
Michael said...: If we could just let transgender people run the world things would settle down.; 10/29/14, 10:27 AM
Known Unknown said...: A problem without a solution or a solution without a problem? Hmmm...; 10/29/14, 10:29 AM
Shanna said...: The tiny % of the population that is trangender 'might' encounter rudeness in a restroom, so let's force women to allow any man who wants to to come into a restroom with them, so long as he says he is trans.

Nothing could possibly go wrong here.; 10/29/14, 10:34 AM
chillblaine said...: If I walked into a restroom and there was a person in there wearing a miniskirt, I would probably politely tell them that they were in the wrong restroom. Solution? Unisex bathrooms.; 10/29/14, 10:37 AM
CStanley said...: “The most important thing is everyone needs a safe place to do their business.”

Has their ever been a case where an advocate so clearly and succinctly made the opposing side's case?; 10/29/14, 10:48 AM
MadisonMan said...: We find that restrooms and lockers rooms are the places where transgender people encounter aggression and micro-aggression

What an interesting sentence structure. It's not that these things actually happen, it's that the organizers find that they happen.

The quoted sentence comes from a person with a Masters Degree in Literature and Writing!; 10/29/14, 10:49 AM
Wince said...: I'm sensing a new movement on campus.

Maybe they can bring together the transgender rights and the Ebola freedom from quarantine groups into one protest.

Anybody see Megyn Kelly's show last night?

"Oh, good Lord doctor."; 10/29/14, 10:51 AM
Anonymous said...: The point of the challenge is to raise awareness...

I wonder how often lots of time spent in college "raising awareness" ends with one's awareness being raised in very unpleasant ways upon graduation with a worthless degree and crushing amounts of non-dischargeable debt.; 10/29/14, 10:51 AM
Jane the Actuary said...: You know, to the extent that a building has stall-less, single-toilet restrooms, it's a trivial thing to change the sign to just "restroom." It's not a "trans" accomodation, just common sense. Why should I wait for the ladies' room to be empty if the men's room is already empty, and if they are just simply two bathrooms. Sure, I guess the men's room is more likely to be icky, but they ought to both be reliably checked by the staff anyway.

If it's about remodeling a building to create single-toilet restrooms, or building them into the design, then that's where these students are failing to recognize that there is a cost to their demands. And their next demand will be more financial aid.; 10/29/14, 10:58 AM
tim maguire said...: Once we start talking about structural changes to alleviate "micro-aggressions" I have to wonder what the endgame is. Does everybody get their own bathroom?

How about we make tolerating bores one of the tolerance virtues? Then 95% of SJW complaints just float away, problem solved, victims happy.; 10/29/14, 10:59 AM
Nonapod said...: It's always a little funny to me seeing pictures of protesting college kids. Overall there's this timeless sameness to their appearance. They've worn the same basic motley uniform for decades, and consequently it's often difficult to place a time period to them with no context. Like if you showed me that first picture and told me it was from 1985, or 1995, or 2005, they all would seem perfectly plausible.; 10/29/14, 11:01 AM
Kevin said...: Wow, both aggressions AND microaggressions? That's just awful.

What, did we lose a war? No peaceful people should have to face aggressions AND microaggressions.

At least they don't face macroaggressions yet. That's like, what, Gamera or Mothra destroying your city, or something?; 10/29/14, 11:04 AM
Achilles said...: Micro-aggresions? Is that what the IRS did?; 10/29/14, 11:07 AM
lgv said...: The solution to end the problem is gender inclusive bathrooms.

Help me. What does that mean? Is gender inclusive the same as unisex?

If a guy who looks and acts like a woman goes into a mens bathroom, it is no big deal other than them feeling uncomfortable because someone will tell them they are in the wrong bathroom. It is about the transgender person feeling uncomfortable. Will female students feel uncomfortable with males in the same bathroom? Apparently their discomfort is not a problem.; 10/29/14, 11:07 AM
Michael K said...: There are three universities in San Diego. University of San Diego is a Catholic institution where I doubt there is much interest in transgender although I could be wrong.

UC, San Diego is a university of the UC system and which has an incredible biological sciences division where Craig Venter has his institute of genomic medicine.
UCSD is where Venter went to school.

San Diego State is a former teachers college best known for its football team.

All they need to do is build a set of "transgender" bathrooms where the trannies could congregate and do what they do in bathrooms.; 10/29/14, 11:08 AM
James Pawlak said...: At my age I cannot wait overly long to use "sanitary facilities". Therefore, any person occupying such as a "protest measure" is very, very, likely to be anointed or pasted with my bodily waste.
As I have concluded that, in government owned facilities as do not provide the protections provided at air ports and court houses as unconstitutional, I go armed into such places and would respond to any aggression.; 10/29/14, 11:23 AM
LordSomber said...: A problem without a solution or a solution without a problem? Hmmm…

Depends™.; 10/29/14, 11:23 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: If I recall correctly, Robert Heinlein predicted this situation in the novel "Friday."

In the novel all bathrooms in California are unisex and when someone visiting from out of state asks where a women only bathroom is they are asked if they are some sort of bigot.

Of course in that novel the California legislature fixes the issue of people with bachelor degrees out earning those without that credential by passing a law awarding all California residents bachelor degrees.; 10/29/14, 11:39 AM
Brando said...: Very easy solution. All bathrooms be available to all comers. Anyone can use the stall, anyone can use the urinal, anyone can use the sink (for washing, that is).; 10/29/14, 11:51 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: If this is what's important and meaningful to these kids, all I can say is, they're living the good life. It will never get any better.; 10/29/14, 11:54 AM
Peter said...: Is the point that one should be free to look and act different yet retain the right to whine that they're now perceived by others as looking and acting different?

Bathrooms are segregated by sex, not by gender. That's why there's urinals in one but not the other.

Anatomy is not socially constructed.; 10/29/14, 11:55 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I get the impression that Althouse likes gays but not transgenders.

I don't think the transgender crusade will take off because women aren't very interested in supporting it. Men aren't threatened by transgenders, but women are. That will be that.

Conservatives seem bored or amused by the whole thing. It's not like gay marriage.; 10/29/14, 12:01 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: I'm a male who identifies as male. Is that a microaggession too?; 10/29/14, 12:07 PM
Mike and Sue said...: First world problem.; 10/29/14, 12:12 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: @John Lynch

Currently the Radical Feminists are in trouble with the rest of the radical left because they refuse to allow men who feel like they are really women to attend their women only gatherings, even those who have had "the surgery."

The rad fems position is that being a woman means more than having your twig and berries chopped off.

This is heresy of course so the trans-gendered are making women feel unsafe in their women only conferences which were women only because they wanted to feel safe by harassing them there.; 10/29/14, 12:13 PM
Skyler said...: It's about time to end the university system. Communists and anarchists have taken them over completely. We need to take advantage of the internet and promote the growth of on line educations. The "collegial" aspect of college life is no longer benefitting our culture.; 10/29/14, 12:17 PM
RecChief said...: so, they had a class on Alinsky's professional life. BREAKING NEWS!

It would have been less vulgar if they had worked "commode" into a catchy slogan about accomodation.

Beyond that, ho hum.; 10/29/14, 12:20 PM
Dave Schumann said...: Who gives a shit?

I can't believe I'm the first one on this thread to say that.; 10/29/14, 12:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Ann needs to add a "Rich Societies' Problems" tag for pieces like this.; 10/29/14, 12:32 PM
AustinRoth said...: Higher education at its finest.; 10/29/14, 12:36 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “The most important thing is everyone needs a safe place to do their business.”

Which really is part of the problem here. I have told the story before here, but..

A couple years ago in Scottsdale, a popular bar/restaurant banned a couple of supposedly transgendered people claiming to be moving from male to female. Seems that they hadn't undergone much of anything, except to be wearing dresses. Definitely not gender reassignment surgery, or probably much in the way of hormone therapy, since they had 5 o'clock beards, and were, essentially in the women's room all evening. The genetic females repeatedly complained to management that they wouldn't frequent the club if this wasn't stopped, so it was by banning those people claiming to be transgendered. They didn't feel safe with what they considered men in the place they wanted to go to be temporarily safe from men.; 10/29/14, 12:37 PM
Anthony said...: Having spent a short stint cleaning bathrooms in an office building to put myself through college I can say without hesitation that we men can do without you filthy, filthy wimmins fouling our bathrooms with your various emissions and feminine products. =0~~~; 10/29/14, 12:38 PM
gerry said...: Wow, both aggressions AND microaggressions? That's just awful.

Do one million microsaggressions equal the severity of one aggression? Can you save them up to redeem them for a private privy?

What about milliaggressions and nanoaggressions? Was World War II a megaaggression?

I'm also fond of picoaggression because it's so retro.; 10/29/14, 12:42 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I guess I should add to my last post, that I really don't care, except to the extent that the genetic women around me care. This is a contest between real females and males becoming female, and it all revolves around feelings of security (from males). Nobody really cares for the transgendered going the other way - females moving to male. If they want to use the male restrooms, then fine with most guys. It is really only an issue between real females and female wannabes.; 10/29/14, 12:42 PM
gerry said...: Currently the Radical Feminists are in trouble with the rest of the radical left because they refuse to allow men who feel like they are really women to attend their women only gatherings, even those who have had "the surgery."

There was a radfem rally or something and tranny protestors erected a sign that said "Real Women Have Dicks".

I wish I could find the photo of that.; 10/29/14, 12:47 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: I believe the children are our future.

We are so screwed.; 10/29/14, 12:49 PM
Hagar said...: CStanley wins the thread.; 10/29/14, 1:13 PM
Kohath said...: Let's say we all go out of our way to sympathize and accommodate these people.

In return, to thank us all for our kindness and help the rest of us out, they will do what?; 10/29/14, 1:13 PM
Julie C said...: My son went to an admitted students day at a college back east and was given a tour by a self-styled LGBT activist who told him that his goal was to make sure that every single bathroom on campus was gender neutral. This kid was a Gender Studies major (at a school costing over $58k a year!) and planned to become an elementary school teacher.

Yeah, I fear for our children too, big time!; 10/29/14, 1:18 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: In return, to thank us all for our kindness and help the rest of us out, they will do what?

Whine.

Think about it - gays whine more than heterosexuals, and transgendered seem to whine even more. And, maybe they have a point - society was developed by heterosexuals for heterosexuals, and LGBTers don't fit in. It is a luxury that we can accommodate them as much as we do, since they don't pull their weight when it comes to guaranteeing the next generation is there to carry on. Life isn't fair, because if it were, they would have been born non-LGBT. So, no surprise that they whine a lot.; 10/29/14, 1:24 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Microaggressions == Whining.

Nanoaggressions == Whining about really petty stuff.; 10/29/14, 1:26 PM
richard mcenroe said...: So when a guy who decides he's a girl forces his way into a private space for women (or vice-versa, but I bet that happens a lot less frequently), he/she/they encounter "microaggressions".

I. Am. Stunned.

Can't wait 'til someone decides they're really a seagull and tries to fly without wings.

I cannot claim any personal experience of the tran life, but after going on fifty years in publishing, and twenty-odd years in Los Angeles and banging around on the edges of the film business, I've met numbers of what we now call "transgendered" and every one of them had a lot more psychological problems than confusion about their sexual identity, problems that in too many cases were not addressed because they rationalized their gender confusion as a cause rather than a symptom.

This will probably not be an appreciated opinion but what is going on today in the LGBTUVWXYZ community is not progress but simple reversal. We have gone from a time when Alan Turing could be force-fed female hormones because the British Government suddenly realized he was gay to a time when "married" lesbians are praised for feeding their child female hormones because it had the bad taste to be born male.

The difference is that we have gone from a position of granting 97% of the population a preferred status that has been declared unlawful to granting less than 3% of the population a preferred status where they can close your business if you don't bake them a cake.; 10/29/14, 1:37 PM
Shanna said...: This is a contest between real females and males becoming female, and it all revolves around feelings of security (from males).

I believe this is true. I remember being in a restroom at a movie theater one time and a man came in and everyone just sort of froze. And he stayed there! I dont' know what he was doing, but he wasn't lost.

The easy (although possibly expensive) solution is to start including at least one single stall bathroom with a lockable door to be used by whoever, but I don't know if that would satisfy these folks or not.; 10/29/14, 1:45 PM
jr565 said...: There is a safe place to do your business. It's in the restroom for your sex. Not your gender.; 10/29/14, 1:46 PM
Drago said...: John Lynch: "I get the impression that Althouse likes gays but not transgenders"

Which would perfectly mirror the more militant gay activist line.

The militant gay activists don't care much for "bi-sexuals" either.

Fen's Law again and again.; 10/29/14, 1:59 PM
jr565 said...: John Lynch: "I get the impression that Althouse likes gays but not transgenders"

Transgenderism seems to go against a lot of stuff taught about women and men. Back in the day it was sexist to say that a woman wore dresses and liked pink. NOw though the transgenderd are defining themselves along gender lines which correspond to gender stereotypes. As in they are a male female because they like to wear dresses and like pink. I thought we were trying to move away from those. in those cases it really seems like the transgenderd are just play acting like a drag queen might.
In the case of those actually suffering from dysphoria (ie the ones needing to change sex)their need to change sex undermines the whole idea of gender identification as opposed to sex identification. Because if their view of gender was accurate, they'd be ok being a man who thinks he's a woman because that would simply be an identifiable gender. No need to change. But no, what they want to do is change their sex. How then are they making issues about gender as social constructs?
Things are already complicated enough with sex and sexual orientation They now want to further muddle things with gender as a social construct?
So they could be a male gay cisgender who thinks they are a female which would actually make them a lesbian.; 10/29/14, 2:10 PM
jr565 said...: Actually it would make them hetero as a woman.; 10/29/14, 2:12 PM
Brando said...: "There is a safe place to do your business. It's in the restroom for your sex. Not your gender."

I think the issue here is that for someone in the "trans" area, they aren't really safe in either the male bathroom or the female one.

Which raises a different question--why is someone "unsafe" in any bathroom? Are people being physically attacked? Because that's a much bigger deal regardless of whether they're transgender.

Like I said above, make all bathrooms unisex. Everyone should be able to use any bathroom safely. If someone's violating that, then they've lost the right to use society's bathrooms and should stick to holes in the park.

And that wasn't a euphamism.; 10/29/14, 2:21 PM
jr565 said...: Brando wrote:
Like I said above, make all bathrooms unisex. Everyone should be able to use any bathroom safely. If someone's violating that, then they've lost the right to use society's bathrooms and should stick to holes in the park.

Will a woman want to go to the bathroom where guys are taking a piss in the urinal right next to her?; 10/29/14, 2:28 PM
Shanna said...: Are people being physically attacked?

Funny enough I just googled this and the first link or two are political transgender stuff talking about 'myths' of people being attacked in bathrooms, and then the next 3 or 4 links are local articles about women and girls who have been attacked in bathrooms.; 10/29/14, 2:29 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Are people being physically attacked?

Funny enough I just googled this and the first link or two are political transgender stuff talking about 'myths' of people being attacked in bathrooms, and then the next 3 or 4 links are local articles about women and girls who have been attacked in bathrooms.

SOLUTION: CCTV cameras in all restroom areas, and Government workers paid the monitor them 24/7.

Yeah, I know...; 10/29/14, 2:48 PM
Brando said...: "Will a woman want to go to the bathroom where guys are taking a piss in the urinal right next to her?"

I don't see why not, so long as there's an adequate stall wall. I've seen enough women using men's bathrooms when there's too long a line at the women's. It's not like people should be exposing themselves in there anyways--if they are, that's a problem whether the bathroom is unisex or not.

If stalls have to be more private, then fine--do that. Or keep the urinals farther from the stalls so no one has to hear another person urinating (but good luck, when a bathroom is crowded you hear all sorts of stuff).; 10/29/14, 2:50 PM
jr565 said...: Brando why should people be inconvenienced simply because people have issues with their gender? We have existing bathrooms that work for 99.999999999999999999999% of the population who are ok with bathrooms being what they are?; 10/29/14, 2:58 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/29/14, 3:05 PM
jr565 said...: Theres a cost to having to change mens rooms to unisex rooms. Are those saying businesses need to change to accommodate going to pay the costs?; 10/29/14, 3:10 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: If stalls have to be more private, then fine--do that. Or keep the urinals farther from the stalls so no one has to hear another person urinating (but good luck, when a bathroom is crowded you hear all sorts of stuff).

Urinals will be the first thing to go in the new unisex bathroom world! Why should valuable space be wasted on accommodating cis-males to pee standing up when it could be used for accommodating cis-femailes, trans females, and trans males who all pee sitting down?; 10/29/14, 3:11 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Sorry; cis-females.; 10/29/14, 3:11 PM
Shanna said...: Brando why should people be inconvenienced simply because people have issues with their gender? We have existing bathrooms that work for 99.999999999999999999999% of the population who are ok with bathrooms being what they are?

Although women will occasionally use a mens room when there is a very long line for the womens (and I've seen men using the womens at gay bars and such), most women do not want men in the womens room for reasons of safety.

The simplest solution is the leave things as they are and tell people to quit whining, but barring that, a single unisex toilet, maybe with a spot for changing children or well equipped for the handicapped or something to make it extra useful, seems like it might work out.; 10/29/14, 3:12 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Although women will occasionally use a mens room when there is a very long line for the womens (and I've seen men using the womens at gay bars and such), most women do not want men in the womens room for reasons of safety.

You'd think that would be a concern on a college campus where there's such an epidemic of rape, wouldn't you?; 10/29/14, 3:16 PM
Brando said...: "Brando why should people be inconvenienced simply because people have issues with their gender? We have existing bathrooms that work for 99.999999999999999999999% of the population who are ok with bathrooms being what they are?"

Well, I favor unisex bathrooms regardless of the transgender issue--mainly because it's more efficient and I don't see a real need to have separate bathrooms for men and women. What's more ridiculous is separate bathrooms even when the bathrooms are "single use", and I'm waiting for the men's bathroom to free up while no one is in the women's.

Maybe people fear that someone of the opposite sex in the same bathroom would leer at them, or worse--but then, that's an offense that could happen between people of the same sex as well, and should be equally intolerable.

As for the transgenders, if we're going to keep single sex bathrooms they ought to pick one and use that. Whether they should "appear" to be one sex or the other is something I don't even want to get into.; 10/29/14, 3:17 PM
Brando said...: "Theres a cost to having to change mens rooms to unisex rooms. Are those saying businesses need to change to accommodate going to pay the costs?"

When I say "should" in this context I'm not talking about legal requirements, just my personal preferences. All this should be up to the individual businesses.; 10/29/14, 3:18 PM
Brando said...: The safety concern is of course a valid one, but I'm questioning whether women are necessarily unsafe if they share restrooms with men, or whether it is simply a matter of us not being used to it so it makes people uneasy.

Some of this depends on who has access to the bathroom--a bathroom at a secure office where only co-workers can use it should be safer than one open to the general public, and rest stops at night are another matter entirely. But then, anyone looking to do mischief isn't going to care whether it's a "women only" bathroom, though they might draw more attention when going in, any witnesses outside the bathroom should be a deterrent anyway. Plus, you can also be attacked by someone of your own gender, or who at least appears to be of your own gender.

If there's an epidemic of bathroom attacks, maybe we need more undercover cops or a buddy system. I'm just not convinced that single gender bathrooms are tangibly safer than unisex ones. Has there been a case where bathrooms going unisex have led to more attacks?; 10/29/14, 3:27 PM
MadisonMan said...: 99.999999999999999999999% of the population

Did you flunk math?; 10/29/14, 3:33 PM
Shanna said...: The safety concern is of course a valid one, but I'm questioning whether women are necessarily unsafe if they share restrooms with men, or whether it is simply a matter of us not being used to it so it makes people uneasy.

Take all those guys bugging that woman walking down the street in NYC and then put them in the bathroom with her. And see how it goes.; 10/29/14, 3:36 PM
damikesc said...: And to think, they are going into massive debt to do protests in the toilet.

Good use o' money there.

You know, to the extent that a building has stall-less, single-toilet restrooms, it's a trivial thing to change the sign to just "restroom." It's not a "trans" accomodation, just common sense. Why should I wait for the ladies' room to be empty if the men's room is already empty, and if they are just simply two bathrooms. Sure, I guess the men's room is more likely to be icky, but they ought to both be reliably checked by the staff anyway.

Having once had to clean restrooms, there are few places grosser than women's restrooms. I had to go to one of the ones I had to deal with, more than once, with a shovel and a mop. And I really needed both the shovel and the mop.

Men's room will have urine in odd places. I've seen women poop up the back wall of a toilet. Repeatedly. Don't even get started on clogging the toilet and then overturning the "hygiene" bags in the stalls.

Ironically, I've never seen a man annoyed that a woman is in the men's room. This issue seems to be all that women are being non-inclusive or something.; 10/29/14, 3:48 PM
jr565 said...: Madison man, ok the overwhelming majority.; 10/29/14, 3:55 PM
jr565 said...: Brandi when you say it should be up to the business, if it's up to govt and transgendered are a protected class it's going to be a requirement and not an option; 10/29/14, 3:56 PM
Anonymous said...: More first world problems.

Try that crap here in Abilene, Texas.; 10/29/14, 4:06 PM
ken in tx said...: Older people than me, have told me that the French have had uni-sex public toilettes all along. Pissours are usually used by men, but not restricted to them.; 10/29/14, 5:14 PM
Michael K said...: " Pissours are usually used by men, but not restricted to them."

Shitours ? I don;t think even the French are going to go for that although I have seen homeless men pooping on the street in Paris. I was also taking some teenaged girls to Versailles on the train and had to warn them not to step on the newspaper between cars that had human shit leaking out from between the pages.; 10/29/14, 5:27 PM
Naut Right said...: Women are going to become impacted and explode. Cripes, they won't fart in front of a man and these flunkies think women will feel safe and relaxed to take their dump in front of one?
Oh, and did anyone notice the protestors all had their pants up.; 10/29/14, 5:30 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Althouse, you're slipping. Where it the lameness tag?; 10/29/14, 5:55 PM
chillblaine said...: " It is really only an issue between real females and female wannabes."

Very interesting, and correct I think. My wife is always amusing me with stories about the discomfort that some women experience while using public restrooms. One friend never uses them for fear of creating undesirable bodily noises. Another requires a wingman, so to speak, to temporarily bar the door to other women.; 10/29/14, 6:27 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Brando,

"Well, I favor unisex bathrooms regardless of the transgender issue--mainly because it's more efficient..."

You have GOT to be kidding. There is nothing more space-efficient (on the Mars side) than the long trough urinal.

Shanna,

"Take all those guys bugging that woman walking down the street in NYC ..."

Oh, that's beautiful beyond words!; 10/29/14, 6:49 PM
Known Unknown said...: Lord Somber wins.; 10/29/14, 7:36 PM
Known Unknown said...: The simplest solution is the leave things as they are and tell people to quit whining, but barring that, a single unisex toilet, maybe with a spot for changing children or well equipped for the handicapped or something to make it extra useful, seems like it might work out.

These are called Family Restrooms and are being put in almost every large public building being built. Of course, the term "family" is a form of micro-aggression, I assume.; 10/29/14, 7:40 PM
Tibore said...: SDSU students, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Lemme from Motorhead are way ahead of you. 15 years ahead, to be specific:

http://vimeo.com/14585897; 10/30/14, 7:37 AM
SGT Ted said...: Note the call to abridge the rights of actual females in order to cater to pretend females.; 10/30/14, 8:33 AM