Summary Of The Article 'When The Gender Boxes Don T Fit'

In the excerpt “Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?”, from his 1997 book The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy, Allan Johnson argues gender through identity and culture. Johnson starts out by expressing opposition on how women are looked at through a patriarchal society and not the biology from which they came. He mentions the feminist argument that women in a patriarchal society are “oppressed” and that this comes from social order (545). He goes on to point out, the focus should be on raising children to adulthood rather than worrying about reproduction. Although, I agree with Johnson’s arguments, there are things in this world that cannot and should not be changed.

First up to analyzing this article is by using a tool concept called the sociological lens. Sociologists use sociological lens to think critically about everyday life, everyday assumptions while also challenging the natural aspects of life. The main issue in this article is that people with different body parts should go different restrooms. More specifically, people with penises should not be allowed to go into female restrooms because it is viewed as dangerous. However, if we analyze this through a sociological lens, the segregation of bathrooms based on gender is a rather new phenomenon. For example, the article states that prior to the Victorian Era, men and women would use the same

The Bathroom Bill states that a person must use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex or, as the bill defines it, “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person's birth certificate” (S.B.

Steve Craig, in his article Men’s Men and Women’s Women especially define how different sexes in advertisement can influence a particular audience towards a product; one stereotypical method he describes is “Men’s Women” (Craig).One such ad using sex appeal, and a basic structure of “Men’s Women” to bring in customer was made by BMW in 2008 to sell their used cars. BMW, which is a world-renowned company known for its performance heavy automobiles, targets a male audience by comparing a gorgeous woman to their cars.This ad by BMW, who no doubt make amazing cars, degrade women through its message, and it enforces Steve Craig’s “Men’s women” tactic, but this ad also goes a step further and displays the ever-present patriarchy in advertisement overtly.

Some people have a problem with transgender people using the ¨wrong restroom.¨ In the article “Seat of Unrest” by Sara GoodYear she explains that ¨The board is voting on whether he should be allowed to use the boys restroom at Gloucester High

Recently, the issue of allowing transgender people access to public facilities according to the gender they identify with has caused much debate throughout the United States. The bathroom bill seeks to control access to public facilities of transgender individuals, based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In 2015, bills were passed stating entering a bathroom not assigned to a person at birth was a crime. Surrounded by misconception, the bill does “not legalize harassment, stalking, violence, or sexual assault.” Since the bill arose, there have not been a rise in violence or other incidents in the states protecting the transgender rights (Transgender Equality). The bill simply states if one is living as a woman, to use the women’s restroom,

It is a known fact that both men and women use the restroom. What many are not aware of, is that using the toilet in public areas reinforces the differences between male and female. For instance, the very first thing any individual sees when entering a public restroom is the little dolls of a man or a woman as an indication of a female restrooms and or the male restrooms. This simple sign reaffirms the sexual differences of gender and also unconsciously the individual’s identity for that matter. The concept of gender neutral bathrooms is to break the imaginary wall of gender separation thus allowing either sex to use one single restroom. If we think about it, in our home we share one restroom, and are pretty much accepting of the fact that we all use the toilet. The book states that gender salience is the relation of gender across activities and spaces. The book further discusses that when teachers would place children alphabetically versus by gender the importance of gender reduced. Gender is a persistent element in any school. The concept is simple when it boils down to education the main purpose is to place the students together by groups of the ones that are getting the material and are able to proceed to the next or placing them in a group of students that need more time grasping the given material and curriculum. Although gender salience is like a roller coaster in different parts of the elementary school experience the flow of gender is a persistent element in education. Gendered bathrooms, as previously discussed reinforces the differences between male and female. Back in the Victorian era, they created restrooms for women with a special room that had a resting area before entering the section in which the restrooms were located. This was primary because back then it was not lady like to dispose bodily fluids. They believe that women should keep such matters private, and it was pretty much unheard of for women to even use the restrooms the way it is indented. Till this day many women restrooms still have a resting area before entering the restroom section. Bathrooms are designed with an assumption that everyone is heterosexual. Thus not allowing the possibility of that many individuals don’t

Transgender rights and policies have always been an ongoing debate. In the article, “Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,” Schilt and Westbrook (2015) argued that in order to push gender equality forward, we must consider the rights of transgender people by allowing them to have access to bathrooms that support their gender identity rather than their biological sex. In doing so, authors believed that it would make progress in alleviating discrimination against transgender people. However, in this conscious effort to fight for transgender rights and their access to sex-segregated spaces,

West and Zimmerman claim that gender is not something we are but something we do.

Using a public restrooms seems like a simple task to the majority of us. This is not the case for people who fall outside the gender norm. Seldom does one have a choice beyond boy’s room or girl’s room. This can be a very stressful environment if your outward appearance doesn’t match your biological sex. Spotlighting those who are not perceived by society as gender normal could lead to depression, anxiety and self-loathing. Something as simple as going to the restroom in the mall could lead to a violent encounter. This would be greatly reduced of people would just be more observant. This all because society developed rules everyone must follow in order to be perceived as normal.

According to Lopez (2016), minority groups are more likely to report favorable on the issues of transgender people. Some people may be concern with the safety concept accompanying the fact that a biological man who is now a woman uses the female restrooms. The gender neutral public restrooms are a solution to these types of viewpoints because there will be more individualize restrooms with privacy.

The U.S. federal government is backing the issue of gender neutral bathrooms. As Lisa Rein, publisher of an article in The Washington Post, writes, “The federal government is strongly urging employers to give transgender employees access to bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, marking a new policy front in the fast-moving campaign for transgender equality” (Rein). Rein argues that bathrooms need to be made neutral, as it discriminates members of the LBGT community. Essentially, she argues throughout her article that emotional issues are the biggest reason to allow this. She states, “Among the many forms of discrimination advocates for transgender men and women say they face on the job,

Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my

The transgender community should have the right to use the restroom of the gender they identity with or have an alternate choice, some people many agree that is would be a dangerous liability, but some people may even agree to proving gender neutral restrooms. In dangerous of a person of the opposite sex using the restroom they prefer are very obvious, but is every person out to cause dangerous to other people in the restroom. Some people’s gender evolves differently, and might not fit rigid traditional notices of female and male. The effects of stereotype threat advanced because of the self-fulfilling prophecies that many different races, sexes or even religions fall into the effects of. “Gender refers to the cultural nature of the

When approaching public restrooms, most look at the gender on the door that associates with their own gender. However, some stare at those labels wondering which one they belong in. These types of people are often referred to as transgenders. Transgenders are people who identify themselves with the opposite gender of their biological sex. Therefore, for this category of people, entering a restroom is not so easy. They often wonder whether they should go into the bathroom of their biological sex or of their gender identity. The debate has spread throughout America today. Transgender bathrooms have been discussed in politics, education, and even criminal cases. Both sides of the debate offer valid evidence to support their claims. The only compensation