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Potty Training: The New Rules Of Bathroom Etiquette

Ashley Nash |
September 18, 2013 | 1:24 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Public restrooms are now a little more open, photo via Creative Commons
Public restrooms are now a little more open, photo via Creative Commons

California Gov. Jerry Brown’s “School Bathroom Bill” (AB1266) has some families jumping for joy, while others are baffled by the betrayal.

The “potty training” process is not only biologically instructive, but also socially relevant, as it highlights the obvious physical differences between men and women.

Although these distinctions are often determined at birth, lavatory liberty encourages children to begin asking themselves, "Why does Tommy go to the boy’s room and I go to the girl’s? " 

While these questions may not always be verbalized, they are definitely common amongst children. Many students gain an understanding early on of where to “get in” and “fit in” in the bathroom world.

Now, however, the division between men’s and women’s restrooms is not as clear as it once was, as gender lines are becoming more difficult to define. 

Last month Brown signed the AB1266 bill permitting transgender K-12 students to exercise their right of utilizing the restrooms, facilities, and sports teams that best suit their gender identifications. 

No longer does potty training consist only of teaching children to recognize the signs of a billowing bladder or avoiding accidents; now it also includes the treatment of those occupants that are not so anatomically similar. 

In a U.S. News Weekly article, politician Tom Ammiano recounts an incident in which a female student who identifies as male had to file a grievance against the school district of Arcadia, Calif. to gain access to the men’s facilities on campus.

While other states such as Colorado and Massachusetts have already outlined policies to address the discrimination of transgender students in schools, California is the first state to have a law defending this element of transgender equality.

A student of the Manteca, California School District, Ashton Lee, 16, is a transgender male whose school has interfered with his dreams of playing football.

"I just want to be treated the same as all the other boys," said Lee. "But my school forces me to take P.E. in a class of all girls and live as someone I'm not." 

As students are coming forward to voice their struggles and desires, Republican lawmakers and religious leaders are militantly fighting back. 

Assemblyman Curt Hagman of Chino Hills gathered over 3,000 letters from church members within his district detailing their opposition, and similar measures are being exercised not even three cities away. 

Many Californians are getting involved in efforts to protect students' privacy. The Privacy for All Students coalition is even encouraging citizens to sign a petition against the AB1266 bill, print the form and mail it in. 

While Brown is defending the rights of transgender students, other students and their families feel attacked. The reality that young female students will have to share facilities with transgender female students has some parents in an outrage.

"The answer is not to force something this radical on every single grade in California," said Karen England of Capitol Resource Institute. "What about the right to privacy of a junior high school girl wanting to go to the bathroom… or after P.E. showering and having to worry about being in the locker room with a boy?"

Does this bill really disregard the comfort of non-transgender students? Will other students abuse this freedom, tainting the primary ideal? Where and how do issues of privacy come into play?

The AB1266 is scheduled to become effective in schools on Jan. 1,2014, unless its opponents successfully protest the bill. For now, though, it appears that bathroom environments will change, and the new rules of bathroom etiquette will alter potty training forever. 

Reach Staff Reporter Ashley Nash here.




 

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