Can unisex bathrooms lead to bladder infections for young girls? Because of how they’re being implemented in the United Kingdom, at least one doctor thinks so.
The Daily Mail reported Sunday that young girls have become so intimidated by the prospect of using gender-neutral bathrooms that they’re taking drastic steps to avoid using them — up to and including staying home from school.
The report said parents and students had shared their apprehension about using the bathrooms, an increasingly commonplace thing in the U.K. in spite of parental petition drives.
“With a growing number of both primary and secondary schools installing unisex toilets, some girls are risking infections by refusing to urinate all day,” the outlet reported.
“Others are so fearful they have stopped drinking liquids at school.”
Menstruating girls have even said they’re staying home from school because they’re afraid of feeling “period shame.”
Others said they simply didn’t feel safe using the bathroom with boys.
“The trend for single-sex toilets is driven by the wish to be more inclusive of children who identify as transgender and wish to use the same facilities as the opposite sex,” the Daily Mail reported.
“But last night, doctors and politicians called on schools to halt the move towards unisex toilets to prevent any further harm to female pupils,” it said.
Do you think unisex toilets are a bad idea?
One doctor told the outlet that the effects of the gender-neutral bathrooms go beyond just the psychological.
According to Dr. Tessa Katz, holding urine or not drinking during the day, if done regularly, could lead to infections of the urinary tract or bladder.
“The psychological effects of girls not feeling safe enough to use mixed-sex toilets is also concerning,” Katz said.
This comes as unisex bathrooms bathrooms have become a major cultural issue in the U.K., with the Royal Institution of Great Britain — a science education organization — sponsoring a set of debates at schools on the subject.
“Hundreds of schools are expected to download the RI’s debate kits, which give pupils different roles to play, from concerned father to transgender teenager, to reflect a wide range of perspectives on what is a sensitive topic,” iNews reported in April.
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In case you wondered how the topic was going to be handled, the Royal Institute’s head of education removed all doubt.
“We tried quite hard to avoid this topic,” Dom McDonald said. “But the more we thought about it, the more we thought this topic crystallized many questions around identity and genetics; nature versus nurture; and social, ethical and moral considerations. …
“Those of us who are middle-aged are a long way behind the thinking of people who are 15. That doesn’t make us wrong or right, but we really wanted to give kids the sense that their opinions in this sort of area are valid. We wanted to show children that they can have useful, interesting opinions about science or topics relating to science without needing to be a scientist.”
The mind boggles at the implications regarding that statement. McDonald said changes in how young people perceive gender were “the biggest visible change in social mores” he’d seen during his life.
Apparently, this change isn’t quite so complete, as the Daily Mail’s report showed. And it’s not just the female students who are feeling unsafe. Their parents aren’t quite on board with the idea, either. At one West London primary school, parents are collecting signatures against a changeover to gender-neutral bathrooms.
“The cubicles were open at the bottom and top so older pupils can easily climb up the toilets and peer over,” the parent of 4- and 8-year-old girls at Deanesfield Primary School in South Ruislip said.
The Daily Mail also reported that “Stephanie Davies-Arai, from the parent campaign group Transgender Trend, said schools were being misinformed by ‘trans activist’ organizations that they were breaking equality laws if they did not make toilets unisex.
“She said there were clear exemptions under the current equality laws that meant it was perfectly legal to have single-sex toilets.”
Conservative Party Member of Parliament David Davies agreed.
“If girls are not comfortable sharing toilets with boys, then schools should make provision for them, rather than saying girls have got a problem,” Davies, who has been a vocal critic of the push toward gender-neutral bathrooms, said.
“Vas ist das shiza?”
The Daily Mail said Davies has “backed feminist claims that transgender rights are overriding those of women.”
At the point which these concerns are considered prejudicial, yes.
The objections to unisex bathrooms have always had little — in fact, nothing — to do with transgender individuals. They’ve had everything to do with the predations of those who would look to take advantage of unisex restrooms to put others, almost universally female, at risk.
That should never happen just so politicians and school officials can seem “woke.”
Written by C. Douglas Golden for Western Journal ~ October 16, 2019