The JEA convention here in the city of brotherly love has been such a wonderful experience for me, a first-time attendee. I have met so many amazing young and talented journalists from all around the country, as well as highly trained professionals with lots of information to give.
The convention is being held in the Marriott hotel convention center. This hotel is gorgeous and is extremely large, with a sky bridge that connects to another building. One thing about this location that really caught my, as well as the rest of our staff’s, eyes was the bathrooms.
The bathrooms at the convention center are gender-neutral bathrooms. Coral Glades 11th grader Cole Fisher gives a male perspective by saying, “I do not agree with gender-neutral bathrooms due to the fact that I am a male and I expect to be in the bathroom with other males. When I am using the bathroom, I would feel uncomfortable with people that aren’t my gender in the same bathroom as me.”
In 2016, Philadelphia passed a law to require gender-neutral restrooms in single-occupancy bathrooms. These bathrooms, however, are not single occupancy.
Political views may influence how a person feels about this, but I believe that whether or not a person is comfortable with these bathrooms is all about where they came from. When I say where they came from, I do not mean their origin, but the culture and values they grew up with.
For Genzers (people born between 1977 and 2012), gender-neutral bathrooms may be the new normal, and many may see it as a progression in making every person comfortable with how they identify.
However, GenX (people born between 1965 and 1980) may not be as comfortable with using these bathrooms as it was not something common while they were growing up.
As a young woman who is a part of Gen Z, I personally do not feel comfortable with the idea of shared bathrooms. I am a firm believer in being your true self and doing things that make you comfortable to express who you are, but I do not believe that the right direction to take is allowing both genders into the same bathroom. When asked about the usage of gender-neutral bathrooms Coral Glades student Olivia Dacres, a 10th-grade female, said, “Questionable. I understand the initiative for inclusivity, yet it’s dependent on the state or environment. So it’ll differ based on age.”
The main concern for many people is the safety of having both genders in one bathroom. 1 out of every 6 women has been victimized by sexual assault at some point in their lifetime. This statistic is sad but it is very true. Grown men having an open door to a bathroom where young women and girls are in a vulnerable state is a doorway to an increase in rape attempts and 14.8% of the time completed rape.
Of course, not all men will use this for evil, but there are men who will. As a young woman, you are constantly being told to be careful around men. People will tell you to carry self-defense weapons ‘just in case’ or pretend you’re on the phone when walking alone at night; women are even warned when asking a man to hold their drink in fear that they may drug it. Gender-neutral bathrooms give women one more thing to add to the long list of safety precautions.
GenX parents probably never have imagined having to tell their daughters to ‘be careful’ when sending them to the bathroom to simply relieve themselves.
