Should we have Gender Neutral Bathrooms?
When we go to the bathroom, how much does it matter to us if the person in the stall next to us is a man or a woman? For some people, it might matter a lot. Some women might think that if its a man in that stall next door that they have a higher chance of being assaulted in the bathroom. For some people, it doesn't matter at all, because they might think "Why SHOULD I care what the sex of the person in the stall next to me is?". That is exactly what I would say.
For some, it is the safety of women that keeps the bathrooms separated. For example, it is true that men rape women more than women rape women. So, someone might say that we should keep the private places separated in order to prevent some sexual assault. However, here's an interesting fact; Black men on the whole kill white men more than white men kill black men. Here is the link for the statistic;
Now, what does this mean? Does it mean that we should separate black men from white men in private spaces like we should men from women? It would seem that we shouldn't. Why? Because that would be racist of course! What we should take away from this statistic, is that only roughly 400 white men were killed by black men. That is not a lot at all. Most people are good intention-ed. There is no real reason that we should separate groups of people based on statistics, unless maybe the statistic was "100% of men commit murder three times a week". Then, we might want to start staying away from men. But as it stands, I really don't see a good reason against unisex bathrooms.
However, there is always a chance that there exists a good reason out there against unisex bathrooms, although its a pretty innocuous thing. But, if you do have that reason, please share. I want lots of discussion in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
Devon
Ethics may be the primary reason. Decency too. people like to be at ease when they go to bathrooms.