There’s nothing that scares some people more than the spectre of trans women in the ladies’ room. Queueing to pee. Peeing. Pooping, even. Washing their hands. Existing while having bodies.
Scary as being in a room with other women who need to pee is, I’ve got a few things that terrify me more.
1. Having to poop in a public toilet.
Where people could come in any moment. And know. That I poop.
2. Heights.
This includes a lot. I am very short indeed.
3. Getting home to find the dog has pooped on the stairs.
Again.
4. Coriander in my food when I asked for it without.
To eat it anyway? Pick it off? Ask the waiter to take it back?
5. My cat’s inevitable mortality.
6. Bees.
Yes, even bumblebees.
7. Bees dying.
WHY ARE WE ALL NOT FLIPPING TABLES OVER THIS?
8. That 70% of trans people have faced verbal violence when trying to use public bathrooms, and one out of ten have been physically attacked.
Yeah. That.
Mostly that.
Even bloggers have to pay the bills! Monthly subscriptions- no matter how small- help give me the security to devote time to this place and keep a roof over my head. If you like what you read, please do help out:
I can’t believe you forgot to mention constipation
Or, public bathroom related, noticing there’s no paper after you changed your menstruation sanitary device.
Actually, if there’s anything I’m afraid of, not matter how small, I am already more afraid of it than of trans women in public bathrooms.
Any sort of bowel related irregularities should definitely be on the list.
And yep. I’m more afraid of falling off this sofa and breaking my leg than I am about trans women in public bathrooms. And of the fact that I think we only have a half-carton of soymilk left and that means I might have to go get some later and who knows, it might rain.
I am only afraid of trans women being in public bathrooms, if they’re there when I’m in another cubicle and I need to poop. Because then I’m afraid of anyone being in the bathroom. Because I have a deathly fear of people knowing that I poop. From my bum. Regularly.
Well, I’m afraid of the soymilk, but that’s reasonable, I’m allergic.
Now I am ever so slightly afraid of seeing you IRL one day and accidentally giving you a soymilk-containing thing.
Don’t worry, if I ever make it back to Ireland I’ll simply be rolling in Irish milk, butter and cheddar. Sometimes I miss living there…
Just to be pedantic…
You are, perhaps, somewhat overstating the case re: bees dying. Colony collapse disorder is a serious issue, and a major threat especially to commercial bee hives, but it is unlikely to lead to *all* bees dying, and probably not even all honeybees.
As far as I’m aware, much of the problem is strongly suspected to be due to beehive management practices that are good for the beekeepers, but pretty bad for the actual bees. Things like moving colonies around long distances so they can pollinate different crops. Dealing with the problem properly may mean that agriculture takes a pretty serious hit, and it may mean that more farmers need to, eg, cultivate solitary local bees or the like instead of relying on imported hives of honeybees, and many of the results of all this will suck mightily, but it is unlikely to be an extinction-level event for bees, much less for humans. We’re tolerably clever, when you put our backs to the wall.
But I still agree that it’s more scary than unexpected trans people in the bathroom.
That is all Very Good to know. And next time I’m awake at 4am staring at the ceiling thinking about terrible things, I’ll remind myself of it 🙂
The pictures on this page did not properly make the transition to the new site, it looks like.