Saturday, April 16, 2016

To Pee or Not to Pee - Musings on Bathroom Use

How does a woman know the sex of a person who is with her in the Ladies Room?  Chances are overwhelming that a person who appears to be a woman is, in fact, a woman.  Might it be a man?  Why not?  Even before the recent spate of transgender issues, it could have been a man with all the outward appearances of a woman.  

On the other hand, would a woman using a Ladies Room feel uneasy if a person who has all the outward appearances of a man were to enter.  This could very well be a man - but also a woman dressed as and acting as a man.  Would this be more upsetting to a woman in the Ladies Room, than a person seemingly a woman who could, in fact, be a man?

The only way we men know the sex of the person standing next to us at the row of urinals in the Mens Room is the fact that he is, in fact,  standing there next to us, not sitting there next to us.  However, were everyone to "be seated" in separate stalls - whose to know who's who (or what)?

If genitalia remain unknown, if the chromosomes remain unknown, then you can never be absolutely certain of anyone's sex.  Weren't there situations where we have all had questions as to the sex of someone encountered in the passing scene?

Perhaps the answer is a "genitalia check" by a security person before entry into a sex-designated bathroom is permitted.

But isn't that even more intrusive?