In this second installment with Fiona, we debate a bit about what the rules should be for transgender kids or kids who begin identifying as another gender in high school, and request full use of shower/locker rooms. This is a real case that happened recently and the result was that even a separate changing area within the locker room for this person was deemed unfair.
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There definately was very little nudity in my locker rooms in high school. When we changed, everyone would hide behind lockers, hold up towels, or not change their underwear. There were a few girls who just stripped everything, but they were a small minority. We also had changing stalls, and a good portion of students would use those instead of changing in front of everyone else. Usually any girls on their period would opt for that, along with anyone who was just self conscious or felt uncomfortable. It was no big deal. We also never showered naked in our school. The only time we were required to shower was before and after using the pool, so we would just shower in swimsuits. Even when I was in after school sports, everyone would just leave sweaty and shower at home. It was the same in the boy’s locker room. It was also pretty common that gym teachers and other staff would need to come in the locker room while we were changing, opposite gender or not.
I was also involved in choir and acting, and during shows we would have makeshift changing rooms. The teachers would try to separate the sexes and keep us out of each other’s changing rooms, but inevitably someone would need to go get something in the other room. We were on a time limit, so we would just shield our eyes out of courtesy and go in. No big deal.
I had a couple transgender friends or acquaintances in high school. I’m pretty sure they were “supposed” to use the bathrooms and locker rooms for the sex they were born with. One of them was in a gym class with me, and he would just use a changing stall in our locker room, though I’m not sure how he felt about that arrangement. He was probably less likely to be bullied in our locker room then in the boy’s though. I also know there was a single stall bathroom near the guidance counselor that was considered unisex and could be used by anyone who didn’t feel comfortable in the larger bathrooms. This was over 10 years ago, so maybe there’s been progress since then.
Is showering at school an American thing? We never showered at school up here in Canada, I think some high schools did have showers but I don’t know of anyone ever using them and I was on many of the sports teams. As for trans people in bathrooms, if I could I would change building codes to mandate 50% unisex and 25% male/female. For the locker rooms I think the best bet would be non-mandatory privacy stalls in all locker rooms and then hope common courtesy takes it from there. If some person is just faking being trans I’m confident pre-existing rules about hassling people (same gender or not) would take care of it. If I a cis person were constantly staring at other men’s junk in the change room I like to think there’d be repercussions even though that’s “my correct” room to be in.