Ladies, gents and other

[Liar]

Offered without any real opinion. Just found it interresting how we in the west usually pride ourselves on our superior gender tolerance.


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Thai school introduces toilets for transvestite students

A school in north-east Thailand has introduced toilets for transvestites after a survey showed that more than 200 students saw themselves as transgender, a director said today.

Sitisak Sumontha said he believed the 2,600-student Kampang school, in north-eatern Thailand, was the first secondary to introduce unisex toilets.

"These students want to be able to go to the restroom in peace without fear of being watched, laughed at or groped," he added.

The toilets are designated by a sign depicting a human figure split in half - part man in blue and part woman in red.

[more]

 

[SemiColon]

Wow. That is cool

 

[keeblercrumb]

Let me recommend to you two outstanding novels on modern Thai culture...

John Burdett's Bankok 8 and Bankok Tatoo....

"Way cool" as they say...

-KC

 

[sophia jane]

I'm actually not sure how I feel about this.

From what I know of the transgendered, what they want is to be able to pass without ridicule, so having a separate place for them seems sort of counterproductive, doesn't it?
Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[3113]

I'm actually not sure how I feel about this.

From what I know of the transgendered, what they want is to be able to pass without ridicule, so having a separate place for them seems sort of counterproductive, doesn't it?
Maybe I'm wrong.

This is what the transgendered want, but it's not something that other people will automatically do, at least not yet. People need to *learn* how to take the transgendered for granted, rather than being curious, intrusive or freaked out about them.

Which is why this isn't so bad an idea given the setting and situation. School bathrooms are a place where there can be confrontations and problems and that's if you're the right gender, let alone the wrong gender for the bathroom in question--a guy in a girl's bathroom being complained about or a girl in a guy's bathroom being hassled.

I think this is a reasonable way to give the transgendered a safe place, while both they and other students learn how to accept them and take them as a given, rather than bother them. Besides, a school is a place for students to learn. That's the priority. And if this helps transgendered kids from being scared of going to the bathroom, and doing poorly in school than the school has achieved it's goal.