Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills Have Nothing to Do With Privacy and Everything To Do With Fear and Hatred
by James D. Esseks
If social conservatives in Tennessee get their way, the state will soon become the second in the nation to use the coercive power of the government to force people into bathrooms that violate their very sense of self or risk punishment. Legislation targeting trans students pending in both houses in the state’s legislature would require public school and university students to use a bathroom or locker room that matches the sex recorded on their birth certificate. Limited-government it’s not.
Commentary
The transgender bathroom debate and the resulting laws that are being passed in some states are a direct reflection of the ignorance and misconceptions that our supposed modern society is using to legally discriminate against an already marginalized population. The laws dictate that people need to use the restroom that matches their assigned gender, regardless of which gender the person identifies as. It is now a crime in certain states for a transgender woman or man to go into the restroom that does not match their noted gender on their birth certificate. The ludicrousness of these laws is very evident to the majority of us who see this is a blatant violation of someone's civil rights; regardless of how we feel, though, the laws are in place. The powers that be--the ones who pushed for and then enacted these ridiculous laws--used ignorance and blatant misconceptions about gender, sexuality, and pedophilia, to make sure their agenda would be observed and upheld.
The first step is to label the activity as "criminal," which is what has happened recently. And it isn't just declaring the activity as criminal, but trying to label the activity as a direct affront to a good and moral society because when a transgender person uses the wrong restroom, he or she is violating the "right of the superior man" (Discipline & Punish 42). These "criminals" are a threat to all of us, to the very moral fiber of our society, so we should want to weed them out and hold them accountable for their behavior. And what is that behavior, in legal terms? Going into the “wrong” restroom. All of this because they just need to use the public facilities, something we do on a regular basis without giving any real thought to the politics of it, because there shouldn't be any politics involved. Yet, here we are...
The real issue is that these laws are a form of social control related to the social body. In order to create a moral society, we must have moral women and men. Immoral behavior by immoral men and women needs to be noted and punished, not just as a means to set an example to all of those other immoral souls, but in an effort to "fix" the immoral. The way to ensure the physical and moral safety of our society is through “controlling and correcting the operations of the body” (D&P 136). We’ve created these hierarchies in our society, a “taxonomy” of sorts, which allows us to judge, classify, and rank our citizens (D&P 148). It becomes a “binary division and branding…abnormal/abnormal” (D&P 199). And once we’ve made that determination, then we can formulate laws to enforce conformity. These laws are a form of discipline carried out by our government, which “brings into play its power, which is one of analysis” (D&P 197).
The legally powerful display “a tendency towards a more finely tuned justice, towards a closer penal mapping of the social body” (D&P 78) in order to form “obedient individuals” (D&P 129). These select politicians believe that they have the right to enforce “punitive intervention” (D&P 128) for what they consider criminal behavior, based on the fact that transgender individuals violate social codes. By drawing attention to the bathroom issue, lawmakers can deflect attention from the real issue here: the goal isn’t simply to stop a transgender woman from going into the women’s restroom or a transgender male from entering the men’s restroom but to engage in “recoding” (D&P 112) of these individuals, to shame them and put fear into them to the point that they will choose, instead, to conform to standard gender rules. When Foucault says that “all the mechanisms of power…even today, are disposed around the abnormal individual, to brand him and to alter him” (D&P 199), that still applies to 21st century society.
The ones pushing to pass these laws and keep them on the books talk as if they are keeping us all safe, that they are trying to “raise the level of public morality” (D&P 237), but these laws are not representative of what these states’ citizens need or want. The reality is that “it would be hypocritical or naïve to believe that the law was made for all in the name of all; that it would be more prudent to recognize that it was made for the few and that it was brought to bear upon others; that in principle it applies to all citizens” (D&P 276). Hopefully social justice will prevail and these laws will be taken off the books. It won’t change the fact that there are people out there—some in positions of power—who believe it’s perfectly okay to discriminate against transgender people, to make them fearful of living authentic lives.
They do not need this so-called discipline; they are not deserving of being punished for simply being who they are. We don’t need protection from them. They need protection from all who would seek to harm them and take away their rights.
The first step is to label the activity as "criminal," which is what has happened recently. And it isn't just declaring the activity as criminal, but trying to label the activity as a direct affront to a good and moral society because when a transgender person uses the wrong restroom, he or she is violating the "right of the superior man" (Discipline & Punish 42). These "criminals" are a threat to all of us, to the very moral fiber of our society, so we should want to weed them out and hold them accountable for their behavior. And what is that behavior, in legal terms? Going into the “wrong” restroom. All of this because they just need to use the public facilities, something we do on a regular basis without giving any real thought to the politics of it, because there shouldn't be any politics involved. Yet, here we are...
The real issue is that these laws are a form of social control related to the social body. In order to create a moral society, we must have moral women and men. Immoral behavior by immoral men and women needs to be noted and punished, not just as a means to set an example to all of those other immoral souls, but in an effort to "fix" the immoral. The way to ensure the physical and moral safety of our society is through “controlling and correcting the operations of the body” (D&P 136). We’ve created these hierarchies in our society, a “taxonomy” of sorts, which allows us to judge, classify, and rank our citizens (D&P 148). It becomes a “binary division and branding…abnormal/abnormal” (D&P 199). And once we’ve made that determination, then we can formulate laws to enforce conformity. These laws are a form of discipline carried out by our government, which “brings into play its power, which is one of analysis” (D&P 197).
The legally powerful display “a tendency towards a more finely tuned justice, towards a closer penal mapping of the social body” (D&P 78) in order to form “obedient individuals” (D&P 129). These select politicians believe that they have the right to enforce “punitive intervention” (D&P 128) for what they consider criminal behavior, based on the fact that transgender individuals violate social codes. By drawing attention to the bathroom issue, lawmakers can deflect attention from the real issue here: the goal isn’t simply to stop a transgender woman from going into the women’s restroom or a transgender male from entering the men’s restroom but to engage in “recoding” (D&P 112) of these individuals, to shame them and put fear into them to the point that they will choose, instead, to conform to standard gender rules. When Foucault says that “all the mechanisms of power…even today, are disposed around the abnormal individual, to brand him and to alter him” (D&P 199), that still applies to 21st century society.
The ones pushing to pass these laws and keep them on the books talk as if they are keeping us all safe, that they are trying to “raise the level of public morality” (D&P 237), but these laws are not representative of what these states’ citizens need or want. The reality is that “it would be hypocritical or naïve to believe that the law was made for all in the name of all; that it would be more prudent to recognize that it was made for the few and that it was brought to bear upon others; that in principle it applies to all citizens” (D&P 276). Hopefully social justice will prevail and these laws will be taken off the books. It won’t change the fact that there are people out there—some in positions of power—who believe it’s perfectly okay to discriminate against transgender people, to make them fearful of living authentic lives.
They do not need this so-called discipline; they are not deserving of being punished for simply being who they are. We don’t need protection from them. They need protection from all who would seek to harm them and take away their rights.
Additional Links
Bathroom Bills Target a Non-issue: Our view
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/05/02/transgender-bathroom-laws-target-boycott-editorials-debates/32595193/
Everything You Need to Know About the Debate Over Transgender People and Bathrooms
http://time.com/3974186/transgender-bathroom-debate/
Welcome to the Home of the Toughest 'Bathroom Bill' in America
(I'm including this article even though it is written and published by those in favor of the bills. I feel it is important for us to educate ourselves on the mindset of those who are in favor of legal and social discrimination.)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2016/0501/Welcome-to-the-home-of-the-toughest-bathroom-bill-in-America
Think 'Bathroom Bills' and Other Anti-LGBT Legislation Don't Impact You? Think Again
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-bathroom-bill-hb1523--20160429-snap-story.html
Seven Other States Are Considering Restricting Bathrooms For Transgender People
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/with-north-carolina-seven-other-states-are-considering-restricting-bathrooms-for-transgender-people/
North Carolina Republicans Vow To Defy Feds On Bathroom Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-bathroom-law-deadline_us_572c5f64e4b096e9f090ecd6?ir=Queer+Voices§ion=us_queer-voices&utm_hp_ref=queer-voices&
Breaking: GOP House Speaker Says North Carolina Has No Intention of Meeting DOJ's HB2 Deadline
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/breaking_gop_house_speaker_says_north_carolina_has_no_intention_of_meeting_doj_s_hb2_deadline
Lawsuit Claims A Transgender Girl Is Ruining Her Classmates’ Lives By Peeing
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/05/06/3775767/illinois-transgender-student-lawsuit/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathroom_bill