When using the women’s bathrooms in a major shopping precinct two young teenage males were in there “doing their makeup”. They were posing and pouting in the mirror and clearly attention-seeking. The bathrooms were full and there was a line of women waiting that snaked out the door - elderly ladies, young girls, mums and their young children. I’m pregnant and I recall feeling uncomfortable with their presence and not to mention a little intimidated at their cockiness. If I hadn’t been pregnant maybe I would’ve asked them to get out - but maybe not - they seemed like they might turn hostile. But why did they need to use the women’s? They were clearly males, why is their “gender identity” being placed above the rights of girls and women to a sex-segregated space away from male bodies? I felt particularly bad for the elderly ladies being confronted with these teenage boys in a space where they might feel vulnerable or uncomfortable.

#australia #bathrooms #womensbathrooms #singlesexspaces