Men more concerned about trans women using bathrooms, study finds
A new study has revealed men are more concerned than women about trans women using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
The report states that men’s concerns seem to be linked to a historic view of being a female protector and that trans people are “lying” about their gender identity.
Rebecca Stones, the author of the findings, analysed over 1,000 comments posted by readers on online news articles relating to trans women using female bathrooms.
Her research found that men were 1.5 times more likely than women to have concerns on the issue.
Even when women did express their views, they tended to be more restrained in transphobic language and over 70 percent of comments were not negative towards trans women.
It was recently revealed that the majority of trans Americans now avoid public bathrooms due to fear of confrontation.
The largest negative view by women was that men would pose as trans women in order to enter women’s bathrooms – something not directly linked to trans women.
Men, on the other hand, believed trans women were the main problem.
Writing in the Gender Issues Journal, Dr Stones points out that her study does have a number of limitations, such as people who post comments online tend to have an interest in the subject and therefore might have more polarising views.
However, she does state that it’s clear the issue tends to be more concerning to men than it is to women.
Research earlier this year found most women don’t actually support laws which ban trans people from women’s bathrooms.
A number of states have actively pursued legislation to force trans women to use the bathroom that corresponds with their assigned gender – including North Carolina who recently failed to repeal HB2.
