On women’s spaces.

May 13, 2023

Ava and I decided to stay in a traditional Japanese inn called a ryokan last night. Ryokan typically feature onsen, which are public baths fed by natural hot springs. You are required to be nude to use them, and they typically feature open air showers, which are the only showers available at the inn.

In Japan, to be legally recognized as transgender, you are required to undergo bottom surgery, known medically as gender reassignment surgery (GRS). In addition to this, you are required to be forcibly sterilized to change legal documentation, preventing you from having biological children (if you weren’t aware, transgender men are able to carry and give birth to children, hence why it is so important to include them in the fight for access to abortion and bodily autonomy more widely) — this a eugenics policy enshrined in law.

As two trans people with non-cisnormative bodies, experiencing an onsen is obviously an incredibly challenging endeavour. We specifically chose this ryokan because they advertised as having a bookable private bath, and they were recognized by an organization that recommends queer and trans-friendly establishments to travellers.

Unfortunately, when we arrived the private bath had been booked for the evening, meaning that we were either forced to use gender segregated facilities or forgo experiencing this part of Japanese culture. I chose the former, intending to cover myself as best as I could, rush in and out as quickly as possible, and do my best to hide my body from the other guests.

I was already incredibly anxious, and much to my dismay, there was a Japanese family in the bath with a young girl. I immediately felt like I did not belong, and that somehow my very presence made me an invader of private space and a threat to their safety, especially because of the child. I considered leaving immediately, but instead I decided to take a deep breath and use the bath, keeping to myself and doing everything I could to calm my rapid heartbeat.

As a woman, I have every right to use that facility just like the family I shared it with.

Luckily I encountered no problems this time, and because I took steps to hide parts of my transgender body that other me, I do not believe anyone clocked me. However, many other people do not experience the same luck. I have had friends harassed, accosted, and physically assaulted in bathrooms and locker rooms before, and although I have never personally experienced this, the constant rhetoric painting trans women as nefarious serial rapists or violent men in dresses has crept into my subconscious.

This week, Florida signed a law that bans transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, charging them as felony sex offenders if they are reported. Combined with this, Florida recently changed their laws around the death penalty, removing the requirement for a unanimous jury decision and explicitly including sex crimes as punishable by death. The ultimate conclusion here should be obvious.

The reality of the situation is that transgender people are more afraid of you in public spaces than you should be of us. The non-stop dehumanization of us and the necessary hyper-vigilance to stay safe takes an enormous mental toll, and these policies are designed specifically to remove us from public life at best, and eliminate our existence entirely at worst.

The rest of my experience at the ryokan was incredibly beautiful, but we desperately need your help. Transgender people just want to survive and live free of the constant fear of humiliation and violence. That should not be too much to ask.