Anti-trans sentiment

[greyspoke]

Patriachy is a tough nut to crack, and the struggle against it raises all sorts of intersectional issues. So punch down with theoretical correctness instead.

But there has to be a practical line. The idea that I and my penis could pretend I identify as a woman and use that as a free pass to letch over all the women in a changing room is clearly at the very far end of cuntastication, and a terrible prospect for women who fear being subjected to that in somewhere they currently have as a safe space. And it doesn't really matter if it's an uncommon event, it's a breaking of trust in the facilities. So where's the line that has to be drawn that will preserve some trust? Post surgery?

It might be practical to have different lines for different purposes.

[Martin Y]

An illustrative event raised on another forum: teenage girls swimming team changing in a shared locker room were not at all comfortable to share that space with an obviously male-bodied adult. The girls did not know this person felt the need to use the women's changing rooms to validate her gender identity. Two of the girls complained about the man in the girls changing room and accusations of trans phobia flew.

No, I don't have a link. The details and even the veracity aren't really the point. The orthogonal battle lines are the problem.

[Fishnut]

I felt uncomfortable in changing rooms as a teenage girl just with other women around. Getting naked or even semi-naked in front of friends, family and strangers is awkward as f.ck. Why we can't just have cubicles is beyond me.

It's about whether I should be allowed to get away with claiming a false justfication to do that, and how to stop me doing so

Do you identify as male? If yes, you shouldn't be in the ladies. How do you get caught for false justification? Same way any other form of false justification gets caught. Police investigate and if they find you're lying then you get done. There's also a question of intent. If you're just there to use the space in the same way as everyone else then I don't really see what the big deal is. If you're there to perve then it doesn't matter what your gender identity is.

There is definitely a question of rights and what to do when they potentially conflict. But there are ways of solving these issues without throwing trans people to the curb or denying them their self-identity. There are very few places that require gender-specific areas. Even places like women's refuges - an oft-cited place where the presence of men is seem as harmful - ignores the fact that same sex relationships can be abusive too.

[greyspoke]

You say "ignored" Fishy, but it what if you considered everybodies interests in that situation? It may turn out that if you look at it from all angles and consider all interests, excluding peeps with willies from womens' refuges might still end up a reasonable solution to come to.

[murmur]

And other specific concerns about how there's a large rise in the numbers of young autistic women experiencing gender dysphoria and seeking transition.

Do we have much information on whether this is a new thing, or that we weren't looking/listening for it so much before?

I'm not sure how much reliable information there is about that (the Tavistock, as the national specialist centre, may have something - I'll have a rummage later when I get back from going out).

Anecdotally, I'd suggest that this might be linked to more females on the spectrum being seen by the likes of me than was the case and thus having more opportunity to talk about stuff. We did have a couple of Aspergery lads with GI issues, one of whom went to the Tavvy. Again anecdotally, 'cos I'm not aware of any proper research into this area, I wonder to what extent any gender dysphoria is part of a generalised autistic awareness of not fitting in, not being the same as others, not conforming to many social stereotypes'n'that. It would be interesting to pick that apart further to try to understand the processes and issues better.

A couple of abstracts from the NAS about possible links between autism and gender identity - NB the NAS page says "more research needed" as it ain't clear yet.

Couldn't find anything on the Tavvy or related sites...

[dyqik]

I felt uncomfortable in changing rooms as a teenage girl just with other women around. Getting naked or even semi-naked in front of friends, family and strangers is awkward as f.ck. Why we can't just have cubicles is beyond me.

It's about whether I should be allowed to get away with claiming a false justfication to do that, and how to stop me doing so

Do you identify as male? If yes, you shouldn't be in the ladies. How do you get caught for false justification? Same way any other form of false justification gets caught. Police investigate and if they find you're lying then you get done. There's also a question of intent. If you're just there to use the space in the same way as everyone else then I don't really see what the big deal is. If you're there to perve then it doesn't matter what your gender identity is.

Further to this; is it really that hard to distinguish someone letching from someone who's just getting changed? Particularly someone who is likely to have a degree of discomfort with their own body?

[lpm]

I have no doubt that some trans people are dickheads, they’re people after all.

The underlying problem is these dickheads are defended to the death by trans extremists.

So an a..eh.le who deliberately aims to wreck women's sport gets supported and any woman who tries to criticise the a..eh.le gets misogynistic abuse - where the TERF slur is mild compared to comments like "suck my trans dick and die". See the vitriol targeted at J K Rowling as an illustration.

The attack on the Canadian rape centre and on the lesbian movement in the UK shows the depth of hatred of women among a sizeable portion of the LGBT activist community.

[lpm]

It may turn out that if you look at it from all angles and consider all interests, excluding peeps with willies from womens' refuges might still end up a reasonable solution to come to.

Make that reasonable comment on Twitter under a female name and photo and you will be doxxed, your employer will be targeted to get you fired and you will probably get a ban from Twitter after coordinated complaints about your trans phobic comment.

[Fishnut]

I've been doing some research, which may end up being off the main topic of this thread but is, I hope, useful all the same.

An illustrative event raised on another forum: teenage girls swimming team changing in a shared locker room were not at all comfortable to share that space with an obviously male-bodied adult. The girls did not know this person felt the need to use the women's changing rooms to validate her gender identity. Two of the girls complained about the man in the girls changing room and accusations of trans phobia flew.

No, I don't have a link. The details and even the veracity aren't really the point. The orthogonal battle lines are the problem.

Starting here as it gives me an opportunity to share a fantastic paper by Dunne (2017) published in Social & Legal Studies (open access). It provides the UK legal context for trans access to gendered spaces. It's quite long and I'll probably be quoting extensively (eta: yep!).

It begins by describing the current legal status of gender-segregated spaces:

A person who chooses to enter gender-segregated communal spaces – even ones where that person may expose their body parts – implicitly accepts that he or she will be observed (but, perhaps not ogled) by the other occupants. Trans individuals in single-gender spaces do not ‘invade...privacy any more than anyone else who shares the public’ facility (Etta Keller, 1999: 370)...Instead of protecting a general right to privacy, gender-segregation ensures, more narrowly, that women and men can access services without being observed by the opposite gender (Daley, 2016)... Contrary to what certain commentators have argued, however, trans individuals in single-gender spaces do not violate ‘gendered’ privacy. Reducing trans persons to their birth-assigned gender – as is necessary if trans women are to be considered as male interlopers – is inconsistent with both the trans lived experience and the conceptualization of trans identities in human rights law (Chambers, 2007: 326)... As Wolf observes, forcing ‘the transgender person to use facilities based upon the gender...assigned at birth...[places] transgender men in women’s bathrooms and transgender women in men’s, in visible defiance of the gender-segregation norm’ (2012: 214). If courts and law makers desire to offer women and men privacy, that goal is not furthered by misgendering the trans community. [p542-543]

It goes on to explain that having an "atypical" body is not sufficient reason to exclude someone from a communal space. While the piece doesn't go to such crude examples, I will by asking, should we accommodate people who are uncomfortable sharing space with obviously disfigured people? We can see that as the bigotry it clearly is so why are we so willing to accept transphobia? The piece does, however, note that,

Debates over trans bodily diversity are often more hypothetical than real. Trans bodies are rarely, if ever, visible. Mottet observes a general reluctance among trans populations to expose their sex characteristics, even in designated space (2012: 418). Trans individuals are coerced into concealing their physical characteristics through an ‘inherent shame in having a body that is somehow different from the cisgender norm’(Levassuer, 2014: 946). It is doubtful that, even if trans persons did have free access to single-gender services and communal accommodations, cisgender persons would frequently (if ever) encounter unfamiliar bodies. [p543]

On the subject of spaces for vulnerable women,

A primary concern – expressed both during the drafting of the 2010 Act and during the Inquiry – is how including trans individuals in segregated services and communal accommodations might reduce the capacity to serve at-risk populations (WEC*, 2016:27–28). There is a fear that, if survivor facilities are open to persons who – while living and identifying as women – are perceived by a majority of service users as men, this would obstruct meaningful engagement with abuse victims (WEC, 2016: 27–28). It is not that service users are inherently prejudiced against trans persons, or even that they necessarily deny trans identities in a more general sense. Rather, the experience of male-perpetrated violence may create a heightened sense of discomfort in the presence of persons who are perceived – particularly because of physical characteristics – as sharing the male gender. In their evidence to the Inquiry, service providers warned that ‘(s)some...women may feel unable to access services provided by or offered jointly to all women including transwomen’ (WEC, 2016: 27–28). [p545]
* UK House of Commons Select Committee on Women and Equalities

This is possibly what greyspoke was getting at when he said,

You say "ignored" Fishy, but it what if you considered everybodies interests in that situation? It may turn out that if you look at it from all angles and consider all interests, excluding peeps with willies from womens' refuges might still end up a reasonable solution to come to.

I want to quote so much of the paper but I'm going to try and refrain, opting for summarising instead. But I highly recommend reading it as it's excellent. It says that while "it is perhaps understandable that abuse victims will nevertheless be sensitive to those who – whether voluntarily or involuntarily –have been masculinized by society"[p546] trans people experience higher rates of violence and sexual assault than cis people and that " Removing trans women from the relative shelter of women-only counselling or women-only shelters denies much-needed resources to a recognized high-risk group."[p546]. It is possible, even normal, to perform risk assessments before admitting people to refuges.

Stonewall (2018) commissioned a qualitative study into the experiences of organisations that run shelters and refuges for women in England and Scotland and found that trans women are being admitted without incident already, and have been for years. They note that BAME and lesbian/bisexual women were discriminated against in years gone by and they are trying to learn from those times to protect against making the same mistakes again. The Stonewall report explains that domestic violence does not discriminate by class, race or religion and refuges end up with women from all backgrounds which can lead to complicated dynamics that need careful management to protect all the women in their care. It also notes that where there are problems due to the presence of trans women it is usually that the trans woman is facing discrimination and abuse from cis women, not the other way round. The report is really interesting as it provides the voice of the people on the ground and makes a stark contrast to the un-evidenced comments that fly around social media and in the press.

Concerns about the potential threat posed to cis women by trans women are discussed in Dunne (2017) in pages 547-549. He notes that the threat from trans women is no greater than that posed by cis women and that trans people are at greater risk of abuse, harassment and assault when forced to use gendered spaces that conform to their gender identity as assigned at birth. With regards to the suggestion that "excluding peeps with willies from womens' refuges might still end up a reasonable solution to come to", Dunne writes,

Excluding trans women promotes the ‘sexist and heterosexist assumption that a [person] with a penis will inevitably attack and rape a female’ (Wenstrom, 2008:151). Irrespective of whether trans women are actually deviant or really men, it is argued that segregated spaces should bar trans females on the sole basis that individuals with male genitalia are dangerous (Wenstrom, 2008: 148). Cavanagh observes an ‘antiquated and heterosexist construction of masculinity...[whereby] “if a man sees a woman, just a glimpse, he cannot be controlled”’ (2010: 78). Like concerns relating to sexual deviancy, ‘penis as predator’ reasoning is both offensive and troublingly overbroad. It implicates each trans woman, who retains her penis, and all cisgender men. It not only encourages a damaging vision of male identities but also reduces women to passive, unwilling prey: Women are constructed, inherently, as ‘potential victims’ (Cavanagh, 2010: 78). The notion of the ‘unequivocally violent penis’ is unsubstantiated in wider criminology research, and has little impact on how gendered spaces actually operate in the United Kingdom. If the presence of any male genitalia automatically compromises the sexual safety of cisgender women, why are male staff permitted to work in prisons or women-only education institutions? Claims that all persons with a penis are dangerous does not support a legal rule which allows trans persons to be removed from single-gender spaces. [p548-549, my emphasis]

GeenDienst commented that,

It's about whether I should be allowed to get away with claiming a false justfication to do that, and how to stop me doing so.

Dunne also takes on this argument, saying,

It is both intellectually and practically unsatisfactory to exclude trans persons from single-gender facilities because other, non-trans individuals (over whom trans communities have no control) may engage in illegal conduct. General public sexism cannot undermine the capacity of women to work, and should not legitimize anti-woman practices as applied in the workplace. Similarly, general public homophobia is not evidence that gay and lesbian couples are unsuitable parents and should not restrict their right to adopt or access assisted reproduction. In the same way, public concern about cisgender predators – whether organic or encouraged by advocates – does not demonstrate a pressing need for laws which remove trans individuals from women-only or men-only facilities. On the contrary, it simply proves that, while trans persons pose no heightened threat, there is a subcategory of cisgender men who are willing to carry out improper acts. These individuals should be targeted for appropriate, properly directed sanction...Laws which exclude trans individuals do not significantly impede cisgender predators, and they should not be used as a means of absolving law makers from their obligation to create safe, secure services and accommodations. [p549-550]

He goes on to explain that the fear of cis men claiming to be trans to get access is not a fear that has been realised yet and are unlikely to.

There have been well-publicized incidents where cisgender persons – typically male identified – have, without claiming a trans identity, entered women’s facilities either to highlight the purportedly ‘ridiculous’ character of trans protections or to incorrectly assert that transinclusion effectively de-genders all public space (Ellis Nutt, 2015; Morrow, 2016). However, in terms of the specific threats envisaged by trans opponents – the man who actually asserts a female gender to stealthily commit a crime – there have been no reported cases (Maza and Brinkler, 2014). [p550-551]

Dunne ends by asking how we can include trans people in gendered services and determines that using genitalia as a guide is a very bad idea:

Using bodily characteristics as the metric for trans inclusion in segregated services and accommodations would, however, be both retrograde and highly inappropriate…. If entry into a restroom or locker room requires evidence of a penis, it is unclear how service providers should comply. Would all prospective users have to reveal their genitals? [p552-553]

Even using the Gender Recognition Act to legally change your gender isn't a solution as it requires a long - 2 years - and humiliating process to get the documentation.

There is also the question of what facility, during the mandatory 2-year period where a trans individual lives in their preferred gender but does not have formal recognition, a person should be entitled to use... [And that] While providing a ‘third option’, exclusive to trans persons, might release transwomen from the threat of abuse in men-only spaces, it would also serve to reinforce, and perhaps even strengthen, cultural perceptions of the trans community as ‘others’. [p553-554]

The Stonewall report ends by saying that the best thing that can be done for women who are recovering from domestic violence, cis or trans, is to increase funding for services. All are being starved and it makes it incredibly hard to provide the support required for all the women who need it. Violence against women is a massive and global problem. The majority of that violence is perpetrated by men on women but part of that is because heterosexual relationships dominate. There is evidence that homosexual relationships have as high, if not higher, rates of domestic abuse (Langenderfer-Magruder et al., 2016, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, open access). Part of the problem with determining rates, particularly for transgender people, is that trans people are rarely identified as such,

...victimisation statistics, such as those collected through the biennial Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly the British Crime Survey), employ binary conceptions of gender resulting in the specific lack of visibility of some trans or non-binary people. (Rogers, 2019, Sexualities, p806, open access)

When transgender people's experience of domestic violence is investigated, rates are shockingly high. LGBT Youth Scotland & The Equality Network (2010) commissioned a survey of Scottish trans and gender-non-conforming people's experiences. Participation was voluntary and therefore probably biased but they found that 80% of respondents had experienced domestic violence. While the figure is probably high, it demonstrates the prevalence of domestic violence experienced by trans people, particularly trans women (almost 50% of the respondents were trans women), and raises the question of where are these women supposed to go for help if not women's refuges and shelters?

[Boustrophedon]

This is not going to end well.

I don’t want it to go that way. I want a feminist who’s not sympathetic to trans people to tell me why they feel that way. FrozenWarnings or Le Canard Noir being two on twitter whose names may be familiar to people.

If you want to see what the Black Duck AKA Andy Lewis thinks go to his latest post on his Quackometer on FaceBook. htwatps://www.facebook.com/quackometer/posts/2880 ... nt_mention

[Grumble]

This is not going to end well.

I don’t want it to go that way. I want a feminist who’s not sympathetic to trans people to tell me why they feel that way. FrozenWarnings or Le Canard Noir being two on twitter whose names may be familiar to people.

If you want to see what the Black Duck AKA Andy Lewis thinks go to his latest post on his Quackometer on FaceBook. htwatps://www.facebook.com/quackometer/posts/2880 ... nt_mention

From the comments there was this Sci Am article which I thought interesting:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/vo ... ansphobia/

[Grumble]

I've been doing some research, which may end up being off the main topic of this thread but is, I hope, useful all the same.

Thank you fishnut, and I do realise that I linked to one article that you also linked to.

[Fishnut]

I've been doing some research, which may end up being off the main topic of this thread but is, I hope, useful all the same.

Thank you fishnut, and I do realise that I linked to one article that you also linked to.

Sorry if I was sharing stuff that's already been shared, but I can't see which article you're referring to.

[sheldrake]

Same way any other form of false justification gets caught. Police investigate and if they find you're lying then you get done.

As a practical matter, how do other forms of false self-justification get caught? What would the police use as evidence here? interview by psychologist? access to medical records ?

[Tessa K]

One thing I'd thought about for a while which is buried in that long article is the assumption that every trans woman was 'originally' a hetero man and is now attracted to women as a lesbian. This is very much not the case.

I've had problems in changing rooms on many occasions with people telling me 'this is the women's changing room' or other generally hostile comments. I'm not trans but I am very tall and people are stupid. In fact, I get misgendered quite a lot in many circumstances. Most people realise their mistake, some (but far from all) apologise. Obviously in a changing room if I get naked they can see their mistake (wide hips as well as no penis). So I do have some experience of what it's like for trans woman and it does undermine this perception of women as feeble victims who can't stand up to predatory men. Of course, many women are victims of men but Victim is not necessarily the default setting, especially when there is more than one woman. If I had a quid for every time I've been called Sir or Mate ....

Also, I've been to clubs and public parties where men and women share toilets and changing areas, both cis men and various flavours of trans (including men who occasionally like to dress up) and there is never any problem because there is a general understanding of tolerance and consent in my world (which is not the whole world, I know, but it shows it's workable)

There was an interesting point made in the article I linked to above about the experience of trans men in the US. One African American said that since he transitioned, he got a lot more grief from the police and suspicion from non-black people in general than he did as a black woman. I wonder if the reverse is true for trans women of colour.

[greyspoke]

Yes thanks Fishy and Grumble

[gosling]

I've had problems in changing rooms on many occasions with people telling me 'this is the women's changing room' or other generally hostile comments. I'm not trans but I am very tall and people are stupid. In fact, I get misgendered quite a lot in many circumstances. Most people realise their mistake, some (but far from all) apologise. Obviously in a changing room if I get naked they can see their mistake (wide hips as well as no penis). So I do have some experience of what it's like for trans woman and it does undermine this perception of women as feeble victims who can't stand up to predatory men. Of course, many women are victims of men but Victim is not necessarily the default setting, especially when there is more than one woman. If I had a quid for every time I've been called Sir or Mate ...

I get the same thing using ladies loos, but weirdly not in changing rooms. Also tall, have short hair and don't wear skirts. It's got to the point where I dread using public toilets. If it's like that for me, a cis lesbian, must be horrible for trans women. A recent trip to the Wellcome Collection was fantastic - unisex loos with a sink in each cubicle. Also seemed like a much better use of the space as you don't get a huge queue for the ladies, whilst the men's cubicles are empty.

[Tessa K]

I've had problems in changing rooms on many occasions with people telling me 'this is the women's changing room' or other generally hostile comments. I'm not trans but I am very tall and people are stupid. In fact, I get misgendered quite a lot in many circumstances. Most people realise their mistake, some (but far from all) apologise. Obviously in a changing room if I get naked they can see their mistake (wide hips as well as no penis). So I do have some experience of what it's like for trans woman and it does undermine this perception of women as feeble victims who can't stand up to predatory men. Of course, many women are victims of men but Victim is not necessarily the default setting, especially when there is more than one woman. If I had a quid for every time I've been called Sir or Mate ...

I get the same thing using ladies loos, but weirdly not in changing rooms. Also tall, have short hair and don't wear skirts. It's got to the point where I dread using public toilets. If it's like that for me, a cis lesbian, must be horrible for trans women. A recent trip to the Wellcome Collection was fantastic - unisex loos with a sink in each cubicle. Also seemed like a much better use of the space as you don't get a huge queue for the ladies, whilst the men's cubicles are empty.

I almost never wear trousers and yet still get it. Mostly I can ignore it but some days it's depressing and hard work especially if it has happened several times in a row. I agree about the Wellcome as long as the toilets are kept clean. The few times I've gone into the Men's because the Women's queue was too long in pubs and other places they were very stinky indeed and suspiciously sticky underfoot.

[science_fox]

One thought I had in a discussion somewhere (here? the other place? a pub?), which is valid solely regarding the sport issue, is that like the Paralympics, all sport should be divided into 5? categories ranked solely on testosterone (or pick a hormone mix that suits) level. So rather than Mens and womens, you have T1 (low testosterone) athletes, through to T5 (Above normal). Usual blood passport checks would prevent doping up/down a level. It's all a bit subjective like the para categories, but then it always is.

[Woodchopper]

I've had problems in changing rooms on many occasions with people telling me 'this is the women's changing room' or other generally hostile comments. I'm not trans but I am very tall and people are stupid. In fact, I get misgendered quite a lot in many circumstances. Most people realise their mistake, some (but far from all) apologise. Obviously in a changing room if I get naked they can see their mistake (wide hips as well as no penis). So I do have some experience of what it's like for trans woman and it does undermine this perception of women as feeble victims who can't stand up to predatory men. Of course, many women are victims of men but Victim is not necessarily the default setting, especially when there is more than one woman. If I had a quid for every time I've been called Sir or Mate ...

I get the same thing using ladies loos, but weirdly not in changing rooms. Also tall, have short hair and don't wear skirts. It's got to the point where I dread using public toilets. If it's like that for me, a cis lesbian, must be horrible for trans women. A recent trip to the Wellcome Collection was fantastic - unisex loos with a sink in each cubicle. Also seemed like a much better use of the space as you don't get a huge queue for the ladies, whilst the men's cubicles are empty.

Its a difficult trade off though. I know (straight cis) women who really don't like using that kind of toilet because they feel vulnerable disrobing in close proximity to (cis straight) men. Given that a small minority of the latter are involved in predatory or antisocial behaviour directed at women its not an unfounded fear. Something which makes life easier for one part of the population may make it more difficult for another.

[Woodchopper]

One thought I had in a discussion somewhere (here? the other place? a pub?), which is valid solely regarding the sport issue, is that like the Paralympics, all sport should be divided into 5? categories ranked solely on testosterone (or pick a hormone mix that suits) level. So rather than Mens and womens, you have T1 (low testosterone) athletes, through to T5 (Above normal). Usual blood passport checks would prevent doping up/down a level. It's all a bit subjective like the para categories, but then it always is.

Another example with multiple classes based upon physique would be boxing. But boxing shows what might be a problem. Attention and money are focused upon the middleweight and heavyweight categories while flyweights and bantamweights get much less. In the above system it would be a problem if the T5s got the great majority of attention, and T1s got very little, if the T5s all had XY chromosomes and T1s all had XX chromosomes. (Yes the latter already get less at the moment, but the suggested system might make it worse).

[Cardinal Fang]

Interestingly enough the Indy100 has a pertinent Twitter thread summary on the subject of Trans people in sport, that's worth a read. https://www.indy100.com/article/trans-a ... ll-8808621

CF

[Grumble]

I've been doing some research, which may end up being off the main topic of this thread but is, I hope, useful all the same.

Thank you fishnut, and I do realise that I linked to one article that you also linked to.

Sorry if I was sharing stuff that's already been shared, but I can't see which article you're referring to.

Apologies, think something confused me when I wrote that. Looked like the link I had just posted was also one of your links. Never mind!

[Boustrophedon]

This is not going to end well.

I don’t want it to go that way. I want a feminist who’s not sympathetic to trans people to tell me why they feel that way. FrozenWarnings or Le Canard Noir being two on twitter whose names may be familiar to people.

If you want to see what the Black Duck AKA Andy Lewis thinks go to his latest post on his Quackometer on FaceBook. htwatps://www.facebook.com/quackometer/posts/2880 ... nt_mention

Well that serves me right. Got shouted at by both sides, there's a moral there somewhere.

Incidentally though I twatted the link it still clicks straight through.

[Squeak]

I've always been puzzled me about the argument that allowing trans women into women's toilets would endanger women by letting sexual predators simply dress up as women and walk in.

If access to toilets (or other gendered spaces) is to be determined by your birth certificate/visible genitalia/chromosome count/whatever biological marker you choose, the end result is that you have people who look very masculine being forced into women's toilets and vice versa. Surely, that makes it easier for those hypothetical predators because they no longer even need to dress up. They can just stroll into the toilets, beards, muscles, and all, and claim to be transmen who are forced to use the ladies'. Who is going to check their birth certificates/genitalia?

Forcing people's bathroom use to match their birth certificate would put trans folk at risk of abuse/assault because they look out of place. And it would, if anything, provide even more cover for the hypothetical predators.

In a practical sense, I suspect that mostly what these bathroom arguments do is force trans people to stay home by making it stressful/dangerous for them to use public toilets.