Commentary

Segregated bathrooms will increase violence against women

Segregated bathrooms will increase violence against women
Out of 100 rapes, 32 women will report the attack. Of those 32 who report, only 2% of their rapists will ever see the inside of a prison cell. The average conviction rate for rape in the United States is the lowest of any violent felonies and carries the shortest prison time.

Rape is not sex; it’s a violent crime. It’s assault with a weapon. It’s a crime of rage and control over the victim and the weapon wielded by 84% of rapists is their own body.

I support laws intended to protect women and children from being raped or assaulted. States should cover the cost of collecting forensic evidence (rape kits) and they should have to process the kits in a reasonable amount of time. We should eliminate statutes of limitations on sexual assault entirely; the average time it takes to report a rape for victims under 18 is 6 years.

States can encourage more victims to come forward by offering more services and by putting rapists on trial, not their victims. Law enforcement should have to investigate all rape accusations. Broaden the definition of rape, and include drugs as a weapon in aggravated rape cases. Teach kids what consent means.

There are many ways states can lower rape statistics, but there is no evidence to substantiate the claims that rape rates lower with segregated restrooms.

Those pushing anti-transgender bathroom laws say the stated intention is to protect women and children. What about about transgender women and disabled children? Women are supposed to believe states are finally taking rape seriously and we’re being protected from harm since our streets won’t be crawling with sex offenders if these laws are passed.

We’re supposed to buy that this isn’t another battlefront in the war on women.

In a room of 100 American women, 20 women will be victims of rape or sexual assault. With 100 men, 3 will be attacked. For men, those numbers are likely much higher; it’s speculated that men report rapes far less than women.

In our imaginary room of 100 American women, we’d have to add 50 more women, to get a single rape conviction statistically. Out of 150 women, 30 will be raped, and out of those 30 attacks, there will be only a single conviction.

Now fill the room with 100 transgender people. Using metrics from a study of trans individuals by the Williams Institute, 50 of our transgender friends in that room will be victims of sexual assault. If we narrow it down to only trans women, 66 of the 100 will be raped.

  • 46 trans men out of 100 will attempt suicide. 52 trans women will.
  • Only 49 of 100 trans folk will have a high school diploma and 54 of them will be subsisting on an income of $10,000 per year or lower.
  • Between 55-65 of them will be disabled.
  • 67 will be ostracized by their own families.
  • 50-54 of them will be harassed or bullied at school.
  • 50-59 of them experience discrimination or harassment at work.
  • 60 transgender people out of 100 will be denied medical treatment by a doctor or healthcare provider.
  • 65 of them will be sexually assaulted, and 78 are victims of all forms of violence.
  • 60-70 of them will be harassed, or suffer some form of physical or sexual violence by a law enforcement officer.
  • 69 of them will experience homelessness.

The underlying cause of every one of these statistics is prejudice.

Given the dire statistics of the lives a large majority of transgender people already lead, perhaps North Carolina and all the other cities and states should be passing laws to protect them and expand their rights – not laws which only ratchet up hatred against them.

Hate crimes don’t just materialize out of thin air. The impetus for them is always prejudice. When we’re accusing transgender people of being sexual predators out to harm our wives and children – a claim not substantiated by statistics or even anecdotal evidence – we’re perpetuating fear and hatred which increases their risk of being the victims of a violent crime.

The Human Rights Campaign reports that incidences of violence against transgender people are increasing. In 2015, the numbers reached their highest level since HRC began tracking these statistics. Is it any wonder that as cities and states have ramped up the prejudice against trans people, the rate of violence and rape has increased against them?

Is there a correlation between the hyperbole about transgender people being propagated now and the rate of assault and murders increasing exponentially? Will denying the personhood of so many individuals increase overall violence? 

The rape, assault, and murder rates of trans people remain atrociously high, yet there’s no evidence that rape and assault against cisgender women or children has decreased.

Republicans are giving women and children a false sense of security, claiming that these laws will keep us safer. They won’t. We’ll all be less safe.

Rape is not sex; it’s a crime of control and rage. Ramp up the rage, increase the rape statistics. It’s not rocket science.

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