Matt Walsh: Trans women using a public bathroom “is an act of violence in and of itself.” Bullshit

When you define what your political enemy does as violence, then any violence you inflict on them can be redefined as “self-defense.” That’s why it’s more than a bit ominous to see Daily Wire host and professional transphobe Matt Walsh declaring that an innocent action that trans women do every day–going to the restroom–is “an act of violence in and of itself.”

In a recent Daily Wire video, Walsh opined that

it’s … no surprise when we hear about … acts of violence against women carried about by quote, unquote, trans people in bathrooms and locker rooms and so on, because how could it be a surprise?

Their very presence in that space is an act of violence in and of itself.  OK so, for a man to enter a private female space where females are vulnerable and exposed, that is an act of sexual harassment in and of itself. For a man to knowingly walk into a women’s bathroom, that’s sexual harassment–just to be there in the first place. You are an abuser simply by walking into the room. 

It doesn’t matter if the “man” in question is a trans woman because Walsh refuses to believe they exist.

I don’t care if they’re sincere or not. It’s like either it’s a man pretending to be confused about his gender, or he’s sincerely confused. Either way, doesn’t make a difference. … Trans as a category is imaginary, it’s a human invention. So, there’s no way to be really trans.

Having redefined trans women as men, Walsh returns to his central theme:

There is no question about whether men in the women’s room are a threat. Are they a threat? Yes. How do I know? Because they’re in the room. Because they’re there. Just like if somebody walks into your house in the middle of the night.

Now he’s redefined a public restroom as a private residence.

You know, you don’t need to wonder if they’re a threat. They’re in your house. …

By walking in the door, they’re already perpetrating a violent and intrusive act. Same for men who walk into the women’s room, the locker room. Just by walking in that door, that is an act of violence against the women that are in there. It is a threat. It is intimidation. This is all based around intimidation. 

Walsh is projecting: he’s the one trying to intimidate. His words seem designed to provoke real violence in spurious ‘self-defense” against trans women. As Media Matters journalist Ari Drennan points out on Twitter,

Tennessee, where Matt lives, is a “stand your ground” state. If somebody walks into your house in the middle of the night you are allowed to shoot them. And he’s saying that restrooms are the same.

This kind of rhetoric is dangerous, a real threat to the lives and safety of trans women. And it seems clear that Walsh means it to be just that.

Now, you may find yourself wondering: what evidence does Walsh have that trans women are a threat to cis women in restrooms and locker rooms? Trans women already use women’s restrooms and locker rooms regularly. Forget Walsh’s various pronouncements: is there evidence that trans women are harming cis women while using the bathroom?

Luckily, trans writer Julia Serano has looked into this subject in some detail. And the answer is “no.” In an extended essay on the topic, the author of Whipping Girl and other books on trans issues and sexuality more generally sorts through

the actual data that demonstrates that trans people do not pose a threat to anyone in public restrooms, nor are trans-inclusive restroom policies exploited by sexual predators.

Serano points to two peer-reviewed studies that found no evidence that having trans-inclusive bathrooms make cis women less safe. In a 2018 study for The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, psychiatrists Brian S. Barnett, Ariana E. Nesbit, and Renée M. Sorrentino found that

there is no current evidence that granting transgender individuals access to gender-corresponding restrooms results in an increase in sexual offenses.

After reviewing several spurious claims put forth by such groups as the Family Research Council, American Family Association, and Liberty Counsel–the only groups putting forth such claims at the time–the researchers found

that only a small number of cases actually involve perpetrators who were transgender, perpetrators who falsely claimed to be transgender, or perpetrators who attempted to disguise themselves as a member of the opposite sex to gain restroom access.

Indeed, as lead researcher Barnett explained in an Op-Ed for the Huffington Ost,

we found only one instance — one! — of a transgender perpetrator in an alleged sex crime in a changing room. Likewise we found just one case where a man (who, frankly, sounds like a provocateur) allegedly entered a women’s locker room without disguising his gender in any way and stated that a new local law expanding transgender bathroom access allowed him to be there.

As ThinkProgress pointed out in a piece on the study, this man was indeed “a provocateur, and the Washington State Human Rights Commission clarified immediately afterward that the law in no way protected his behavior.”

Serrano also cites a peer-reviewed case study looking at the state of Massachusetts, and published in Sexuality Research and Social Policy in 2019, which reported that

by using public records and statistical modeling, we found no evidence that privacy and safety in public restrooms change as a result of the passage of [gender identity inclusive public accommodations nondiscrimination ordinances].

In 2014, Media Matters surveyed more than a dozen experts and similarly found no evidence of harm.

In stark contrast, as Serano makes clear, there is considerable evidence of trans women being harassed and assaulted for using public restrooms. She cites several studies that back up this claim. One 2013 survey of “transgender and gender non-conforming people in Washington, DC” found that a startling

aeventy percent of survey respondents reported being denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms. These experiences impacted respondents’ education, employment, health, and participation in public life.

Meanwhile, a 2015 survey of nearly 30,000 transgender Americans found that

Nearly one-quarter (24%) of respondents said that someone had questioned or challenged their presence in a restroom in the past year.

Nearly one in ten (9%) respondents reported that someone denied them access to a restroom in the past year.

One in eight (12%) respondents were verbally harassed, physically attacked, or sexually assaulted when accessing or using a restroom in the past year.

Again, these are all figures for harassment or assault endured in the past year.

As a result of these experiences, nearly 60 percent of transgender Americans surveyed said they had restricted their use of public bathrooms — and roughly a third “limited the amount they ate or drank to avoid using the restroom in the past year.” Not surprisingly, quite a few (eight percent) reported that they had developed urinary tract infections or kidney problems as a result.

This is the real trans bathroom scandal. This is the actual human and physical cost that the transphobia promoted by Matt Walsh inflicts on trans people. This is why his rhetoric is so dangerous.

There is much more to Serano’s essay; I’d suggest everyone interested in trans issues should read the whole thing.

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