Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time I watched a TED talk for homework and TED talks are basically Netflix, so once upon a time I enjoyed my homework!


I chose to watch a TED talk titled, "Why we need gender-neutral bathrooms" by Ivan Coyote. This can be found here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/ivan_coyote_why_we_need_gender_neutral_bathrooms#t-695716.
The main purpose of this TED talk is to explain why gender-neutral bathrooms are necessary in public places. Ivan hit on a variety of problems dealing with gender-neutral bathrooms but tended to focus on changing rooms and gyms. He stated that gender orientation should be no reason for someone to miss out on expertise to keep their bodies healthy. Ivan recalled experiences where he has been taunted for attempting to use both women's and men's restrooms. He brings up laws like HB2 that legally control which bathroom can be used by certain people and the issues that come along with policing those laws. Trans issues have been more popular in mainstream media, which is good, but Ivan explains how it is usually rich celebrities who usually do not actually have to worry about where they pee. Trans-children are also included in the argument and a story is told about a preschooler who does not know which bathroom to use because she is bullied.

This video is filled with pathos. Ivan uses the story of a little girl, who associates as a tomboy, to tug at the heart strings of the audience. The child is forced by the teacher of her preschool to use the girl's bathroom, but the other children ridicule her and say that she cannot go in the girl's because of the boyish boots she wears, and because she only plays with trucks. Children are innocent and do not know better than to bully the "odd" girl in the class but as empathetic humans we feel for the young child. The audience is shocked that this type of incident could occur in a preschool and thus feels bad for the young child. This use of pathos is helpful because it drives the audience to take a stand when it comes to gender-neutral bathrooms because they do not want to see anymore young, innocent children being bullied.
Ivan also appeals to the emotions by including comedy in the talk. When listing times he experienced discrimination because of gender, he refers to a time when a "little old lady" smacked him in the face with her purse and he was left with a black eye. He says, "I am pretty certain [her purse] contained at least 70 dollars of rolled up small change and a large hard candy collection." The idea of watching a little old lady, who are usually described as "sweet", beat on another grown up is comical. This is helpful when storytelling because it creates a lighter mood, keeping the audiences attention. 
Ivan builds his credibility early on in the talk when addressing himself as a transperson. This shows he has expertise in the area and is speaking from experience. This is beneficial because people are more likely to believe what is said because the source is reliable. 

I decided to chose this TED talk because it is something very foreign to me. I did an FOA in English last year on House Bill 2, but this is the extent of my knowledge on gender-neutral bathrooms issues. This topic is challenging for me to understand because I do not fit into this category and will never truly understand what it is like to be unsure of which bathroom you should use. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the talk was being given by a member of the trans-community because I immediately knew their perspective would shine through. I am interested in learning more on this topic and to see what the future of gender-neutral bathrooms is. This relates to what we have learned in English, especially the science vs. religion theme in Jekyll and Hyde. In the Victorian Era, the industrial revolution was occurring and science was becoming more prevalent. This left people confused as to what to believe in. In the book, doctors and scientists tried to make discoveries to explain things in their world and things they did not understand. In modern society, people fear trans-gender people because it is the unknown for most people.