What might be interesting, but I've not yet seen someone attempt to examine, is the fact that the "bathroom" controversy is so volatile because it pits two victim groups against themselves.
On the "conservative" side, you have "traditional" females, many of whom have grown up with the notion that they deserve a safe space from "men". On the "progressive" side, you have trans- and other gender cross-identification people -- who also, ironically, want a safe space from "men".
The problem is that the conservative side has grown up with ideas like "harassment is in the eyes of the harassed" -- that is, if you feel uncomfortable, that's not your fault and others should behave differently in order to avoid your feeling uncomfortable. And now their safe space is being used by people who have the biomechanical accessories which would visually identify them as "men".
I'm not trying to judge either party here, nor do I have any solutions. I think both groups have a perfectly understandable and reasonable desire to have safe spaces (note -- I do not think this automatically translates into a societal obligation to make all spaces safe, but that's a different issue). I just think it is interesting that there is this conflict between the two victim groups.
