
A North Carolina high schooler was confused and scared. Upon entering the girls’ bathroom at her local high school, she encountered a boy. She went into the stall, locked the door and waited. The boy stood outside her stall for two minutes before leaving. Later when she left the bathroom, he was waiting for her there too. Experiences like this continued throughout her junior and senior year at a public high school in Wilmington in New Hanover County.
When she told her teacher, she was told, “Unfortunately, that’s how it is.” She then sought help from the principal, but no action was taken. The student felt vulnerable in her own school over a period of two years, but the adults in charge were either unwilling or unable to help her. Interestingly, to her knowledge, the male student she encountered in the bathroom did not claim a transgender identity. But he was allowed to do what he was doing.
Sadly, this story is not unique. In recent years, many female spaces have been accessed by males due to policies influenced by gender ideology. During my own college search, while touring the dorms at Appalachian State University, the tour guide said, “These are the dorms for those who identify as female” — meaning that at this public state university, biological men are allowed to live in female dorm rooms with female roommates.
Today’s youth — my generation — have grown up in a culture that is saturated by gender ideology. One in four Gen Z Americans now identify as LGBTQ — more than any generation before. These ideas, widely shared on social media, have come to shape how many young people think. To be transgender, activists say, is to “live your truth,” and many teens believe that gender is defined by feelings. Young women these days simply accept the fact that young men are entering their private spaces because they believe that opposing it is hateful to the LGBTQ community.
But the reality is that males and females are inherently different. Sex is not a matter of feelings but a biological fact. Equating sex to self-perception disregards objective reality and erases the differences between men and women. And when these facts get confused, harm occurs. Allowing males to identify as female robs women and girls of privacy, safety and well-being. And it opens women up to sexual assault, abuse and harassment.
To address this issue, steps have been taken at both the federal and state level. Early in his presidency, President Donald Trump issued executive orders defining sex by biology and banning biological males from participating in female sports. Eight states do not allow for sex to be changed on birth certificates. At least eight states define male and female by biology. Fourteen states have passed laws to segregate at least some private spaces for women.
In North Carolina, The Women’s Safety and Protection Act — Senate Bill 516 and House Bill 791 — was filed earlier this year. The legislation defines “male” and “female” by biology rather than by identity in the law and designates private spaces by biology in K-12 public schools, public institutions of higher education, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and correctional facilities. And it requires the sex on birth certificates and driver’s licenses to reflect biological sex.
In a time of cultural confusion surrounding gender, it is critical to take action on legislation like the Women’s Safety and Protection Act. Women deserve to be respected, and that starts with acknowledging that to be a woman is to belong to a distinct, biological category. And we must also protect women and girls in private spaces.
Charlotte Russell is a student at the Helms School of Government at Liberty University from Charlotte.