Asklemmy

Ada covered this well - generally trans people are afraid to use changing rooms and communal spaces like that, being trans is very stigmatized. There are a lot of trans people that don't even use gender-segregated public restrooms at all because of this.

So I haven't really heard of or considered a case where a trans person was flaunting their trans / gender non-conforming body in a communal, gender-segregated space. I suspect it's a fairly rare issue, esp. since trans people make up 0.5 - 1% of the population.

You have to also wonder what it's like for intersex individuals who were born with ambiguous genitals or who otherwise have bodies that don't fit into either male or female categorization, how should we handle communal showers and changing rooms for intersex folks?

But in practicality, people with bodies that aren't "normal" tend to try to hide their bodies and are less likely to use communal spaces where nakedness exists. Even before I transitioned, when I was merely a child, and I had to change clothes for gym class, I basically couldn't do it in the male locker room. I had no idea why I was so extremely uncomfortable with it, but I just couldn't. So I had my grades docked in gym class because I gave up trying to change before class - I would just wear my normal clothes, and the teachers would penalize me for it. I was a good kid, and I never broke rules - this was one major exception, and it bothered me.

When I started social transition, I did start using women's restrooms in public, but I was never bothered by anyone or accosted, and I was usually accompanied by supportive cis women.

I've never been in a changing room or naked in front of others, though, and I wouldn't have considered it. I also wouldn't use gender segregated restrooms anywhere that I might run into people I knew. I only did it when I could remain anonymous and just slip in and out, and usually only because I didn't have an alternative.

Now that I have had bottom surgery, I would be more open to using a changing room, but I would still be mortified that people would notice anyway.

I wouldn't have even gone swimming around others pre-op, but now changing rooms and spas seem like possibilities for me. That's part of why gender affirming care and access to surgeries is so important - it is part of how trans people are able to integrate into such a cis-normative society, it's a way for us to fulfill the social expectations put on us, for our bodies to become more "normal".

I've always found it strange that conservatives wish primarily to withhold that kind of care, since gender affirming care was originally developed around what made cis people comfortable - it used to only be offered to trans people who were likely to pass, who were straight, and who were willing to move to a new city and live a new life with a fabricated past. This erasure of transness is exactly what you would think conservatives would be on-board with ...

It's a non issue. Broadly speaking, trans people are far more afraid of rejection and violence from cis people than cis people are of seeing unexpected bits. Which is to say, this idea that trans people are just wandering around bathrooms flashing their bits at people is nothing but a narrative designed to stir up fear and anger aimed at trans folk. In reality, we tend to do everything we can to make ourselves small and invisible in spaces like that, because there is no safe way to navigate it