Gavin Grimm: Tom's Bedroom

Mill would argue that Gavin Grimm must be allowed to use the men's restroom as it is Grimm’s individual form of expression - which is key to the progress of society, and it will not directly harm others therefore, should not have intervention from the law.

Even if the parents find Gavin distressing for his differences, his desire to use the male bathroom should be permitted because different modes of living are the “chief ingredient of individual and social progress” (Mill 37). Gavin’s desire to live as a boy is an “expression of his own nature” and “character” (Mill 38). To prohibit him to use the bathroom would make him “desire nothing strongly” and will kill his individual ingenuity (Mill 40). Mill argues that social standards and conformity are a “hindrance to human advancement” for individualistic desires are eliminated through conformity (Mill 40). People should not conform to the social standard of bathroom usage only according to the ‘biological gender’. We need Gavin to fully express his character, because without individualism, people would follow society’s standards mindlessly and “human life would become a stagnant pool” (Mill 39). When individuality is cultivated and shared, people become “a noble and beautiful object of contemplation” (Mill 38). Therefore, we …show more content…
A law permitting transgenders to the bathroom could possibly allow predators to physically hurt boys and girls. But, this possibility is one which society can bear for “the sake of the greater good of human freedom” (Mill 43). Society must endure possible damage, for the sake of individual expression. There should instead be a law that punishes sexual predators for assaulting boys and girls in bathrooms. Rather than one that bans transgenders from entering bathrooms they feel comfortable with, from fear of possible sexual