Letters to the Editor: Men are women’s oppressors. How should this affect transgender rights?

To the editor: Your editorial misframed the whole discussion of transgender rights by characterizing one’s objection — in this case, involving nudity at a spa — as being “uncomfortable.”

We live in a world where men are the oppressors, the aggressors, the rapists and the abusers of women worldwide. And now women are supposed to accept men’s genitals in their most intimate spaces — these same men worldwide who oppress and threaten women.

If we lived in an equal world, then we could allow trans women into women-only locker rooms, but we are far away from that.

It is horrible and unfair to women to have to suffer men’s aggression, and worse to have to be in intimate settings with these aggressors. I believe we must guarantee women’s equality. Transgender rights should be worked into that, and forcing intimacy in this unequal situation is just plain wrong.

Kathryn Kosmeya-Dodge, Santa Monica

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To the editor: The reality is that there have always been, and always will be, people whose bodies don’t conform to our expectations of what is “normal.” But nothing justifies discriminating against them because their differences make someone else uncomfortable.

Likewise, if a patron of a business had been attacked by a member of a different race and thus feared all people of that race, we would not be expected to ban all such people from the business.

The same goes for sexual assault survivors and members of religious groups. We can sympathize with their troubles without allowing intolerance to be institutionalized.

Geoff Kuenning, Claremont

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To the editor: Always feeling comfortable isn’t an entitlement, your editorial says. That’s true unless someone pays for a service that offers comfort; in that case, comfort is expected.

Laws affording LGBTQ people the right to go into an establishment without discrimination make sense until you add the element of nudity. That is too much to expect for many. And, it’s not bigoted or inflicting trauma on someone else to want privacy.

Mary Fischer, Highland Park