Some things are so disturbing that you can’t help but speak out about them. A third grader at Herbert Hoover Elementary School in California had had enough and decided to speak up about sharing restrooms with boys. A clip of an open forum was posted on X, where the third grader, so small she could barely be seen over the podium, spoke her truth.
“… I do not like that we have to share bathrooms with boys,” she began, and then gave her reasons, “ At Hoover, a boy has punched me in the stomach and spit on me. I really do not feel comfortable in an all gender bathroom.” She added that the all gender bathrooms were messier than the single ones they had used in previous years. The third grader disclosed that she was not the only one who felt that way. “Some of my friends and I try not to go to the bathroom when they have to,” she said.
The little girl offered a solution: “There should be girls, boys, and all gender restrooms.” After she had concluded, a man on the school board responded that the school would ensure the restroom was thoroughly cleaned, ignoring the girl’s comment about being uncomfortable with boys in the same bathroom. The clip has since sparked uproar online, with many upset at the student’s plight.
“Safety should come before inclusion!!” a user stated, “There’s nothing off limits to people who have an agenda, they don’t care about kids.” A few people were saddened by the clip. “The fact that she has to do this makes me absolutely sick,” one wrote. “This is so sad. Men are not having the issue, and the problem is males wanting to be in the girls’ restroom. We must protect women’s right to privacy,” another added.
“So the district’s answer is to do a better job cleaning up the mess boys make in the co-ed bathroom?” an X user asked, while another chimed in, “How dare they ignore this little girl’s plea for her most basic BOUNDARIES to be respected!” Someone else added, “Elementary school kids should not be forced to deal with adult social experiments. If a child feels unsafe in a bathroom, the policy has failed. Period.”
The criticisms kept rolling in. “So they took it as a sanitary issue and not the fact that the boys are harassing girls in the bathroom? Got it. Sickening! I don’t blame her. In 3rd grade, what girl would ever want to be in the bathroom with a boy?” an X user said. “Little girls should not have to beg adults for their own bathrooms. The school board should be ashamed of itself for putting girls in this distressing situation,” another said.
Many more users commented on the district’s response. “What a shameful response to that little girl’s plea. It’s clear that she’s not just talking about cleanliness – she and her friends want to feel comfortable and safe in their own space.”
A last one wrote, “This brave third-grade spoke out. Schools should be protecting children, not putting them in uncomfortable or confusing situations.”
