Eric Cartman, Transgenderism, and Bathrooms

Whether you have seen the show or not, you will no doubt know of South Park, despite the fact that it is a cartoon, as one of the most vulgar and offensive shows produced. If you don’t know that or believe that, perhaps the episode “It Hits the Fan”, in which the word “shit” was uttered 162 times, might convince you. Despite the show’s offensiveness, and perhaps because of it, the show, at times, brings light to real social issues. One such issue is in the episode “The Cissy”, which deals with the issue of transgenderism and bathrooms. Eric Cartmen, arguably the most offensive character on the show (you will see later why), decides, at recess one day, to declare himself “transginger” (meaning to say transgender) in an attempt to use the girl’s bathroom. Why? Because all of the stall’s in the boy’s restroom were taken.
Cartman, known to all to be an anti-Semite, racist, misogynist, and all-around terrible person, is of course told on. Everyone knows he is not really transgender and that he is only doing what he is doing because he is selfish and cares only about himself. This scene shows Cartman’s selfish motives and also explains why Cartman gets away with his actions. What’s striking, however, is his understanding of what a transgender person is. He knows and accepts transgender, or as he calls it, “transginger”, people, but uses their plight and struggles in order to benefit himself. His actions, though horrible, do bring up a controversial social issue: what bathroom does a transgender person use? In the context of this episode, everyone knows Cartman is not really transgender, so the idea of what bathroom he should use is obviously the boy’s. However, as Mr. Garrison, the teacher, points out in the clip, “you don’t want this hot potato”, meaning the possible media and social backlash that could result from denying Eric the use of the female restroom would not be worth the hassle. On top of that, it is federally illegal to discriminate students based on sex. Despite the fact that Eric is not actually “transginger”, there would be no way (at least to people who do not know Cartman), to prove this, and could result in a law suit if administrators opposed him. This issue of bathroom use in schools by transgender people is not a fictitious creation by South Park either, as shown in this news article. Eric is known to be a master manipulator, making the situation more complex as Cartman is great at getting his way. By having Eric represent a transgender, the creators of South Park want to show that transgender people are not genuine and are pretending in order to receive special treatment. Or are they? Mr. Garrison, mentioned in a clip above, is (or was?) a transgender woman. So much so that he (she?) had a sex change, but also reversed it in another episode. If the last sentence seems confusing, this was the creator’s intent. The issue of transgenderism is confusing and is not clear-cut; there are no absolute truths to the issue. This may sound critical, but it only shows that gender is a spectrum with no right or wrong answers, and that’s what the creators want to show. By explaining transgenderism in “The Cissy” using non-critical demeanors and by having Mr. Garrison tell people to “drop it”, the creators show that transgender people need to be accepted because there is no way to prove that what they claim to be is not the truth. Perhaps instead of Eric literally representing the transgender community, the creators use him as a way to show how other, more conservative people perceive the transgender: lying, manipulative, special snowflakes who only want special treatment.
To fix the issue the girls at the school have with Cartman using the women’s restroom, the principal decides to give Cartman his own personal restroom. Clearly this delights Eric. He gets his own “transgender bathroom”, decked out in lights, a water feature, and music. The sign on the door reads “Other”, literally other-ing people who do not conform to the gender-sex binary. If the news article provided above says anything, it is that transgender people do not seek special treatment through the metaphorical “transgender bathroom”, but seek the same treatment that everyone who is cisgender receive. Eventually another student calls Eric out on his bull by also claiming to be transgender, and this infuriates Eric and he ends up contradicting all of the arguments he used in order to get a special bathroom. The obviousness of his contradictions highlight the arbitrary idea of gender segregated bathrooms. In the end, Eric stops using the “transgender bathroom”.
Despite the episode showing that transgenderism is confusing, and that people using bathrooms that do not match their sex seem to have no basis in logic and are a product of a gender-based society, people still have hang-ups (it’s an online poll; take it with a grain of salt). So, what do we as a society do about bathrooms? Do we make them all unisex? Private? Or do we keep the gender identifiers but change how we view gender? If the episode shows anything it is that there is no one answer. What is done to assuage Eric greatly upsets others. It is impossible to please everyone, and the lowest common denominator cannot always be catered to, but the lowest common denominator in society is not a statistic, it is a person that thinks and feels. If anything, society will dictate what happens. As issues arise, they will be addressed, to the appeasement of some and the rancor of others. What is most important is to recognize differences not as pointed guns, but as extended hands, and to accept the differences of others as differences in ourselves.