Scrolling along in my Facebook feed I came across an interesting post by the popular street photo blog HONY or Humans of New York. It featured a picture of the gender-inclusive bathroom sign located in the lobby of Parsons School of Design. As a proud member of The New School community, I continued on to read HONY’s caption, which I presumed would contain praise for The New School’s innovation. To my surprise, the commentary was not supportive, and deemed the school’s efforts toward a more accepting community as “awkward.” Most of HONY’s followers responded to the post with disapproving comments. One comment in particular caught my eye; Sophie-Louise Ford interchanged the words “gender” and “women” to “mixed race bathrooms” and “coloured folk.” Her comment demonstrated the motivation behind this change; this is a case of basic human rights.
Gender-inclusive bathrooms allow people who are transgender, androgenic, or just don’t fit into the constricting categories of male or female, to enter a bathroom without feeling uncomfortable. For some of these people choosing which bathroom to use creates incredible anxiety; for fear of being told they are in the wrong bathroom or blatant harassment. Having gender-inclusive bathroom removes this obstacle for tons of people in our community. Very simply, these types of bathrooms are available for everyone to use regardless of gender, race, or sexual preference.
Layne Gianakos, a sophomore who studies psychology at Lang, was extremely upset with HONY’s judgmental post on Facebook. Layne is one of many students at The New School who identifies himself as a queer individual. The LGBTQ community has reclaimed the word queer, and now uses it to describe people from all ends of the non-hetero normative spectrum.
“I just hate to see people perpetuating this kind of ignorance. Anyone who hasn’t personally experienced the discomfort of gendered restrooms, or been a victim of violence because of one, shouldn’t feel entitled to announce how uncomfortable they feel,” Gianokos says. “Certainly, they can, but does their opinion really hold the same amount of power? I think people who haven’t encountered trouble from gendered restrooms should check their privilege and be aware that, for many people, fulfilling basic human needs can be an incredibly stressful task.”
Gianakos along with other queer students at The New School couldn’t be happier with this step forward. But some people deem this new bathroom situation as “awkward” or “unsafe” because it is different and change is uncomfortable. The fears that surround the all-gender bathrooms are not grounded in real danger; it is fear of change and breaking boundaries that have people hesitating before entering a gender-inclusive bathroom.
“Don’t like it. Sorry. Pervs and predators would have a heyday with this,” Izzy Moreno commented on HONY’s Facebook post. Comments such as these are based in a legitimate common fear of perverts and pedophiles. Rape and sexual assault are heinous crimes that sometimes occur in restrooms; however, a female or male sign on the door is not going to stop a predator from entering. Also, most men are not monstrous deviants that will act out and molest someone the minute they are not watched. Secrets of the separate restrooms are uncovered here. For example, men will soon discover that women enter restrooms to put on make up – gasp! Women will uncover the truth about men; they can urinate while standing! Just because people who do not identify as transgender, or gender queer are having anxiety over this change, does not mean these bathrooms are “dangerous.” If sharing a restroom with the opposite sex is too uncomfortable, here is a solution: use the restroom that is strictly designated for either sex.
Many colleges across the states have and are building gender-inclusive bathrooms on their campuses. Universities with this option also provide online resource-mapping tools to locate these bathrooms on campus. For example, New York University, Ohio University, Tufts University, and University of Colorado Boulder. Just to name a few more: University of Vermont, Emerson College, San Diego State University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of New Hampshire, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Sarah Lawrence College, and the list goes on.
The number of gender-inclusive bathrooms along with resources to locate these bathrooms is growing. Online locators, such as safe2pee.org, allow people to find the nearest gender inclusive bathroom. There’s even an app available in the iTunes store called TransSquat, which allows users to locate restrooms on the go.
Whatever your genitalia or gender identity is, you should be able to use a public restroom without having to endure harassment. Segregation is not an answer, but a way to keep oppression of any minority alive. Gender-inclusive bathrooms are allowing people who are normally encased in anxiety by being forced to pick a door, to pee comfortably. If it makes you uncomfortable, by all means keep going to the gendered restrooms. Unfortunately they are everywhere. But this sign is progress, this sign unifies us as human beings, because I pee, you pee, we all pee in gender-inclusive bathrooms.
Shea Carmen Swan is a junior at Lang, majoring in Journalism + Design, minoring in Gender Studies. With 4 semesters of Free Press under her belt, she enjoys writing all things LGBTQIA and currently writes for Posture Magazine, a queer arts publication. Kyriacrchy.wordpress.com & Soilscript.wordpress.com host most of her literary work.
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