In class on Wednesday, Alli and I spoke about the
transgender community. Upon beginning the presentation, I made reference to the
restroom symbols and indicated their utility for denoting sex. For most, the
symbols are useful; the distinction between sex and gender is minimal. The
majority of people will find that the two describe the same characteristic,
that the inner binary (that of gender) is in alignment with the outer (that of
sex). But what of those for which the same is not true?
The issue is complicated
with various social and political implications. After the presentation last
week, Brianne brought to my attention an article from NBC Philadelphia which
concerns legislation pertaining to restrooms in all new and renovated public
buildings in the city. The article can be found at:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/LGBT-Gender-Neutral-Restrooms-206932591.html
(Thanks, Brianne!). According to the article, signed into law by Mayor Michael
Nutter, “The legislation requires that new or
renovated city-owned buildings include gender-neutral bathrooms in addition to
traditional men's and women's restrooms.”
Certainly, this requirement is one
not likely to be supported from all sides. In particular, though, a few points
should be noted. The additional requirements place no pressure on private
business to follow suit. Additionally, the legislation neither removes nor prohibits
the traditional male/female restroom binary—those who wish to cavort solely
with members of their own sex while in the restroom will remain free to do so.
I mention the preceding
qualifications to raise a question. Are such requirements necessary for this
kind of legislation? Without gender neutral-restrooms, we must necessarily
limit the freedom of individuals to use the restroom that aligns with either
gender or sex. With gender-neutral restrooms, however, we invite criticism,
surely, from those who feel the infrastructure caters to a minority and
infringes on the complainant’s comfort level. In either case, some set of
people will be discomforted and infringed upon. How do we seek to find the best
possible solution?
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ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of useful problems in the non-trans-gender community that gender neutral restrooms solve. One is baby changing, or bringing your young child of the opposite sex into a bathroom. The second that I can see is handicapped access. If you don't have the money to retrofit all your restrooms to be handicapped accessible, but can install one bathroom, it makes sense to have it usable by either sex. While I hope it is useful for the transgendered, especially as it officially recognizes a new category, I see many uses for non-gendered rest rooms for the conventionally gendered community as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input, Maija! I had not considered that aspect of the situation, though I completely agree with you.
DeleteIt appears that this legislation, if not passed already, can greatly benefit Germany, which has recently passed a law allowing indeterminate genders at birth. Here is the URL for the article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24767225
This article raises other questions, such as how marriage laws will be applied; but in order to stay with the topic of this post which is about restrooms, I will refrain from commenting on that at this moment.
As far as the implications for the gendered community, I never thought it was weird, awkward, or unacceptable for a mother to bring her young son into the restroom for baby changing. In fact, I remember being with my mom in a public restroom; and I told her that a little boy I saw with his mother was not allowed to be in there. However, my mother gently told me that I couldn’t expect the mother to go into the men’s restroom to change her child, nor could she leave her child outside unattended if the mother had to use the restroom. I suppose there may be people who criticize others for taking their children of the opposite sex into the restroom; but if I could understand this as a child, I don’t see why other people would think it’s a problem.