Different cultures represent gendered restrooms differently, but the ubiquitous figures denoting men’s and women’s restrooms are, at least, problematic and at worst, dangerous for some gender nonconforming people.
Incidents of transgendered people facing harassment in public places or disciplinary action at schools and college campuses when using the “wrong” restroom have been reported, when facilities that are gender-neutral can provide easier access not only for those who don’t prescribe to a gender binary, but also those who do, says Lisa Brush, a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh.
“Facilities that are there should preserve people’s privacy and dignity while respecting their safety,” she says.
A website and mobile app released earlier this year, Refuge Restrooms, was created by transwoman Teagan Widmer to index genderneutral restrooms in places like public buildings, restaurants and coffee shops.
Users can contribute listings to the app, rate the restrooms and leave comments about the facilities. About 40 places in and around Pittsburgh are listed in the app, including some buildings at local universities.
Square Café at 1137 S. Braddock Ave. in Regent Square is listed among them with a comment calling it a “cute queer-owned neighborhood café.”
Manager Ben Fine says the two small genderneutral restrooms there were most likely a necessity of space and efficiency to keep lines down at the busy restaurant when it was built 11 years ago, but creating a safe space is an added plus.
“Whether it was intentional or not … it makes me happy that it’s a comfortable place and (customers) don’t have to worry about any judgement or recourse because of it,” he says. “I would think any little thing like that would probably make life a little easier. It shouldn’t be something that should be a cause of stress.”
At The Mr. Roboto Project, a gallery and concert space at 5106 Penn Ave., the restrooms – not yet listed on the app – are marked with their fixtures, “toilet” and “urinal and toilet,” without gender for much the same reason as Square Café, says Mike Q. Roth, a founder and former board member.
When the space, founded in 1999, moved to its current location on Penn Avenue in 2011, it was at first marked with standard gendered signs. Board members removed them to help move traffic along during busy concerts, while recognizing that some visitors don’t identify strongly with the gender binary, Roth says.
“If a bathroom’s open, someone should be able to use it,” he says. “It wasn’t trying to make any grand statement at that time, but saying, ‘yes, we recognize this.’”
In Washington, D.C., the city’s Office of Human Rights launched a campaign in April to bring attention to the fact that single-occupancy bathrooms are required to be gender neutral under a law carrying a $500 fine.
The office enlisted the help of the public, asking for tweets using the hashtag #safebathroomsDC to notify the office of restrooms that could be improved.
Social media doesn’t create the safe spaces, but encourages the commitment of people and institutions that do, or calls out those who don’t, Brush says.
“It’s both an important information network … and it’s a very important way of using the power of social media and social networks,” she says. “What really matters is there are actually institutions that are creating this kind of space.”
An app like Refuge Restrooms helps address public health, personal health and safety issues while also allowing people to use their buying power to choose more supportive spaces, Brush says.
While the availability of gendered spaces is sometimes essential for safety, like female-only train cars in India and Japan, it needs to be available alongside a non-gendered space to better reflect equality, Brush says.
When people feel the need to officially or unofficially “police” another person’s gender, it usually is not a reflection on the gender nonconforming person, Brush says, but the insecurities of the harasser.
“I think the point is to create a world where if people feel good in a (gender) binary, that’s ok, and if they don’t feel good in a binary, that’s ok too, and nobody questions their dignity or their morality or their humanity either way,” Brush says.
When people are too strictly pushed biologically or culturally into categories – no matter if it’s feminine, masculine or androgynous — differences are enforced more than similarities, Brush says.
“I think the thing that really matters is what’s between your ears and what’s between your sternum and your backbone: your brain and your heart,” she says.
