PISSR
Yesterday's New York Times has an article about the "political epiphany" a certain Riki Dennis had recently at a rest area on California's Highway 101. Riki, a transsexual in the early stages of becoming female, was beaten up after using the women's restroom--by the boyfriend of a female patron who thought, erroneously, that she was a man. Riki told the Times, "I said, 'Sir, I have no designs on your girlfriend. I just want to use the bathroom.'" Unfortunately, Riki's voice is still quite masculine, so her protest didn't do much good. The guy kept pounding on her.
According to the Times, Riki is "a foot soldier on a new political frontier: the campaign to establish gender-neutral bathrooms in public places." She is one of 250 or so members of "People in Search of Safe Restrooms," a mostly-California group dedicated to removing "Men" and "Women" signs on public restrooms. Members of PISSR (what an acronym!) include cross-dressers and people who are uncertain which sex they are, as well as transgendered people like Riki who are midway in a sex-change process (man into woman, or woman into man).
The movement is not a large one but it is making itself felt in large cities and on college campuses. At the University of Chicago, for instance, a similar group called "the Queer Action Campaign for Gender-Neutral Bathrooms" got a dozen "single-user" restrooms on campus changed into gender-neutral ones. Two new campuses of San Francisco Community College are being built with men's, women's, and gender-neutral restrooms on each floor. Where they have been put into place so far, these gender neutral restrooms are all single-user ones, to get around objections from people who feel uncomfortable with members of the opposite sex sitting in the next stall.
A Wisconsin law professor named Ann Althouse has blogged on this situation at althouse.blobspot.com. The main objection she has is that she doesn't like single-user restrooms, period. She argues that men are messy and that, like most women, she hates to use a bathroom after them. Let them have their own messy restrooms, and women have theirs.
I think her attitude is way off. When we ran Harmony Harbor down by the river, one of my jobs was to help clean the rest rooms, and I would take the men's over the women's any day. It was always the women's room that had pee on the toilet seat, paper towels all over the floor, and toilets plugged up with unflushed turds and big wads of toilet paper. About the worst thing I had to contend with in the men's room was cigarette butts in the sinks.
Anybody out there with any experience in this? Who are the biggest bathroom slobs, males or females? What do you think of transgendered restrooms? Is the public ready for this brave new world?
(1)As an old restroom cleaner with 6 years experience in a drug store and in a restaurant, I confirm Judy's statement: the womens rest room was always a TOTAL DISASTER compared to the men's.
ReplyDelete(2)As for the gender-neutral rest rooms are concerned, they can have them so long as they have been neutered (and present themselves to the attendant at the entrance for verification).
I don't understand what would be wrong about having a gender neutral restroom, if there was only one toilet. I don't think I want to pee with some strange man in the same room, but I wouldn't mind going to the bathroom before or after him.
ReplyDeleteI remember in school they built a brand new middle school and had the bright idea to reduce graffiti in the bathroom by not putting doors on the stalls. Do you remember that, Mom? Were you one of the mothers who explained to the principle how wrong that was?
I am male and for years I have been slightly " transgendered curious" and actually do prefer to sit down while peeing; which I always do at home and at others homes and also in " unisex" restrooms. I think that single use M/F restrooms in public places are a great idea and lets hear it for california. back while living down in florida, I noticed that nearly all convienence stores[ circle K, handy way, etc.] allowed the public to use the restrooms in the back of the store. most of them, especially in the smaller towns, would always have one unisex restroom for the general public and one for the employees only; and if not they would always allow either men or women to use theirs if you asked politely. about whether the men's room or women's is cleaner? being a former janitor at a florida rest area on I-4[who cleaned both male and female rooms]I can say that the women's rooms tended to be somewhat cleaner than the men's, but not always as female NASCAR fans headed to the daytona 500 had to be the filthiest women I have ever seen in my life. back to single use unisex restrooms being a good idea or not? well what some women have posted about guys urinating on the seat is true but I have noticed that most unisex restrooms usually are way cleaner than separate men's only restrooms. and now living back north in connecticut this is another thing I have noticed around the tri-state area when it comes to unisex single use restrooms at gas stations, etc. the guys up north around here [many women too] tend to be the biggest SLOBS and believe it or not southern and country guys[ gals too] seem to have more manners when it comes to bathroom ettiquiette than suburban and urban guys and gals do overall! while traveling up in vermont and new hampshire one summer; after asking, I used the single use bathrooms in two separate country stores and yes, they were extremely clean! this proves that country folks have better manners overall; even more so when both sexes share the same M/F restroom!
ReplyDelete