The placement of female restrooms in public establishments suggests the existence of gender inequality. Due to inadequate information surrounding the topic of bathroom placement an independent study was done to find whether there is a correlation between bathroom placement and gender roles. Considering the lack of information provided the way in which the sexes usage of bathrooms will be analyzed as well as transgender bathroom rights.
The independent study consisted of going to sixteen public establishments and checking the placement of their restrooms. The public establishments visited include the following: the Champlain Mall, Costco, Superstore, Second Cup, Starbucks, Mary Brown’s, Pita Pit, Subway, and Crandall University. A number
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Tagnoli analyzes people’s use of different rooms in their house as a way to indicate the differences between the way that men and women interact. His study analyzed the gender differences between the way adults recount behavior and impressions in various rooms of their own home (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 833). There were 13 women and male participants varying from the age of 18-65 that worked outside of the home (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 836). The study required the participants to partake in a home decorating project (Tagnoli, 2012, p. 836). All the participants answered a questionnaire regarding how they felt about their living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 836). In the questionnaire, the participants were asked the following questions; to describe what they and others did in each room over the past week, to describe the feelings felt in the room, and to write the impressions in any manner they wished (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 836). The respondents made a series of ratings on 10 different room dimensions in terms of comfort, satisfaction and pleasantness (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 836). Regarding the bathroom, it was found that men mentioned using the toilet and bathing more, while women mentioned hair washing and washing self-more (Tagnoli, 1980, p. 838). Interestingly, for the women participants there was no mention of bathroom use except for the nonexplicit statement of, “You must be joking! Let 's say all the things a bathroom has been
Recently, the issue of allowing transgender people access to public facilities according to the gender they identify with has caused much debate throughout the United States. The bathroom bill seeks to control access to public facilities of transgender individuals, based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In 2015, bills were passed stating entering a bathroom not assigned to a person at birth was a crime. Surrounded by misconception, the bill does “not legalize harassment, stalking, violence, or sexual assault.” Since the bill arose, there have not been a rise in violence or other incidents in the states protecting the transgender rights (Transgender Equality). The bill simply states if one is living as a woman, to use the women’s restroom,
I feel that the gender-neutral bathrooms in schools are not a very good idea because as a woman I feel that not a very common or safe idea. I would not feel safe because I do not want to share a bathroom with men. One thing that could happen in the gender-neutral bathrooms is sexual assault. Women and girls are the number one victims in these cases of sexual assault. I also feel that I do not have my personal or private place to use anymore. By adding the males in the females and females to males, gives us both the feeling of los-ing our privacy of a girl and a guy to do what we need to in the bathrooms. I feel that having separate bathrooms will help with the safety issues of the males walking into a fe-male bathroom and vice versa. Overall,
Transgender rights and policies have always been an ongoing debate. In the article, “Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,” Schilt and Westbrook (2015) argued that in order to push gender equality forward, we must consider the rights of transgender people by allowing them to have access to bathrooms that support their gender identity rather than their biological sex. In doing so, authors believed that it would make progress in alleviating discrimination against transgender people. However, in this conscious effort to fight for transgender rights and their access to sex-segregated spaces,
It is a known fact that both men and women use the restroom. What many are not aware of, is that using the toilet in public areas reinforces the differences between male and female. For instance, the very first thing any individual sees when entering a public restroom is the little dolls of a man or a woman as an indication of a female restrooms and or the male restrooms. This simple sign reaffirms the sexual differences of gender and also unconsciously the individual’s identity for that matter. The concept of gender neutral bathrooms is to break the imaginary wall of gender separation thus allowing either sex to use one single restroom. If we think about it, in our home we share one restroom, and are pretty much accepting of the fact that we all use the toilet. The book states that gender salience is the relation of gender across activities and spaces. The book further discusses that when teachers would place children alphabetically versus by gender the importance of gender reduced. Gender is a persistent element in any school. The concept is simple when it boils down to education the main purpose is to place the students together by groups of the ones that are getting the material and are able to proceed to the next or placing them in a group of students that need more time grasping the given material and curriculum. Although gender salience is like a roller coaster in different parts of the elementary school experience the flow of gender is a persistent element in education. Gendered bathrooms, as previously discussed reinforces the differences between male and female. Back in the Victorian era, they created restrooms for women with a special room that had a resting area before entering the section in which the restrooms were located. This was primary because back then it was not lady like to dispose bodily fluids. They believe that women should keep such matters private, and it was pretty much unheard of for women to even use the restrooms the way it is indented. Till this day many women restrooms still have a resting area before entering the restroom section. Bathrooms are designed with an assumption that everyone is heterosexual. Thus not allowing the possibility of that many individuals don’t
First up to analyzing this article is by using a tool concept called the sociological lens. Sociologists use sociological lens to think critically about everyday life, everyday assumptions while also challenging the natural aspects of life. The main issue in this article is that people with different body parts should go different restrooms. More specifically, people with penises should not be allowed to go into female restrooms because it is viewed as dangerous. However, if we analyze this through a sociological lens, the segregation of bathrooms based on gender is a rather new phenomenon. For example, the article states that prior to the Victorian Era, men and women would use the same
I brainstormed and contemplated about what social norm I should break in order to achieve this assignment. I fathom the idea that some social norms and expectations would be quite difficult to accomplish. Surprisingly, without much thought I knew exactly what norm I wanted to break. I decided to break the well known concept that each gender must go to the restroom in their designated restroom area. I planned on starting the assignment by choosing a few public restrooms in which I would enter the men’s restroom. That particular behavior breaks a social norm because with most public restrooms; genders are separated by signs or names. Thus, there should be no reason why men or women end up going into the same restroom. I personally believe that
Here, the subject matter the city is regulating is the use of public restrooms and who should use the men’s room and who should use the women’s. The City has a great interest in controlling the function of public restrooms in the city as it has a power to promote public safety, health and welfare. Regulating how the public bathrooms should be operated and used is an important objective for the City to further because it is intended to keep the public restrooms in the city sanitary, safe, and in order. Separating the use of the facilities based on the user’s gender is substantially related to the public safety. It will likely help prevent sexual assaults or violent crimes against women. The matter is within the scope of the city's authority under its police power. In addition, the City’s objective has been proven to be important since about 90% of the City’s residents support keeping public restrooms separated by sex and, therefore, the statute is strongly upheld by the public interest as
Moreover, if Maston is consistent, he must argue that restrooms must be desegregated. Each sex gets to choose which restroom to use. Restrooms are no longer segregated by sex. Thus, having different restrooms for men and women must be outlawed — just as they were for different races. Such segregation of restrooms must result from sexual prejudice, sexism, and the superiority-inferiority complex. As women prefer segregated restrooms more so than do men, women must be prejudice toward men and consider themselves superior to men. At least segregated restrooms solves the problem of which restroom transgender people and transvestites should use.
Using a public restrooms seems like a simple task to the majority of us. This is not the case for people who fall outside the gender norm. Seldom does one have a choice beyond boy’s room or girl’s room. This can be a very stressful environment if your outward appearance doesn’t match your biological sex. Spotlighting those who are not perceived by society as gender normal could lead to depression, anxiety and self-loathing. Something as simple as going to the restroom in the mall could lead to a violent encounter. This would be greatly reduced of people would just be more observant. This all because society developed rules everyone must follow in order to be perceived as normal.
When approaching public restrooms, most look at the gender on the door that associates with their own gender. However, some stare at those labels wondering which one they belong in. These types of people are often referred to as transgenders. Transgenders are people who identify themselves with the opposite gender of their biological sex. Therefore, for this category of people, entering a restroom is not so easy. They often wonder whether they should go into the bathroom of their biological sex or of their gender identity. The debate has spread throughout America today. Transgender bathrooms have been discussed in politics, education, and even criminal cases. Both sides of the debate offer valid evidence to support their claims. The only compensation
The U.S. federal government is backing the issue of gender neutral bathrooms. As Lisa Rein, publisher of an article in The Washington Post, writes, “The federal government is strongly urging employers to give transgender employees access to bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, marking a new policy front in the fast-moving campaign for transgender equality” (Rein). Rein argues that bathrooms need to be made neutral, as it discriminates members of the LBGT community. Essentially, she argues throughout her article that emotional issues are the biggest reason to allow this. She states, “Among the many forms of discrimination advocates for transgender men and women say they face on the job,
In past generations, it has been clear to society that males and females use segregated bathrooms. It is also known that the rate of transgender people has been growing over the past years. Transgender people constantly face troubles when using a bathroom in public. Nevertheless, as society has become more aware of the transgender population and the issues that they face, many schools have had to decide how they will respond about the issue of school bathrooms when students identify themselves as transgender. A school should be able to provide separate facilities based on sex, but must allow transgender students access to the facility which matches their gender identity.
As our world develops gradually, we are to the point in time to see new serious disagreements and formal discussions surface, one of these being the issue of whether transgender individuals should be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify themselves as. While many are at an unpleasant emotion, caused by the belief of the risk of sexual violence in bathrooms, or fail to acknowledge transgender individuals as the gender they identify, there is something to be said about this issue, transgender individuals should be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.
An integral and necessary part of the built environment, moreover – our daily lives – restrooms provide the real human need for safe and sanitary facilities when we go to work, go to school, and participate in public life. Every day, many utilize the facilities of public toilets in workplaces, schools, and the innumerable other spaces we pass through and occupy while outside our homes (Kopas, 2012). As defined by Matthew Kopas (2012), a “public bathroom is any toilet facility that is not located in a private dwelling,” encompassing both traditional “on-street” local authority public toilets and “off-street” toilets to which the public has right of access, for instance, in shopping malls and commercial spaces (Greed, 2014), thus coining by the British Toilet Association (2001) to be toilets “away from home”.
Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.