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Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by basso, May 31, 2005.

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  1. basso

    basso Member
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    this is why i love the academy...

    http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=145705

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    Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets
    Call for Papers Date: 2006-01-15

    Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets

    Editors:
    Olga Gershenson (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
    Barbara Penner (University College-London)

    "You know what they say about men who hang around women's lavatories. They're asking to have their illusions shattered."

    - Georgina to Albert, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover

    We invite contributions for the edited collection Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets.

    Public toilets are amenities with a functional, even a civic, purpose. Yet they also act as the unconscious of public spaces. They can be a haven: a place to regain composure, to check one's face, or to have a private chat. But they are also sexually-charged and transgressive spaces that shelter illicit sexual practices and act as a cultural repository for taboos and fantasies.

    This collection will work from the premise that public toilets, far from being banal or simply functional, are highly charged spaces, shaped by notions of propriety, hygiene and the binary gender division. Indeed, public toilets are among the very few openly segregated spaces in contemporary Western culture, and the physical differences between gentlemen and ladies remains central to (and is further naturalized by) their design. As such, they provide a fertile ground for critical work interrogating how conventional assumptions about the body, sexuality, privacy, and technology can be formed in public space and inscribed through design.

    We welcome papers which explore the cultural meanings, histories, and ideologies of the public toilet as a gendered space. Any subject is appropriate: toilet design and signage, toilet humour and euphemisms, personal narratives and legal cases, as well as art sited in public toilets. We invite submissions in the format of traditional academic papers of no more than 7000 words (including footnotes).

    We also welcome the submissions of design and art projects that expose the gendered nature of the 'functional' toilet spaces and objects.
     
    #1 basso, May 31, 2005
  2. bejezuz

    bejezuz Member

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    Man, I should really bail on law school and just go to grad school... That crap (pun intented) is too funny.
     
    #2 bejezuz, May 31, 2005
  3. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    I've been meaning to put all of this down on a paper, submit it, and call it, "the Houston Astros."
     
    #3 PhiSlammaJamma, May 31, 2005
  4. Chance

    Chance Member

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    I don't get it...


    People walk into most public restrooms with a predetermined expectation of propriety and I have made it a mini-mission in my life to disrupt this ordinarily uneventful visual experience. This practice began when I was in the tenth grade. While doing my business in a very crowded lavatory at the movie theater I peeked over the stall at the gentleman standing next to me and commented, “That’s a fine penis you have, sir. I’m not gay; I’m just saying it’s a very proportionate tool.” I said this immediately after flushing, never made eye-contact, and left the bathroom with a giant smirk on my face knowing that that man standing next to me and the three or four people around him had reached new heights of uncomfortable-ness. Now for the uninitiated, within the walls of the male public bathroom resides an unwritten code. You simply do not speak. You must keep your eyes forward, hands at your side, do your business, and get out. I shattered this code. Over the years I have repeated various versions of this performance.
    • “Sir, are you peeing?”
    • “Wow! You pee good!”
    • “So…you come here often?”
    • “If you drop something into the urinal DON’T fish it out. Those things are nasty, trust me!”
    • “Say, when you get done meet me in the bathroom on the west side and we’ll make the exchange.”
    • “Dude…you are a hairy, hairy beast.”

    I made the jump from verbal to written about ten years ago. I would type up neat, official looking memos and post them on the bathroom walls.
    • Please remain seated for the entire performance.
    • Employees must wash hands after taking gigantic violent sh!ts.
    • Do not use this facility. Please use the ladies room next door. Remember to knock first as ladies might be defecating, urinating, or in an active stage of menstruation.
    • If you miss the urinal while urinating please wipe up the urine with flushable toilet tissue instead of the thicker paper hand towels.
    • DO NOT FLUSH.
    • Place your business card in the bowl for your chance to win a free dinner!
     
    #4 Chance, May 31, 2005
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