Spotted on the campus of Pomona College. I didn’t make it to the real thing, but I’m sure the reality isn’t nearly as cool as the Ally McBeal song-and-dance version I have in my head.
Subscribe by email
This is a useful database!
Categories
Got something to send the Feminist Philosophers?
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
 | Heg on The old boys network |
 | Bijan Parsia on Nigella Lawson and Domestic… |
 | Anonymous on Gendered Conference Campa… |
 | beta on Nigella Lawson and Domestic… |
 | Jender on Nigella Lawson and Domestic… |
Top Posts
- Philosophy 101 and the underrepresentation of women in philosophy
- I Guess We Need to Explicitly Say That Suicide is Not a Fashion Statement
- The average face of women across the world
- McGinn leaving Miami due to improper emails
- Nigella Lawson and Domestic Violence
- What do course evaluations evaluate?
- On Lying about a gendered conference/volume
- New listserv for philosophers with psychological disabilities
- A useful rape analogy
- The old boys network
Pages
Blogroll
- A Collage of Citations
- Abyss 2 Hope
- Alas, a Blog
- All About My Vagina
- Amptoons
- And Another Thing
- APA Committee on the Status of Women
- Arab Woman Progressive Voice
- Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
- Atoms Arranged
- Bangladesh From Our View
- Barbara Ehrenreich’s Blog
- Bideshi Blue
- Bitch PhD
- Bite-Sized Subversions
- Black Looks
- Blogging For America
- Border Thinking
- Broadsheet
- cardiff feminist network
- Carnival of Feminists
- Certain Doubts
- Collegium of Black Women Philosophers
- Colored Demos
- Composite
- Condomologist
- Conservatory Girl
- crooked timber
- Cruella Blog
- Diary of an Anxious Black Woman
- Disabled Philosophers
- diversity@spp
- Dolly Mix
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Engage: Conversations in Philosophy
- Engender
- Experimental Philosophy
- F Watch
- F-Words
- Female Science Professor
- Feminist Aesthetics
- Feminist Allies
- Feminist History of Philosophy
- Feminist Law Professors
- Feminist Mormon Housewives
- Feminist Philosophers
- Feminist Response in Disability Activisim
- Feministe
- Feministing
- Feminocracy
- Fit, Feminist, and (almost) Fifty
- Florida Philosophy Student Blog
- Geek Feminism
- Gender, Race and Philosophy
- Genius NZ
- Gone Public
- Halfie
- Hi My Name Is…
- Hook and Eye
- I Blame The Patriarchy
- Irresponsibility
- Jean Kazez
- Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman?
- Knowledge and Experience
- Language Log
- Law and Letters
- Lemmings
- Lilith Attack
- London Feminists
- London Pro-Feminist Men
- Mad Melancholic Feminista
- Metamorpho-Sis
- Mind the Gap
- Miss Crip Chick
- Ms Magazine Blog
- Ms Magazine Online
- Multiplicative Identity
- Muslimah Media Watch
- My Fault, I'm Female
- Natalia Antonova
- New APPS: Arts, Politics, Philosophy, Science
- Nine Pearls
- No Cookies For Me
- No Snow Here
- Objectify This
- Oh No a WoC PhD
- On The Issues
- Packaging Girlhood
- Pandagon
- Pandemian
- Pea Soup
- PennyRed
- Philobiblon
- Philosophy, Etc
- Public Reason
- Questioning Transphobia
- Rachel’s Musings
- Racialicious
- Red Jenny
- RH Reality Check
- Rozena Maart
- SAFER
- Sex In The Public Square
- SGRP The Blog
- Shakesville
- Sheffield Fems
- Siris
- Sister Song
- Slap Upside the Head
- SM Feminists
- Social Justice Feminist
- Staff of Ra
- Symposia on Gender, Race, And Philosophy
- The Brooks Blog
- The Curvature
- The F Word
- Thoughts Arguments and Rants
- Thus Spake Zuska
- Ultra Violet
- Unapologetically Female
- Unapologetically Female
- Viva La Feminista
- Wages of Ignorance
- What is it like to be a woman in philosophy?
- What Sorts of People
- What We're Doing About What It's Like
- Where's the benefit?
- Women Count
- Women Philosophers
The fact that it’s by the ‘Doms Lounge’ conjures up a lot of interesting images.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I’m a fan of gender neutral bathrooms, but what worries me is accessibility. There are at least two issues with accessibility: 1) some trans* people have disabilities, and nearly everyone forgets about them! 2) How convenient are these bathrooms? Often they’re tucked away, or in another building.
What’s the university’s overall policy on gender and bathrooms? Is it coupled with a good policy like: “People should use the bathroom consistent with their gender”? If not, then the gender neutral bathroom is nearly the “loo of shame,” since there’s going to be a stigma attached with having a strong preference for that bathroom. It would also connote a “Separate but equal” policy, which is unfair.
Of course, these are just worries: maybe the university has awesome bathroom policies.
It has been a long time since I have lived in dorms and I don’t know the first thing about Pomona College. But such a sign at most colleges would probably indicate that this is a male-gendered dorm floor and the gender-neutral restroom exists primarily for women who are guests of the men on the floor.
That’s how such a sign would have been read at my own undergraduate university, anyway. Maybe things are different at Pomona.
My (small, private, US) university recently made a policy change: all single-stall bathrooms (which are now most common in our smallish new academic buildings) are named “universal” bathrooms. They are designed to be universally accessible and open to any and all genders. Which is to say: they’re designed for humans. There are still difficulties with the signage (which includes the allegedly male/female stick figures, plus the wheelchair figure, which symbolically degenders individuals with the kind of disabilities that involve the use of wheelchairs), but still, it’s a huge step forward. Obviously, it’s easier to make such a step when you’re dealing with single-stall bathrooms.
Many trans persons find using shared gender-designated bathrooms to be a difficult and stressful experience, in which they are subject to abuse or the threat of abuse. These trans persons often desire gender neutral bathrooms (which are, I believe, usually single-person bathrooms and not Ally McBeal -style). It’s a step of taking requests from trans students seriously to have some gender neutral bathrooms on campus. And signs like this are a further excellent step — making it easier to find such bathrooms. So this seems great to me.
I do agree there may be concerns about access.
Woohoo! I went to one of the other Claremont Colleges and I remember when the trans students & allies were pushing for gender neutral bathrooms. The student body was semi-apathetic but supportive, whereas it was the administration that was actually really hostile to the idea. I’m really happy to see that progress is being made. Thanks for posting this–never would have seen otherwise!
@Matt Drabek: Since I do know Pomona, I’m happy to say this is actually in the campus’ main social building not in any of the dorms. So, it actually is a conscious step towards a genuinely neutral space and not just an accommodation for visiting women.