Ideology and the Toilet

You are at a bar pounding back brewskeys, engaged in the usual mindless banter and sending the occasional embarrassing "drunk text" that is so often associated with your intoxicated state. You decide that you can no longer avoid the inevitable, you must "break the seal". After excusing yourself, you make your way towards the restrooms. You find yourself faced with only two options:

Without any hesitation, despite your drunken stupor, you make your way into the room that you are "designated" to go into. Not giving a second thought to if you chose the "right" bathroom, you quickly relieve yourself and get back in the game. Restroom signs play a dictating role in our everyday lives. Due to their frequency, the act of choosing which bathroom to occupy is that of an almost unconscious one; I do not stand in front of the door and justify my choice, I simply see a picture of a woman and walk through that door without much thought or hesitation. But the signs stand for so much more than my lack of attention gives them credit for. In the past decades, discrimination against race and the disabled concerning restroom use has been a main debate for equal rights. Bathrooms are now available for use by all races and have been made handicap accessible, yet in recent years there has been a new debate regarding restrooms, the institution of gender-neutral bathrooms. This new movement, and the theme of this paper, is in response to the pictograms on the restroom signs which reinforce the ideologies(collective and accepted beliefs) of only recognizing two genders,  male/female and the gender roles that each assume.  

While the form of these signs may seem simplistic and obvious, it is important not to overlook their construction as they are representing a greater meaning. But before one can analyze what these symbols stand for, it is necessary to observe the components that create the restroom sign. The pictogram that represents the men's restroom is denoted by a male wearing pants and a shirt above the word "men". The women's restroom is signified by a woman wearing a dress with the word "women" below. The male image is slightly taller than the female's image. Also, the male representation has broader shoulders than the female. It is common for the male to be framed by a blue triangle and for the female to be framed by a blue circle. Also, there appears to be a lack of facial features, hair, and detailed clothing. Finally, the pictograms are infantile; stick figures are used to represent intricate and diverse humans. 

The features of these restroom signs are not trivial. By "de-coding" the form of the restroom signs, it is apparent that the placards uphold the ideologies of only two genders and their respective social roles: the male/female binary. The clothes that the characters are wearing reflect the stereotypical ideology concerning the appropriate style of dress for each gender. Pants have been considered a very masculine article of clothing. In earlier decades, women were not allowed to wear pants because it insinuated that they were on the same level as men. While women are clearly allowed to wear pants today, the bathroom signs do not reflect this and still place women in a subordinate role, as the image is wearing a dress.  I find the shapes that encompasses the male and female pictograms quite interesting. At first, I thought these shapes were just arbitrary, but then I thought back to my Linguistics class that I took last year. In some contexts, a circle symbol represents the womb and female organs so it seems logical for the women's bathroom sign to be a circle. But this again reinforces the ideologies about the social roles that women are stereotyped to perform. Women are now driving forces in the business world and are not constrained to her kitchen and the  baby's nursery, yet the symbol that is suppose to represent them does so in an archaic way. A triangle has traditionally signified a rising force (men being superior to women) or male force. Others might argue that it is a phallic symbol but any of these interpretations can supply an explanation for the triangle bordering the male image. The reason for the lack of facial features, hair, and elaborate clothing are not relevant for the focus of this gender-concerned paper but I feel compelled to briefly  touch upon this. The pictures are devoid of these characteristics to abstain from discriminating against ethnicities. I find it interesting that the images are ambiguous to avoid stereotyping ethnicities but the signs do not take the same precautions to avoid the stereotypes of men and women that our ideologies drive. 

To further illustrate how lavatory signs reinforce social ideologies concerning gender, I would like to introduce the family restroom. The idea of the nuclear family has been popular since the 50's. The idealized family consists of a husband, wife, and child as depicted in the family restroom sign. These days, this structure of a family is not nearly as popular. There are many single mothers, and single fathers, and two women raising a child, and two men raising a child, but according to the family restroom signs, these people are not considered a family. 

As briefly mentioned in the beginning of this paper, a movement for uni-sex restroom signs is heating up across college campuses and office buildings. Many transgendered people feel that his or her safety is endangered every time he or she uses the restroom. According to Patricia Brown, transgender is an umbrella term that can include transsexuals, cross-dressers, and those with fluid androgynous identity who do not consider themselves completely male or female. If a transgender person is in the process of changing genders and uses the facility of his or her preferred gender, problems arise when other occupants in the restroom see his or her contradictory biological sex features. Having gender-neutral bathrooms (which are usually single occupancy) will reduce unnecessary harassment and abuse. I think everyone should be able to pee in peace!

Although bathroom signs seem mundane and basic in their form, they actually reinforce many stereotypes about gender and socially constructed gender roles that are upheld by a quite complex ideological system.  It is very fascinating how a small placard that is bare except for a ambiguous stick figure can have so much meaning behind it. As noted by Professor Case of the University of Chicago, "Very few spaces in our society remain divided by sex. There's marriage and there's toilets and very little else". As same-sex marriages are starting to become recognized, will the conversion to gender-neutral bathrooms also become recognized?

I shall leave you with this video that I thought was funny and represent our reliance on the restroom sign.