IU Bloomington: Gender Neutral Restrooms

A story in the Indiana Daily Student about the recent conversion of some dorm restrooms to gender neutral:

 

 

Restrooms for everybody

 

14 residence hall bathrooms now 'gender neutral'

By Chip Cutter | Indiana Daily Student | Thursday, February 08, 2007

 

Some single-stall restrooms on campus have gotten a name change -- from "male" or "female" to "gender neutral."

The signage switch is designed to make the restrooms more inclusive to transgender students, said Barry Magee, assistant director of diversity education for Residential Programs and Services.

RPS spearheaded the effort.

"We want to be accommodating to people who have various gender identities," Magee said. "Some people, whether they identify as transgender or not, don't feel as comfortable with that (male or female) label."

Outside a gender-neutral bathroom at the Wright Place food court, most students said they had never heard of the new restrooms.

"I didn't even know that was there," said Mandy Scott, a freshman exploratory major who lives in the building. "I guess it's good because whenever I have to go (use the restroom) all I can really find is the men's room, so now we're set."

Others said the sign switch was confusing.

"I thought it was weird," said Pablo Navarrete, a freshman biology major. "I didn't expect it."

The 14 restrooms, converted in late December, are located in 10 University residence halls -- all but Eigenmann. They are open to the public and can be locked from the inside.

And that kind of privacy is crucial, advocates say, for students who feel uncomfortable or threatened in large, communal restrooms.

Carol Fischer, an assistant in IU's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services office, said transgender students might be attacked or ridiculed in some restrooms, particularly if they look different from the average man or woman. The gender-free spaces, she said, provide a safe haven against such harassment.

"It's a comfort thing. It's a safety thing. It's a security thing," she said.

The new restrooms also come at a time when the number of transgender students is increasing, Fischer said. While no hard statistics exist, Fischer estimates that there are about 100 transgender students at IU, which includes transsexuals, cross-dressers and those who simply identify somewhere between the male or female dichotomy.

"It was always assumed that people went from one (gender) to the other," Fischer said. "A lot of people are stepping forward and saying, 'We don't buy into this binary system.'"

Senior Nick Clarkson is one of those people. The gender-studies major completed a sex surgery more than two years ago to transition from female to male.

He says the restroom experience can be one of the most traumatizing for transgender individuals, and he supports the new "gender neutral" restrooms.

"There are lot of trans people that just make a point of not going to the bathroom in public," he said. "I think it really facilitates transition (between sexes) to have that private, undesignated space to go."

Some say the effort doesn't extend far enough.

"It should go across campus," said Kim Ruggles, an executive of OUT, a campus GLBT support group. "It's about time."