A Pennsylvania school added a gender neutral bathroom (in addition to "girls" and "boys") not my favorite solution. But then they also put a window in it. (?)
School bathrooms are. .. weird. If you haven't worked in a school you might not know: schools tend to have separate bathrooms for children/adults. For the very small children the toilets are smaller, the sinks are lower. Which is a thoughtful touch IMO.
With the older students its to avoid "appearances of impropriety" 1/
It's always struck me as unfortunate people think this is needed. That it had to be put in place culturally because of what I can only assume was sexual abuse.
The separate bathrooms do create an adult-free space for teens where they can clear their head, cry, I don't think it's terrible.
Back to this PA school. They have put a window in ONLY the "gender neutral" bathroom because they think boys & girls will use it to make out. (No, I don't think anyone has told them that gay tweens exist.)
@futurebird I read this article a while back. The claim in it is that the start of public bathrooms separated by sex had to do with anxiety over “women’s place in the world” in other words, whether (I’m guessing white middle & upper class) women should be in public spaces. The article is a bit short, but there’s a link to a book.
I’m not clear on whether there were actual incidents that prompted the separation or if it was hypothetical danger.
@gannet @futurebird there wasn’t joined toilets and then seperate toilets. there was men’s toilets and women not being able to be in public until the first women’s public toilets
@bri_seven @gannet @futurebird you can imagine how confused and mad people were at Sweden pouring millions of dollars to build girls toilets in Afghanistan. While at the same time moving towards gender neutral restrooms as default domestically.
