What do bathroom signs tell us about society and gender?

This visual survey of how businesses signal their designated “male” and “female” restrooms is pretty revealing in terms of dominant narratives about gender. 

As much as I find these bathroom-door distinctions to be wholly unnecessary, downright offensive,
and a serious safety threat for trans men and women, the examples below (and many more on other blogs) function as a fascinating sort of Rorschach test for how a culture depicts the gender binary.

So, what are these signs telling us?

Gender is about how you have sex! Hetero, P-in-va-G sex! (Or, tops on the right, bottoms on the left?)

It’s about your genitalia! (Umm, unless the one on the right is a hairy anus. In which case, yay for gender-neutral restrooms!)

It’s about how you pee! (In fairness, the left side could theoretically be for people going No. 2 and the right side for people using P-Mates.)

It’s about what you wear! (This could be a good way to go, actually: Choose the door that matches your gender presentation. Though I don’t think that’s quite how they meant it…)

In some cities (including D.C.),
human
rights law forbids discrimination against transgender men and
women in public accommodations — which means this sort of restroom segregation should be banned. Really, how hard is
it for businesses to just have two restrooms with functional locks,
each labeled “restroom”?

(via Alice)

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