Dudes in the Girls'
So I stop in the restroom outside my first class, and as I exit, I pass a guy walking in. A guy.
Though startled, I managed to alert him, "That's the girls' restroom."
He stopped, looked at me, looked at the door, and looked at the location of the sinks.
"You're right," he said and immediately jumped over to the boys' room right next to the girls', kind of laughing to himself as he did.
Still rather startled, I stared after him, but then went on to my class.
An hour later I'm waiting outside the same classroom, outside the same two bathrooms, waiting to meet up with a friend. And I see a professor do the same thing.
"That's the girls'," I stated.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I thought the sinks looked different!" And then he, too, immediately jumped over to the boys' room beside.
And it is the coincidence of these two events corresponding with my presence for both which signals to me that today will be no ordinary day.
P.S.
The curious thing is, I wasn't offended by the incident or anything. I mean, I wasn't thinking about it in terms of "you can't go in there because you're a boy!" but rather in terms of "I'm assuming you don't want to go in there because you are a boy, and it will be socially embarrassing and awkward if you do." As both incidents occurred, I instantly remembered an article I read last semester for Men and Masculinities that talked about how it is no where written in stone that there are only two genders, only male and female, that there are two genders because that is how society constructs the perception of gender. The article argued that any number of genders could/do exist, but that they are just not presently recognized as so. The writer brought up the issue of the male and female-labeled bathrooms as a point of unfairness, in a way, because it forces people to choose a gender with which they identify, but for some that gender does not necessarily match what society expects/wants. For example, someone who views themselves as a female in a male body may feel uncomfortable adhering to the tradition/rule that she must use the male bathroom anyway because it would not appropriate for a penis to be in a women's restroom. The article focused quite a bit on these restroom politics, challenging the notion that boys' and a girls' rooms should exists at all, proposing, instead, for an all-gender bathroom.
Anyway, that's what I remembered as the above two situations unfolded, and strangely enough this article about something I don't know anything about influenced my immediate reaction to these two men. Which is pretty darn cool, I think, despite my surprise to find them going anywhere near a women's restroom.
P.P.S.
Talk about a couple of conversations stating nothing but the obvious. haha
Though startled, I managed to alert him, "That's the girls' restroom."
He stopped, looked at me, looked at the door, and looked at the location of the sinks.
"You're right," he said and immediately jumped over to the boys' room right next to the girls', kind of laughing to himself as he did.
Still rather startled, I stared after him, but then went on to my class.
An hour later I'm waiting outside the same classroom, outside the same two bathrooms, waiting to meet up with a friend. And I see a professor do the same thing.
"That's the girls'," I stated.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I thought the sinks looked different!" And then he, too, immediately jumped over to the boys' room beside.
And it is the coincidence of these two events corresponding with my presence for both which signals to me that today will be no ordinary day.
P.S.
The curious thing is, I wasn't offended by the incident or anything. I mean, I wasn't thinking about it in terms of "you can't go in there because you're a boy!" but rather in terms of "I'm assuming you don't want to go in there because you are a boy, and it will be socially embarrassing and awkward if you do." As both incidents occurred, I instantly remembered an article I read last semester for Men and Masculinities that talked about how it is no where written in stone that there are only two genders, only male and female, that there are two genders because that is how society constructs the perception of gender. The article argued that any number of genders could/do exist, but that they are just not presently recognized as so. The writer brought up the issue of the male and female-labeled bathrooms as a point of unfairness, in a way, because it forces people to choose a gender with which they identify, but for some that gender does not necessarily match what society expects/wants. For example, someone who views themselves as a female in a male body may feel uncomfortable adhering to the tradition/rule that she must use the male bathroom anyway because it would not appropriate for a penis to be in a women's restroom. The article focused quite a bit on these restroom politics, challenging the notion that boys' and a girls' rooms should exists at all, proposing, instead, for an all-gender bathroom.
Anyway, that's what I remembered as the above two situations unfolded, and strangely enough this article about something I don't know anything about influenced my immediate reaction to these two men. Which is pretty darn cool, I think, despite my surprise to find them going anywhere near a women's restroom.
P.P.S.
Talk about a couple of conversations stating nothing but the obvious. haha