“I want to be able to go to the bathroom, and not think about going to the bathroom, and not having to be paranoid, or think about which one do I go to, or who’s going to look at me weird in this bathroom… it’s psychological trauma, it’s spiritual trauma,” said Khon Su, a senior at Lang studying arts in context, visual arts and gender studies. “Why should I have to think about that?”
Since 2011, The New School has been converting some of the mens’ and womens’ restrooms on campus into all-gender bathrooms. The New School’s FAQ page about the University Center said, “each academic level has two restrooms; many of which are all-gender.” Some students, including Khon Su, therefore, were surprised when they discovered there were two all-gender bathrooms, one on the first and seventh floors, in the entire building.
There are a total of 14 restrooms in the University Center. Six of the bathrooms are designated for women, six for men and two for all genders.
Vivian Carlson, a junior at Parsons majoring in photography, was frustrated and disheartened when they saw all but two of the bathrooms in the University Center were gendered. Carlson identifies as neutrois and binds their chest depending on how they feel on a day to day basis. A person identifying as neutrois feels gender neutral, but also feels closer to one side, in Carlson’s case the feminine side, of the gender spectrum. “Am I the only one who thought all the bathrooms were supposed to be gender neutral?” said Carlson.
Gender specific bathrooms are designed to cater to a particular gender; for instance, men’s restrooms have urinals, while women’s’ restrooms have tampon dispensers and trash receptacles. In an all-gender bathroom, all of the design components that are necessary for anyone to use the restroom are present, so that people of all gender identities can use the facility comfortably. The Transgender Law Center published, “Peeing In Peace: A Resource Guide For Transgender Activists and Allies,” which defines all-gender bathrooms as “a bathroom that anyone with any gender can use.”
Students say the issue is not confined to the University Center and extends to the rest of the all-gender bathrooms on campus. Here, the issue is not the amount of all-gender bathrooms in the rest of the academic buildings, but some say the converted all-gender bathrooms are unsatisfactory because only the signs have changed. The bathrooms are still designed with a specific gender in mind and replacing the sign on the door cannot change that.
Two faculty members from the Social Justice Committee formed a committee in 2011 of administrators, professors and students to integrate all-gender bathrooms on campus.* That fall, the committee decided 16th Street would be the first building to introduce all-gender bathrooms, and which bathrooms would be converted for all to use. According to the committee, there are no immediate plans to convert more bathrooms to all-gender across campus.
Students like Carlson prefer using all-gender bathrooms. “That way I don’t have to worry about which one I’m going into depending on how I’m presenting myself that day,” they said. “I definitely do get looks if decide to go into the women’s restroom if I bind my chest that day and have no chest at all.”
Some people say that even in the converted bathrooms they don’t feel comfortable. Carlson said they recently had an unpleasant experience in a converted bathroom in Arnhold Hall. Carlson said they were standing at the mirror when a male student came into the all-gender bathroom, previously a men’s room, looked at their bound chest, and told Carlson that “girls are supposed to have tits.”
Andrea Goldston, a junior at Lang, said everyone still remembers which bathroom used to be the men’s or women’s room. Goldston also said he has been subjected to verbal harassment and double takes in men’s bathrooms because he sometimes wears lipstick and nail polish. He told the Free Press why changing the gendered bathroom signs to all-gender facilities was not a sufficient solution.
“A lot of these spaces aren’t all-gender spaces because they don’t allow the kind of privacy that a bathroom that fits everybody has, like the default requires more privacy than particularly the urinals,” said Goldston.
In combination with the lack of all-gender bathrooms on campus, students are bothered because the converted all-gender bathrooms are still gender specific. “One of the things that is frustrating, that is out of our control, is that changing the signs doesn’t change the culture around bathrooms,” said Khon Su.
According to Linda Reimer, senior vice president for student services, the changes, even as they are so far, haven’t been easy. Reimer was an active participant on the all-gender bathrooms committee from 2011. Reimer said she was involved in planning which bathrooms in the 16th street building and Arnhold Hall would be converted to all-gender restrooms.
“In the 16th street building we did one men’s room and one women’s room, and on the next floor two all-genders, so you had a floor of gender specific and a floor of all-genders,” said Reimer. “In 55 West 13th St. we decided to mix it up so every floor had an all-gender and every second bathroom was either a men’s or a women’s, and the idea was we’d see which system worked best.”
In an informal survey conducted through Facebook and New School email by the Free Press, out of the 45 students that responded, 29 percent said there should be more all-gender bathrooms on campus, 13 percent said that all of the bathrooms should be all-gender, and seven percent said there should be no all-gender bathrooms. When asked if changing the sign on a gendered bathroom to an all-gender sign was an efficient conversion, 60 percent of students said no.
Reimer said there were mixed reviews in response to the all-gender bathrooms, but overall people who were uncomfortable at first adjusted. She also said that, although negative feedback was minimal, some of the all-gender signs were torn down and had to be replaced. “We haven’t educated the community as best as we can as far as the reasoning behind this.”
Addressing the lack of all-gender bathrooms in the University Center, Reimer said the committee spoke with the Vice President of Design and Construction, Lia Gartner, who told them the structure of the bathrooms was already built.
Gartner said the design of the building was completed before the committee responsible for integrating all-gender bathrooms tried to incorporate them into the University Center.
“At the time the issue was raised, the building design was sufficiently set that it was impossible to change the infrastructure to make the bathrooms any different than they were, which complied with the New York City building code,” said Gartner.
Gartner also explained that the bathrooms were designed with as much privacy as possible. The stall doors are low to the floor and are tall enough so that no one can look over. There are also no gaps between the stall walls and door so that no one can see into the stall.
Director of Campus Planning, Michael Joy, was also a part of the committee responsible for the all-gender bathrooms integration on campus. Joy said incorporating all-gender restrooms became impossible because of NYC Plumbing Code, PC 403.2. This building code requires designated gendered restrooms correlating to the amount of people using the facilities.
On January 29, the Feminist Collective held a meeting about the lack of all-gender restrooms in the University Center and voted to change the mens’ and womens’ restrooms on the fifth floor into all-gender bathrooms. After the meeting, Joy taped temporary all-gender signs over the men’s and women’s bathrooms. According to Joy, the all-gender signs have been torn down multiple times since. They have not been replaced.
Two semesters ago, a Parsons class titled Designing for Non-Profits created new signs for the university’s all-gender bathrooms. Julia Gorton, assistant professor of communication design, assigned her students to create new all-gender signs after members of the Social Justice Committee visited the class to discuss the politics and language associated with all-gender facilities. However, the signs have not been used because the university is still deciding which student’s design to use and where to put it, according to Reimer.
“One student came in the next week completely passionate about how wrong this is,” said Gorton, referring to student discomfort in gendered bathrooms. “I’ll never forget between week one when everybody was just [indifferent], and week two when she stood up and just ‘this is wrong, we have to do something about this.’”
Gabrielle Guglielmelli, a student in the Design for Nonprofit class, said she was originally overwhelmed with all of the politics accompanying the all-gender facilities. After learning about all-gender bathrooms Guglielmelli said she dove into the project.
“Honestly, during my entire experience here at Parsons, I think that was the most emotional, and most passionate project I’ve ever done,” said Guglielmelli. “After talking to the students and hearing all their stories, feeling how uncomfortable they were, and not being able to go to the bathroom without being comfortable, I just thought was not okay; this is your school; this should be a safe space.”
Nathaniel Phillipps is a masters student at The New School for Public Engagement who identifies as a cisgender male. Cisgender means one’s gender identity corresponds with the gender they were assigned at birth. Phillipps feels comfortable using the men’s restroom, but is disappointed in the lack of all-gender bathrooms in the University Center.
“There’s more to the restroom than just the signage, it’s the actual layout of the space that’s important as well,” said Phillipps. “Since the community was told [all-gender bathrooms] would be available, I think it’s lazy and unfortunate on the part of whoever is responsible, that all-gender bathrooms weren’t available on day one.”
Phillipps said he would be uncomfortable if there weren’t any all-gender bathrooms on campus, because of The New School’s progressive reputation. “I don’t want the administration to pat itself on the back and say we have all-gender bathrooms and we’re so inclusive and we support the LGBTQ students,” he said. “There’s a lot more that needs to happen than just having all-gender bathrooms to make sure everyone feels safe and welcome on our campus.”
Additional reporting by: Charlotte Woods
The Free Press respects the preferred gender pronouns (PGPs) of subjects interviewed, and has accordingly used the PGPs they/them/theirs. Please see the editorial for more details.
*Originally the article said: “The Assistant Vice President for Student Campus Life, Tom McDonald, formed a committee in 2011 of administrators, professors and students to integrate all-gender bathrooms on campus.” It was brought to our attention by Christopher Chafin that this is inaccurate. Accordingly this has been corrected.
Shea Carmen Swan is a junior at Lang, majoring in Journalism + Design, minoring in Gender Studies. With 4 semesters of Free Press under her belt, she enjoys writing all things LGBTQIA and currently writes for Posture Magazine, a queer arts publication. Kyriacrchy.wordpress.com & Soilscript.wordpress.com host most of her literary work.
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