Gender and Bathrooms

     Americans have a set idea of what they consider to be male and female.  Most people in the US have certain characteristics that they associate with men and women.  Americans overall agree on the basic beliefs they have on what a man should be like:  have a penis, have broad shoulders, should display a rough and touch attitude, not wear skirts and be the total opposite of women.  Women are characterized by wearing skirts, having bows in their hair, having breasts, having wider hips or smaller waist, having long hair, and being very fragile and delicate. 

All these assumptions can be very hurtful to the people that see them.  If one does not fit the description or the image he or she sees on a sign they maybe have a hard time when using public places that are separated by gender such as bathrooms.  The common signs for restrooms display a very vague outlook on who should be using the facilities.  Not all women wear skirts and in today’s modern world I would guess that on an average day there are more women in the US wearing shorts or pants than there are wearing skirts.  The signs that display women as fragile people with breasts and a skirt made offend or hurt a woman who does not look like the image she sees.  The same thing goes for the male restroom signs. The depiction of men as big and buff with large chests and broad shoulders is very inaccurate and also give a negative and detrimental image to men who do not look like that. 

            There are so many different clothing types, body types, personal styles and different aspects that affect a person’s appearance.  A woman can dress in pants and a collared shirt but still be a woman and use a women’s restroom yet she does not fit the description that the sign portrays.  The reason the signs for bathrooms look the way they do is because of the associations that have been made with each gender.  All the associations are general, but for the most part true.  For example men for the most part don’t wear skirts or the color pink, and women normally don’t have very broad shoulders or stand up when they use the restroom.  Although these associations are true sometimes, the use of such generalizations for signs and separation leaves people with just black and white. Is there not a gray area?  People who are transgender are left having to look at signs that do not depict them at all.

I have never come across problematic signs for gender; most of the ones I see have what they mean written in English below the pictures. I have however seen the all-familiar triangular shaped people, with the shirt for the women and the chest for the men.  I guess I have just been so accustomed to seeing the signs that I never really thought about all the generalizations and assumptions they are basing the pictures on.