Transitioning while Transitioning; navigating facilities as a transgender student
Transitioning while Transitioning; navigating facilities as a transgender student
When coming to university, the issue of bathrooms can be particularly difficult for transgender students. Take it from three queer first years; the anxiety around knowing what spaces to use is very much real. Gendered bathrooms have become the means of reinforcing distinct gender boundaries, functioning as environments where societal notions of gender identity and associated behaviours are showcased and amplified (McGuire et al., 2021). For transgender people, this can spell trouble- we are often questioned or harassed about using the ‘incorrect’ bathroom, or even barred and refused access to these spaces. Something as simple as using the toilet can become nerve wracking or even dangerous.
Sometimes trans students experience verbal harassment and physical aggression directed toward them in an attempt to access binary-labelled loos (Seelman, 2014; Seelman, 2016; McGuire et al., 2021). Inaccessibility of bathrooms may significantly impact mental well-being and overall academic or work performance by enforcing additional dysphoria and discomfort, fear of being discriminated against or harassed, causing feelings of isolation and exclusion. This apprehension of using gendered facilities may lead to trans people avoiding using bathrooms by limiting their water intake and “holding their bladder” which as a result might be the cause of UTIs, dehydration, and other physical health implications (Price-Feeney et al., 2021; McGuire et al., 2021; Davis, 2017). Often a dash to the loo between lectures, or a trip to a bathroom after a little too much to drink on a night out, can become a situation that many avoid.
In the educational environment, positive bathroom experiences were overwhelmingly linked to access to single-stall, gender-neutral bathrooms (Price-Feeney et al., 2021; , and students transitioning to and in university are probably experiencing similar concerns and apprehension regarding bathroom use. This is why we asked the question of whether Warwick University’s bathrooms are welcoming of transgender and gender non-conforming people and went around some main accessible campus blocks to find it out.
Before we embarked on our quest we checked out the list of gender-neutral university facilities that can be found here:
And it turned out that when inside the building, gender-neutral facilities were very difficult to find as they were not always mapped on the building plan, which made it difficult to find them without having direct access to the phone and knowing about the existence of this website.
Despite having 1 gender-neutral toilet in the building (as can be seen on the website) it wasn’t included on the main “toilets” sign while mapping out the location of gendered facilities.
This is not the only location where gender-neutral bathrooms are present, but their accessibility is reduced because they are difficult to find and are not present on the building’s map. My friend and I, who are both transgender had to hold the doors of the disabled toilet in the sports centre because we couldn’t find gender-neutral bathrooms that cannot be found on the locations map. Which left us thinking that they are simply not there. The library, Business school, Chemistry, Oculus and Rampal buildings have also failed at clearly identifying the presence of any non-gendered toilets.
There are some buildings that have done a much better job at emphasising the presence of gender-neutral facilities: among them is the arts centre, FAB (pictured) which has one clearly indicated on every floor and the Faculty of Sciences. Additionally, the provision of a doctor or therapist’s letter outlining the distress faced by a transgender student using gendered facilities, including a recommendation for gender-neutral bathrooms, can be submitted to wellbeing and disability services, allowing trans students to be guaranteed an en suite bathroom in accommodations, on a case-by-case basis.
However, the inclusivity of the facilities shows that even though the university has attempted to embrace the diversity, the reality is far from being perfect and the bathroom topic still remains open. Some issues that we can note are as follows: in some buildings it is very difficult to find gender-neutral facilities as they are not properly mapped out, somewhere the amount of gender-neutral bathrooms is concerning (for example 1 GN bathroom in a Social sciences building that consists of 4 blocks). This situation might cause a lot of distress among transgender and gender non-conforming students and members of staff.
References
Davis, H. F. (2017). Why the “transgender” bathroom controversy should make us rethink sex-segregated public bathrooms. Politics, Groups and Identities, 6(2), 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2017.1338971
McGuire, J. K., Anderson, S. O., & Michaels, C. (2021). “I don’t think you belong in here:” The impact of gender segregated bathrooms on the safety, health, and equality of transgender people. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 34(1), 40–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2021.1920539
Price-Feeney, M., Green, A. E., & Dorison, S. H. (2021). Impact of bathroom discrimination on mental health among transgender and nonbinary youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(6), 1142–1147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.11.001
Seelman, K. L. (2014). Transgender Individuals’ Access to College Housing and Bathrooms: Findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 26(2), 186–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2014.891091
Seelman, K. L. (2016). Transgender adults’ access to college bathrooms and housing and the relationship to suicidality. Journal of Homosexuality, 63(10), 1378–1399. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1157998
Comments
Post a Comment