pantryslut: (Default)
pantryslut ([personal profile] pantryslut) wrote2011-03-12 01:38 pm

The Patriarchy Is Insidious That Way

Strange things I have learned today: there is no configuration of "carbon-based" vs. "silicon-based" as add-ons to the standard gendered restroom signs that does not subtly recapitulate problematic tropes about the nature of men vs. women.

(not to mention the equally subtle one about triangles vs. circles, which my daughters have recently brought to my attention due to Simone's repeated desire to "go to the triangle room.")

[identity profile] pantryslut.livejournal.com 2011-03-13 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
And so I can't remember if, in the original incident, the standard restroom signs were *replaced* or not. Because that's what I noticed: it has a different effect in each case.
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)

[personal profile] redbird 2011-03-13 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
If I recall correctly, Raphael was prompted to do this by a pair of single-stall restrooms that had no gender labels, either words or drawings. But I am working from distant memory.