peripheries

First non-gendered toilet facility at Manchester Uni

October 1st, 2008 | by Admin |

The Thai did it first and now the UK follows with the introduction of de-sexualised toilets to cater for transexual people. But the re-branding of female toilet into unisex or non-gendered toilets in the basement of the Union Building of the University of Manchester is creating quite a stir.

“Political correctness gone mad” write Student Direct, the university student newspaper:

“The ‘non-gendered’ facilities will be provided for all those men who do not ‘self-identify’ as men, and all those women who do not think of themselves as women. This potty parity is good news for all those students who’ve always fancied a bit of titillation in the bathroom, but may have been put off by the awkwardness of entering the Ladies’ or Gents’ hand in hand.”

In the Manchester Evening News, Jennie Killip, the women’s officer at the students’ union, who put forward the idea of installing the new signs said: “The idea is that trans-gender people feel more comfortable using their student union. Trans-gender people can face violence and abuse when they go into toilets and we wanted to provide a place where they can feel comfortable.”

Susannah Birkwood, Student Direct’s editor, said the editorial was meant to be “mischievous” rather than “transphobic“, and the paper has refused to run a retraction or apology, The Guardian reports.

But one can’t satisfy everybody. Jane McConnell, a second-year literature and linguistics student and news editor on the Student Direct student newspaper said “While these signs might be appropriate for people with different sexualities in the community of the University of Manchester, I also think that many people from different religious and ethnic groups are going to feel uncomfortable using these facilities. I think they might believe the university union aren’t reflecting their beliefs and choices and that they are going to feel very uncomfortable using these toilets.”

Should one soon expect request for religious toilets where followers of a particular religion will feel safe to engage in a natural activity amongst fellow worshippers without the risk of sharing facilities that have been spoiled by profane users?