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The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’

Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo, Jen Slater

The Sociological Review, Volume: 68, Issue: 4, Pages: 834 - 851

Swansea University Author: Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/0038026120934697

Abstract

As one of the few explicitly gender-separated spaces, the toilet has become a prominent site of conflict and a focal point for ‘gender-critical’ feminism. In this article we draw upon an AHRC-funded project, Around the Toilet, to reflect upon and critique trans-exclusionary and trans-hostile narrati...

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Published in: The Sociological Review
ISSN: 0038-0261 1467-954X
Published: SAGE Publications 2020
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61313
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spelling 2022-10-13T13:03:10.4841403 v2 61313 2022-09-23 The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’ 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f 0000-0002-7348-4662 Charlotte Jones Charlotte Jones true false 2022-09-23 CSSP As one of the few explicitly gender-separated spaces, the toilet has become a prominent site of conflict and a focal point for ‘gender-critical’ feminism. In this article we draw upon an AHRC-funded project, Around the Toilet, to reflect upon and critique trans-exclusionary and trans-hostile narratives of toilet spaces. Such narratives include ciscentric, heteronormative and gender essentialist positions within toilet research and activism which, for example, equate certain actions and bodily functions (such as menstruation) to a particular gender, decry the need for all-gender toilets, and cast suspicion upon the intentions of trans women in public toilet spaces. These include explicitly transmisogynist discourses perpetuated largely by those calling themselves ‘gender-critical’ feminists, but also extend to national media, right-wing populist discourses and beyond. We use Around the Toilet data to argue that access to safe and comfortable toilets plays a fundamental role in making trans lives possible. Furthermore, we contend that – whether naive, ignorant or explicitly transphobic – trans-exclusionary positions do little to improve toilet access for the majority, instead putting trans people, and others with visible markers of gender difference, at a greater risk of violence, and participating in the dangerous homogenisation of womanhood. Journal Article The Sociological Review 68 4 834 851 SAGE Publications 0038-0261 1467-954X bathroom; feminism; gender critical; TERF; transphobia 1 7 2020 2020-07-01 10.1177/0038026120934697 COLLEGE NANME Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy COLLEGE CODE CSSP Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The Around the Toilet project was funded by the AHRC Connected Communities programme (AH/M00922X/1 and AH/P009557/1), and Charlotte is now funded by the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health (203109/Z/16/Z). 2022-10-13T13:03:10.4841403 2022-09-23T17:09:45.8241589 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Charlotte Jones 0000-0002-7348-4662 1 Jen Slater 2 61313__25442__c4023e5fcbe848c1bc7d17181fbd6b40.pdf 61313_VoR.pdf 2022-10-13T13:01:57.2469681 Output 105688 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
spellingShingle The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
Charlotte Jones
title_short The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
title_full The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
title_fullStr The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
title_full_unstemmed The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
title_sort The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’
author_id_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f_***_Charlotte Jones
author Charlotte Jones
author2 Charlotte Jones
Jen Slater
format Journal article
container_title The Sociological Review
container_volume 68
container_issue 4
container_start_page 834
publishDate 2020
institution Swansea University
issn 0038-0261
1467-954X
doi_str_mv 10.1177/0038026120934697
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description As one of the few explicitly gender-separated spaces, the toilet has become a prominent site of conflict and a focal point for ‘gender-critical’ feminism. In this article we draw upon an AHRC-funded project, Around the Toilet, to reflect upon and critique trans-exclusionary and trans-hostile narratives of toilet spaces. Such narratives include ciscentric, heteronormative and gender essentialist positions within toilet research and activism which, for example, equate certain actions and bodily functions (such as menstruation) to a particular gender, decry the need for all-gender toilets, and cast suspicion upon the intentions of trans women in public toilet spaces. These include explicitly transmisogynist discourses perpetuated largely by those calling themselves ‘gender-critical’ feminists, but also extend to national media, right-wing populist discourses and beyond. We use Around the Toilet data to argue that access to safe and comfortable toilets plays a fundamental role in making trans lives possible. Furthermore, we contend that – whether naive, ignorant or explicitly transphobic – trans-exclusionary positions do little to improve toilet access for the majority, instead putting trans people, and others with visible markers of gender difference, at a greater risk of violence, and participating in the dangerous homogenisation of womanhood.
published_date 2020-07-01T04:20:04Z
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score 11.01288

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