I wrote this post and made the included graphic yesterday in a moment of what I call using humor for self-preservation. I was frustrated with the gender neutral bathroom sign “debate” and reached my tipping point. But, as several people have pointed out, like Fenix in the comments of that post, maybe it’s not such a terrible idea:
You joke, but I’ve read dozens of articles on this subject, and you are the first to propose that the sign on the door (uniformly identified as the primary problem with gender-neutral bathrooms) be a picture of what’s on the other side of the door.
Like all problems, the answer is obvious only after someone like yourself comes up with it.
Thank you
Someone else commented on Facebook with a link to Sara Hendren’s reinvisioned “handicapped sign” (thanks, Eric!). Two roads diverged in an interwebz wood, and I — I mashed them into this. Wanna play along?
Print one of the signs below and attach it to any single-stall, individual bathroom you see in your community that is currently (and unnecessarily) gendered.
Take a picture with your phone, and post it to the IPM Facebook Wall. Share a story. I’d love to read this, and create a collection of them.
If you’d like, add this link to the bottom of your sign (and we can track how many people read it): www.bit.ly/genderneutral
Oh, and share/like/tweet/comment below if you’re going to play along. Let me know what else you need from me.
The Super-High-Resolution Gender Neutral Bathroom Sign
And in white on black:
Leave a comment below or on my Facebook Page and let me know how it goes!
I’m really looking forward to hearing back from y’all. Let’s see if we can shake up this issue, and help folks realize that a toilet is a toilet is a toilet is a place where we poop. Everyone poops. Everyone deserves to have a place to feel safe doing so.
Help me take this discussion out of the internet and into your real-life world. Conversation leads to empathy. Empathy leads to progress.
sK
Bonus! (made this for my bathroom, but figured I would share)
Finally, the sign in my personal favorite color, Nic Cage:
