Recent Call for Evidence on Toilets

At the end of October, the government released an open consultation with the title, ‘Toilet Provision for Men and Women: a Call for Evidence‘. The original deadline for the consultation was Friday 29th January, but this has now been extended until 11.45pm on 26th February. Jen and Charlotte responded last week. Our response was largely based on findings from our project report and a recent open access journal article which focuses on trans people’s access to toilets.

Like other trans people, organisations, and journalists have pointed out, we situate the framing of this consultation within wider attacks on trans rights, and as an attempt to put the needs of (cis) women and trans people into unnecessary conflict. 

We deliberated as to whether to share our consultation response in full on this blog, and have decided not to at this time. The reasons for this are multiple, but after seeking advice we were especially worried that ‘copy and paste’/template responses to the consultation may not be helpful, as they could be dismissed in bulk and devalue individual submissions.

We are also very aware of the burden put on trans people in responding to government consultations recently, and unsure as to the merits of encouraging others to respond to this (concerns shared by others). However, since the extension of the consultation we have noticed a number of useful threads, commentaries and advice for people who do wish to respond, and we’ll use this blog post as a place to bring some of these together. If you think we’ve missed anything, then feel free to get in touch and let us know. As always, please draw on any of the resources provided on our blog.

In our response, we stressed that we welcome further financial investment in public toilets. However, despite the claims made in the consultation, there is no evidence to suggest that there has been a significant recent increase in gender-neutral toilets, especially at the expense of gendered provisions, which are nearly always provided closeby. We made the case that gender-neutral toilets should be provided as standard alongside gender-seperated toilets, and that they would benefit a range of people, including: parents with children of a different gender; those who care for people of a different gender; and some disabled people who have a personal assistant of a different gender.

Gender-neutral toilets are also viewed as a safer and more comfortable option for some people whose gender is questioned in the toilet, including some transgender and non-binary people, as well as some cisgender people (i.e. people who are not transgender), particularly those who are gender non-conforming and/or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer. These provisions can also be a way of showing recognition that some people aren’t a man or a woman, and aren’t represented by those two options alone.

We suggest that where there isn’t space for both gender-neutral and gender-seperated provision, gender-neutral provision should be prioritised, as is already the case in many small venues, such as coffee shops. Self-contained private gender-neutral toilets with their own sink were the ideal option for many people who spoke to us in our research.

We made some specific suggestions regarding gender-neutral toilet design and signage, following the recommendations in our report. We have also highlighted that there is a need for more (gender-neutral) accessible toilet provision.

Advice on what this consultation is (and isn’t)

• A Twitter thread by Dr. Harry Josephine Giles, who points out that this consultation is not a UK equivalent of the North Carolina ‘Bathroom Bill’ (which prohibits trans people’s use of public toilets that do not match the sex listed on their birth certificates). https://twitter.com/HarryJosieGiles/status/1356237737750364167?s=20

At the current time in the UK there is no legislation or law that dictates who can enter a particular toilet, and this consultation is unlikely to change this position. Social convention, prejudice and marginalisation, however, do impact on trans (and other) people’s access to toilet spaces, and gender-neutral toilets can be helpful in reducing gender policing in the toilet. Many trans people that we spoke to told us of the relief that they felt when they came across a gender-neutral toilet. This consultation relates to building regulations, which may influence the amount of gender neutral toilet provision available, which would, in turn, impact upon some trans (and some cis) people’s access to toilets away from home. Our report provides evidence of useful research which you can cite if you want to.
https://aroundthetoilet.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/around-the-toilet-report-final-1.pdf

Templates & resources to help write a response

Dr. Giles points out that ‘copy and paste’ responses to the consultation are not likely to be helpful, and she suggests that responses from individuals will only be effective if they include personal testimony and/or individual research. This is also in line with the advice that we have been given. However, if you think a template or example of layout, research, and key issues would be helpful to you, please take a look at the guidance below.

• We Exist London has created a template response with space to add personal testimony. If you use this template, we’d encourage you to add your own personal testimony (as a trans or cis person) and, if possible, also change the wording you borrow from the template. https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1cZ4Vw4rfVV2GqF4y3cToIHApxGhpoop38x8FTwkGj0c/mobilebasic
  
• Sisters Uncut Leeds have put together some advice and a list of examples and issues that you may want to address which, if you agree, you can borrow and put into your own words. https://docs.google.com/document/d/16h-k8Z4GHUqD0O5GV2DQZ23A6gXHip_mJ2jdYxobaTE/edit
  
• Gendered Intelligence outlined some of the key messages from their response to the consultation in this useful Twitter thread. It includes a reference to Stonewall’s (2017) Trans Report which has a section about trans people’s experiences of using toilets. It mirrors one of the key points from our own response (and our report): that gender neutral toilets are not only an access need for trans people (although this is important), but also for reasons of parenting, caring, personal assistance, privacy and so on.
  https://twitter.com/Genderintell/status/1356292573330108417
• This template is specifically for the use of people working at venues with public toilets who wish to respond. Some of the text is credited to Gendered Intelligence and We Exist London. As with the above, it’s best to put the text into your own words if possible. (We’re not sure who has written this, but if you made it, and want to be credited, please get in touch) https://docs.google.com/document/d/18fqsJEwHNvNrYkET7i2J3mHMupuXkgMbOF0wYvBcHSM/edit

You may want to include some of the reasons gender neutral toilets are important to you – this could be because of gender policing, but also other reasons, such as those listed above.

One of the underlying arguments used against providing gender-neutral toilet provision is that it is harmful to cis women (women who are not trans), due to the presence of men. Many women do not have a problem sharing a toilet with people of other genders – if you are a cis woman planning to respond, you might want to include your own views and wording to this effect. 

Related journalism and articles

The links below provide some useful information and background to the consultation and its wider context.

• UK Government Accused of Reigniting ‘Culture War’ Over Gender-Neutral Bathrooms, Ruby Lott-Lavigna
  https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3geyv/uk-government-accused-of-reigniting-culture-war-over-gender-neutral-bathrooms
  
• Butch lesbian opens up about ‘increasing harassment’ she faces when she uses public toilets, Jasmine Andersson
  https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/butch-lesbian-public-toilet-women-abuse-government-review-gender-neutral-facilities-833787
  
• TERF Wars: An Introduction, Ruth Pearce, Sonja Erikainen, Ben Vincent
  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038026120934713
  
• The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’, Charlotte Jones and Jen Slater (this is our own open access article, published last year)
  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038026120934697?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.2

Our new toilet project has been funded! Beers, Burgers and Bleach…

We’re excited to announce that the toilet team is back with a new project, ‘Beers, Burgers and Bleach: Hygiene, toilets and hospitality in the context of Covid-19’. This research builds on our work in the Around the Toilet project, where we explored the toilet as a place of exclusion and belonging. Our research findings highlighted the labour carried out by both workers and occupants in the upkeep of toilets, something we recognised as an important area for future research (see our report here).

This new pilot study gives us the opportunity to explore the work involved in cleaning, monitoring, and re-stocking customer toilets in hospitality venues. This comes at a time where concerns about hygiene and viral transmission are heightened, and where many public toilet facilities are permanently closed or temporarily unavailable. Safely preparing and maintaining bars, pubs, cafes, and fast-food venues for use has required significant additional labour for hospitality staff. In collaboration with workers, trade unions and local campaigns, this project responds to rapidly changing circumstances in the sector. Together we will explore the labour involved in new hygiene routines in the time of Covid-19, with particular attention on toilet work, and the impact that additional sanitation measures have had upon the lives of hospitality workers.

The team 

Our research team brings together Dr Charlotte Jones, Dr Jen Slater, Dr Jill Pluquailec and Dr Lauren White. The team comprises diverse interests across critical disability studies, feminist and queer studies, and the sociology of health and illness, as well as academic expertise and activist commitments to trade union organising, and work and employment rights. This collaborative research has been developed and will be carried out in partnership with people at the forefront of these evolving working environments, with outcomes intended to support their wellbeing. The study is funded by a Wellcome Centre Enhanced Research Award. You can find out more about the Centre here. 

More details on the project and how to get involved will be released very soon! In the meantime, please follow us on twitter at @cctoilettalk.

Have you used our Around the Toilet resources? Let us know!

Over the course of the Around the Toilet project, we have produced a range of materials which explore themes relating to the toilet. These materials have covered (in)accessibility, discrimination against queer, trans and disabled people, ableism, religion, gender, sexuality, bodies, parenting, workers’ rights, architecture and design, schools, and toilet ‘training’. 

Throughout the project, we have been keen to support others in using our work, including the materials and resources that we’ve produced. We now want to know if and how you may have used them! For example: 

1. Have you used Around the Toilet findings, resources or materials?

• You may have hosted a screening of our film in your community, school or workplace, or passed a copy of the zine onto your local library. 

• You might be an architect who has used the ‘toilet toolkit’ to get colleagues or students thinking more about toilet design. 

• You may have used our film or report to get colleagues or students thinking more critically about toilet accessibility and design. 

2. Has Around the Toilet helped you to make changes to toilets (or persuaded others to do so)? 

• Our report may have helped you to persuade your university to build more accessible toilets or to make small changes to your current toilets.

• You might be responsible for creating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and have used our project in your work.

3. Has Around the Toilet influenced the way that you think about toilets and toilet design? 

• Perhaps you have thought about some aspects of toilet access before, but the project has introduced you to something new. For instance, you might have already been involved in disability activism for more accessible toilets, but never considered trans people’s toilet access before. 

• You might have never considered toilet accessibility until you came across the toilet project.   

The above are only examples, there may be other ways that you’ve used the project, and we’re keen to hear all of them (however small they seem). If this is you, we’d be really grateful to learn more about it.

Please let us know by completing our short form below. 

https://forms.gle/F7Dc41XBNyCRXgED8

Presenting the Around the Toilet report!

After three years working on the project, today we have published ‘Around the Toilet: a research project report about what makes a safe and accessible toilet space‘.

You can read the full report here, but for a bit of a taster, here’s a summary of our main findings, and why we think toilets matter:

Main findings

• Toilet provision in the UK is currently inadequate for a wide range of people, due to both relational and functional flaws. We need more public toilets, more accessible designs, and different attitudes and ways of understanding the space and our fellow occupants.

• Many trans and disabled people experience significant difficulties in accessing a safe, usable and comfortable toilet away from home.

• Toilets labelled as ‘accessible’ are often in fact inaccessible for many disabled users for a range of reasons.

• There is a lack of toilet research, particularly in the UK, which takes seriously trans people’s experiences of harassment and violence in binary gendered toilets.

• There is a need for more all-gender toilet provision (sometimes known as ‘gender neutral’ toilets). This would benefit a range of people including: parents with children of a different gender; those who care for people of a different gender; some disabled people who have a personal assistant of a different gender; and some people whose gender is questioned in the toilet, including some trans and non-binary people (and, to a lesser extent, some cisgender people).

• A ‘one size fits all’ approach to toilet design doesn’t work – there is no one toilet design to suit all users’ needs. Nevertheless, consideration of all users and moves towards improvement are crucial.

Why toilets matter

Toilets are largely undervalued and trivialised spaces; rarely prioritised in local authority budgets, and often given to the least experienced architects to deal with at the end of the design process. Yet, a lack of access to adequate toilets away from home can result in the following:

• an inability to leave the house, restricting access to wider environment and community, leaving and losing jobs. In other words, not having access to suitable toilets impacts upon people’s fundamental ability to live their lives.

• restrictions upon bodily functions, including reducing food and drink and ‘holding on’ for long periods of time, all of which can have serious health implications.

• feeling socially unrecognised, unworthy, and unwelcome, if toilets do not meet your requirements and/or recognise your identity.

LAUNCH: Designing Toilets Toolkit

The Toilet Design Toolkit is a digital tool designed to support architects, designers, academics and students to critically and creatively rethink notions of access in relation to the toilet design process.

The digital design toolkit is the result of the evolving relationship between architectural education and Around the Toilet. In 2015 the Around the Toilet Live Project at the Sheffield School Architecture raised awareness of the inadequacies of toilet design and students analysed existing building standards and regulations in relation to toilets and accessibility. Through Servicing Utopia, in 2016, we ran workshops with architects to engage with, and explore, the opportunities and challenges related to the design of safe and accessible toilet spaces. Most recently, in 2017/2018, various pedagogical methods have been used and developed in the teaching of a group Masters of Architecture students at Sheffield School of Architecture.

The toolkit has organically developed through the projects interaction with education. It responds to the stories of people involved in the Around the Toilet project for whom accessing a safe and comfortable toilet space is a continual challenge. The toolkit aims support practitioners and students when designing toilets and aims to encourage and empower them to rethink our inadequate and outmoded approach to the design of toilets.

The Toilet Design Toolkit encompasses a range of resources that enable people to engage with toilet design at varying levels of detail and intensity; from alternative CAD toilet templates, to practice exemplars and pedagogical examples. The resource aims to support more informed decision making and creative approaches to toilet design.

The toolkit was developed in conjunction with Live Works, The University of Sheffield School of Architecture’s ‘Urban Room’.

The Toilet Design Toolkit is openly accessible to all at: www.aroundthetoilet.wixsite.com/toiletdesigntoolkit

Places you can read Lift the Lid zine!

Back in January we launched our zine, Lift the Lid – a collection of stories, artwork and musings about toilets and accessibility. As well as reading the zine online, we’ve been posting out hard copies to various organisations and individuals and had some lovely feedback!

Although stocks are definitely running low, we still have some zines left. We’re really keen to get these to places where multiple people can read them – we’re thinking coffee shops and cafes, libraries, hairdressers, doctors waiting rooms, student’s unions and other places where you might pick up some reading material or need something to pass the time! If you know of places that might be interested in having one, they can be requested using this online form (we’re also open to requests from individuals – but please pass it on if you’re finished with it, rather than chuck it in the recycling!)

In the meantime, here are a list of places that you can already read the zine:

• Edinburgh Zine Library, Edinburgh, UK
• La Biblioteka, Sheffield, UK (free to take home, while stocks last!)
• Manchester LGBT Zine Library, Manchester, UK
• Open Barbers, London, UK
• The Wellcome Library, London, UK
• Unrestrooms Exhibition, Kansas, USA

Also soon to be available at:

• Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow, UK
• Salford LGBT Zine Library, Manchester, UK
• The British Library, London, UK
• Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, USA

The Toilet. film now available online!

We’re really excited to announce that our short animated film, The Toilet. is now available to view online! This follows screenings at various international locations including in Reykjavik, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF), Manchester Animation Festival and Together! Disability Film Festival.

The Toilet. is a quirky short animated film that explores the importance of the toilet in feeling comfortable and welcome in everyday life. It illustrates how inaccessible or unsafe toilets affect people in a range of ways, stopping some from leaving the house, and leading others to lose their jobs, or avoid food and drink, and taking day trips and holidays.

Through the stories of trans, Muslim and disabled people, we show how current toilet provisions prioritise some people’s needs at the expense of others. Toilet access is an important social and political issue and we need to fight for change.

We’d love for the film to be used by those campaigning for better toilet access. Let us know what you think either by email (aroundthetoilet@shu.ac.uk), or using the form at the bottom of our materials page.

Produced by Content OD and the Around the Toilet project

Funded by AHRC Connected Communities

Director: David Moore

Animator – Michaela Wozny

Sound/Video Editor – Richard Tissington

Collaborating Producers – Charlotte Jones, Kirsty Liddiard, Gemma Nash and Jen Slater

This film is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For more information see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Lift the Lid: A Zine About Toilets

Everyone has a toilet story. Sometimes they’re funny, told amongst friends and interspersed with laughter from behind coy hands, smiles and blushing faces, and sometimes they’re whispered or guiltily divulged in secrecy or shame. Sometimes they’re spoken casually, or proudly, without deliberation. But often they’re not told at all. We believe these stories and experiences are important, and part of our focus in Around the Toilet has been to share toilet stories and experiences. We’ve done this through film, soundscape, a toolkit for architects and designers… and now we’ve made a zine! 

 

The front cover of the zine, designed by Lisa Procter. It shows a white toilet on a blue background. The cover reads ‘Lift the Lid’.

An article from the zine called Quirky Bladder by Mags Lewis. The article includes a picture of a radar key.

 

In the zine we have collected toilet stories, alongside musings, ideas and opinions about the varied – sometimes mundane, but often crucial – role that toilets play in our lives.

Our work in Around the Toilet started with a focus on different ways of thinking about ‘accessibility’ and exclusion in public space. We argued that current ways of thinking about toilet access are too narrow and generic. Toilet access requires consideration of so many things: mental health, faith, gender, sexuality, race, disability, class, homelessness, workplace and labour rights, fatness, age, parenting, and much more. Toilets need to be designed and used with creativity, diversity and openness, reflecting the bodies, identities and requirements of the people who use them. Toilets need to be better!

This zine opens up conversations on many of these issues from lots of different people with different and sometimes contrasting perspectives – we’ve been so excited to see it take shape, and extremely thankful for the incredible contributions we were sent from all over the UK and Europe. The zine is also a small tribute to our friend, colleague and collaborator, Lisa Procter, who died in November 2017. We are very thankful to our incredible illustrator and designer, Stacy Bias, who has created a zine that we know Lisa would have loved.

Lisa riding her dog, Buddy, through the mountains. A sketch by Stacy Bias.

You can view the zine online here. Although we are unable to send printed copies to individuals, we have a limited number for organisations and collectives. If you would have a use for the zine then get in touch with Jen at j.slater@shu.ac.uk and let us know what you’d like to use it for.

With thanks to the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and Connected Communities for providing the funding to create this zine.

Thank you, Lisa

[Content Note: Death, grief]

It’s with great sadness that we share with you the passing of our wonderful friend and colleague, Lisa Procter. Lisa was one of the original plotters of the Around the Toilet project back in Summer 2014, and has been key to the project’s success and our enjoyment along the way. She brought creativity and vision, a determination to include the voices of children and young people, a knowledge of many disciplines, so much energy, stacks of enthuasism, and, of course, a lot of laughs.

Although we already miss Lisa greatly, we are left with memories of her excitement over new technologies and unusual materials that could be used in workshops; brightly coloured masking tape falling off walls; getting stopped by fashion students in Manchester to take Lisa’s picture (definitely not Jen’s – however much Jen wished it was!); paddling in fountains in Bristol; an eye for perfection – cringing and then re-doing Jen’s wonky attempts at folds and lines; stories of her adventures; and chats over coffees, ciders and beers.

Lisa had a way of getting people doing and thinking without always needing to use words. Somehow she would turn messy ideas into a clear concept in under 3 minutes (preferably with the aid of some sharpies and big paper). She was very willing to take risks and try new things, and always seemed prepared and confident, even in the most precarious or uncertain of circumstances. It was with her encouragement and bravery that we made many of our most exciting and creative decisions in the project.

We can say with certainty that the Around the Toilet project would not have become what it is if it was not for Lisa – and we’re not sure where it will go without her… but wherever it goes, it will be with her in mind, and her influence will always be in our work. For now we will remember Lisa and thank her for her generosity and friendship, and for shaping our ideas and the work that we will continue to do.

Jen and Charlotte x

[An image of three people standing in a row with their arms in the air, looking into the camera with big smiles. They all hold toilet accessories: a toilet brush, signs, wet wipes, body spray and a urine sample cone. L-R: Jen, Lisa, Charlotte]

Whose Body, Whose Space? – Film Screening and Discussion

Monday 6th November 2017, 6pm – 7.45pm
The Workstation, Paternoster Row, Sheffield
Free to attend and all welcome (but please register here)
Facebook event here

This film screening and discussion explores the experiences of queer, transgender, and disabled people living in a society which hasn’t been built for their ease, comfort and safety. How does the design and use of public space teach us who’s welcome and in what form? What are the consequences of pushing some bodies and identities to the margins of society? How would a different society look, and are you ready to join us in the fight for change?

We will show a series of lively short films, including an exclusive Sheffield premiere of a new animation from the Around the Toilet project, which weaves together personal accounts from transgender, disabled and Muslim people. The film illustrates the trials and tribulations of accessing and using public toilets in a society where some are made to feel welcome and others are not. This will be screened alongside films from local and international projects about the discrimination and inequalities faced by a range of people and bodies.

Following the screening we will host a discussion, where you will be invited to share your own stories if you wish to, participate on Twitter, and consider how we can join together to inspire social and spatial change.

A range of non-alcoholic drinks and snacks will be served at the event.

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We are pleased to present the following short films:

The Toilet. (5m)
This quirky animation weaves together personal accounts from trans, disabled and Muslim people, who share the trials and tribulations of accessing and using public toilets in a society where some are made to feel welcome and others are not.

Skeleton in a Beret (7m)
Two trans people talk about how they have actively used videogames as part of how they explore not just their gender, but their skills, self-confidence, and self-expression.

Flying While Fat (6m)
This animation presents the voices of fat passengers as they explain the challenges of fitting into spaces that exclude them both socially and materially. The animation encourages people to empathise with fat people as fellow passengers and human beings, and to think about the political and economic relations that contribute to this exclusion.

Jes Sache – Body Language (3m) and Mel G. Campbell (3m)
Two films produced as part of Poject Re•Vision, which uses disability arts to disrupt the stereotypical understandings of disability and difference that can create barriers to healthcare. Their stories wrestle with ways of representing disability in a culture in which disabled bodies are on display or hidden away; and how film-making allows disabled artists to explore possibilities of ‘looking back’ at ableist gazes.

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, which takes place across the UK from 4-11 November 2017.

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Accessibility Info (please get in touch with any queries)

– The event will be on one flat level and all heavy doors will be propped open for ease of use

– Films will be subtitled and BSL interpreters will be present

– No alcohol will be served at the event, and vegan, vegetarian and gluten free diets will be catered for

– Gender neutral and accessible toilets will be available in the venue

– The nearest Changing Places toilets are located at Sheffield Crucible and Ponds Forge (the Arundel Building toilet is currently out of use)

– Venue is approximately five minutes’ walk from Sheffield train station

– Venue is a short distance from the M1 parkway and Sheffield city centre. The sat nav postcode is S1 2BX.

– There’s a double blue badge parking bay which has space for three cars just outside on Paternoster Row, in-between Workstation and the Showroom cinema. It gives blue badge holders free parking all day.

– There is limited non blue-badge parking on Paternoster Row but there are several car parks in the area. Visitors receive 50% discount for Q Park located on Charles Street, S1 2NJ with an exit voucher at the Box Office or Workstation Reception.

Contact us on aroundthetoilet@shu.ac.uk if you have any questions.