Blogs Dec 22, 2010 at 10:15 am

I'm Still Trying To Work This Out

Dan Savage
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Comments

1
Still: nice font and correct spelling. Every cloud...
sevendaughters on December 22, 2010 at 10:26 AM Report this
2
I bet you went out drinking with Charles last night.
wisepunk on December 22, 2010 at 10:33 AM Report this
3
It's San Francisco. That explains everything.
Fifty-Two-Eighty on December 22, 2010 at 10:33 AM Report this
4
It would be nice to just call it a "restroom" or a "toilet," but it's reassuring to indicate gender-neutrality since many public restrooms still discriminate based on gender, and those restrooms are not safe for many people.

There's a huge national database for gender-neutral restrooms called "Safe2pee."

http://safe2pee.org
raku on December 22, 2010 at 10:36 AM Report this
5
I just used Safe2Pee to locate the nearest gender-neutral restroom to my parents. It's over 200 miles away, but fortunately it is where I attend university. If I can just hold my bladder until the new year...
sevendaughters on December 22, 2010 at 10:42 AM Report this
6
Some alternative suggestions:
'Anyone can use this bathroom'
'All-inclusive bathroom'
'The People's Bathroom'
"You can use this bathroom if you promise not to pee on the floor."
atlantaqueer on December 22, 2010 at 10:42 AM Report this
7
I thought only words could have gender...
Beetlecat on December 22, 2010 at 10:44 AM Report this
8
I first read this as a notification from "The Gender" (presumably the name of the establishment), notifying its customers that its free restroom was closed for painting.

You really shouldn't put whitespace around your hyphens, else they start looking like an emdash.
Chip on December 22, 2010 at 10:48 AM Report this
9
Still in San Francisco, clearly...
bleedingheartlibertarian on December 22, 2010 at 10:50 AM Report this
10
"Free," when used after a word, means "doesn't have," like "Honey, I'm STI free!" Right? So how could "Gender-free" mean all-inclusive? And how do you know bathrooms don't have genders? That's mighty bathroom-ist of you.

PS As a Xmas present to slog, pretty please post a Youtube video of yourself "slightly tipsy," I'm betting it would be a gem...
Canuck on December 22, 2010 at 11:06 AM Report this
11
Free your gender in the open-painted restroom.
CommonKnowledge on December 22, 2010 at 11:10 AM Report this
12
Good point. In that vein, I'd like to propose that we start calling them "bisexual toilets" or "sexless toilets".
long-time reader on December 22, 2010 at 11:11 AM Report this
13
I'm all for single toilet washrooms being gender free, but in, say a club or a bar? Do I really want to share a restroom with drunken men? ya, not really. You know who wouldn't find gender neutral toilets great? All the muslim girls at my uni. Not so great. It would be nice to have one or two here or there, but the idea that all toilets being 'gender-free', I haven't heard any evidence to sway me to thinking that's a goo idea.
Caralain on December 22, 2010 at 11:17 AM Report this
14
The co-ed bathrooms in my college were rarely sex-free.
Rach3l on December 22, 2010 at 11:20 AM Report this
15
Goes to show the universal principle: when signage makes too much of an effort to be nice, anyone who's not Canadian or Scandinavian is going to lash out. The "Don't Come In" (pioneered by Re-Bar and copied by Cha-Cha) remains the paragon of how to do it.

P.S. Canuck, I have to say I can live without a selfvid of Dan, slightly tipsy, looking for somewhere in SF to drop a deuce.
gloomy gus on December 22, 2010 at 11:29 AM Report this
16
Love the cookie recipe today, Dan.

Also, what Caralain said @13.
Will in Seattle on December 22, 2010 at 11:36 AM Report this
17
The identity politics of the 90's are alive (or at least undead) in SF.
eclexia on December 22, 2010 at 11:43 AM Report this
18
Ew, gus! I didn't mean of the bathroom stuff, oik! I was thinking sitting at a table, making jokes, doing a little upper-body dancing when "Bad Girls" comes on...
Canuck on December 22, 2010 at 11:52 AM Report this
19
It should have said, "Our all-inclusive pooper is closed for maintenance."
Drosophila on December 22, 2010 at 11:58 AM Report this
20
(Canuck, I know you didn't! I couldn't help the purposeful twisting to get at my lame joke, is all....)
gloomy gus on December 22, 2010 at 12:04 PM Report this
21
gus, your jokes are nevah lame. They are completely fabulous, always.
Canuck on December 22, 2010 at 12:11 PM Report this
22
@6 - ha ha! Yes, y es... the Bundesbathroom!
@8 - Yeh, poor hyphen placement.
@12 - Sex-free toilets! No, waitwaitwait, that's no fun...

FWIW, My work has "Gender Neutral" toilets and Women's toilets. Just those two. I feel kinda proud using the Gender Neutral toilets all the time. :)
treacle on December 22, 2010 at 12:17 PM Report this
23
@13 Please never use the word "goo" when talking about a bathroom. Even if it was a mistake. Thank you.
wisepunk on December 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM Report this
24
What the fook wrong with "shitter", princess?
Fox in Socks on December 22, 2010 at 1:56 PM Report this
25
@ 23 as long as you stop referring to washrooms as bathrooms... unless seattle is WAY more progressive than I thought!
It was on the edge of the page so I didn't notice, and trusty spell checka thinks goo is indeed a word. henceforth, I shall attempt to keep 'goo' out of my bathroom discussions.
Caralain on December 22, 2010 at 5:33 PM Report this
26
Damnit, why hasn't the White House solved this gender-free bathroom painting problem already!
Andy Niable on December 22, 2010 at 5:37 PM Report this
27
@26 good to see you here, aac.

padawan mike
mikeyg on December 23, 2010 at 12:51 AM Report this
28
Like.
BmuthafuckinRad on December 23, 2010 at 5:19 PM Report this
29
I have never understood gender-identified restrooms...most of us share restrooms with both sexes in our homes, why not elsewhere? If it's a cleanliness issue, that's an entirely separate issue from the gender of the people using the restroom.
on December 28, 2010 at 11:43 AM Report this

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