Jake Paiva

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Fairchild, Emily

Keywords

Sex-Segregation, Public Restrooms, Gender Non-Conformity

Area of Concentration

Sociology, Gender Studies

Abstract

This thesis explores public opinions of sex-segregated restrooms and reactions to gender non-conforming individuals in these gendered spaces via open-ended surveys distributed in downtown Sarasota, FL. The emerging arguments for sex-segregated restrooms bring up seemingly practical concerns: safety, privacy, and cleanliness. However, these concerns are raised in the context of necessitating gender separation by individuals who exist in a gendered society, and are thus indicative of a larger set of underlying societal attitudes and beliefs about sex and gender. These attitudes convey a conceptualization of women as more vulnerable and needy than men, in terms of protection, quality of facilities, and environments, as well as a conceptualization of men as more self-sufficient, but also more dangerous and disorderly. Though participants did not seem to mind the presence of individuals of unclear assigned sex, some expressed suspicion and discomfort with the presence of individuals whose perceived sex did not align with their gender presentation. This study demonstrates the powerful effect of institutionalized difference in shaping conceptualizations of sex and gender.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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