Originally shared by Yonatan Zunger
Beyond the history lesson in the NAACP’s amicus brief – something I highly recommend you read about in the linked article – this photo contains another interesting bit of history. Note the three categories of restroom: “Ladies,” “Men,” and “Colored.”
There’s a lot we could say about the difference in register between “ladies” and “men,” or default whiteness, but what I find really interesting is that gender segregation if restrooms was exclusive to white restrooms. The entire notion that this separation was required was tied up with race: protecting the sensitivities of (white) women, protecting (white) women against the horrible depredations of men (of all races), or even the loss of status and embarrassment of letting it be known that (white) women can, actually, fart. Colored women, it was implied, are immune to such things or need no more protection against it than farm animals do.
In an era where gender segregation of restrooms is a major issue – and like with racial segregation in the past, being used as a tool to keep people excluded from society as a whole (you can’t go to school, or work, or engage politically, if there’s nowhere you can use the restroom without being arrested or worse!) – it’s important to recall that the entire idea of gender segregation of restrooms is a fairly recent innovation. The restrooms in your home, for example, are probably still not gender-segregated, nor are the ones on aircraft.