17 Jan Random bathroom post

Jason just explained to me that in men’s bathrooms, there are often pictures of women in bikinis.

“To look at while you’re sitting?”

“No, over the urinals.”

*shiver* I’m not sure i’d want that. And then i realized – in women’s bathrooms, you will often find three kinds of posters. On college campuses, you will often find posters explaining that abuse is not just physical – it is mental and emotional as well. “Does he keep you from spending time with your friends? Does he threaten to kill himself if you leave him?”

The second most common poster, in all kinds of bathrooms, are ones for women’s health and / or birth control. “Be smart, don’t get knocked up,” they remind us as we do the pee-pee dance while standing in long lines.

The third, often in bars, are “No means no.” (Or worse yet, the series of posters that blame women for their excess alcohol consumption for their “inevitable” rape.)

What occurred to both Jason and i is that as we all do our very personal business in very public spaces, women are at once objectified in the men’s bathrooms and taught not to be objects for objectification in the women’s (or at least, if they insist on being objectified, to be smart about it – “Let’s not hold the men responsible – you’re a big girl now,” some of the posters seem to say). It’s like a badly written comedy without a punchline.

Not that toilet posters are to blame for anything in particular… i just found the irony a little too bent to pass up commenting on.

On that note, i’ve been (sometimes) pleasantly (just mostly embarrassedly) surprised by the diligence with which the College bars have condoms readily available. I say ’embarrassedly’ because i have more than once reached into a box expecting one thing  – like gummy bears – and pulled out a condom, instead.