Pissing in Peace: Gender and Toilets on WWC Campus
Becca Boynton | December 1, 2022
Warren Wilson College (WWC) has long advocated for its LGBTQ+ students and faculty. With various organizations such as WIDE and the Queer Resource Center and an impressive 4.5 on Campus Pride Index, WWC confirms its support for LGBTQ+ students in numerous forms.
However, many students have noticed the considerable number of non-gender-inclusive restrooms on campus. At least 367 college campuses across the United States have gender-neutral restrooms. Still various buildings on WWC campus remain gendered.
Sarah Puterbaugh — a WWC student on the Photography Crew — spoke on the ineffectiveness of WWC’s queer allyship while many students remain scared to use restrooms.
“I think for a campus that so strongly advocates for queer and trans rights, the abundance of gendered restrooms seems counterproductive on their part,” Puterbaugh said.
Although having one gender-neutral restroom in the Cole room, the WWC Pew Ellison Library still utilizes gendered restrooms as the primary restroom option. Sunderland, Boon and many other buildings on WWC campus also rely on gendered restrooms.
Students and faculty alike have made ongoing efforts to erase all gendered bathrooms on campus. English professor Paula Garrett discussed actions made six years ago by her and queer students of WWC.
“Students raised this concern, and it kind of went unattended,” Garrett said. “Nobody was against it. It just didn't rise to the level of urgent.. We had inclusive signs made ahead of time. It was pretty powerful.”
However, these actions carried out by Garrett and students — while brave and definitive — did not eliminate gendered restrooms on campus altogether.
“I should also add that we were careless in a couple of places on campus,” Garrett said, “we weren't as careful as we should have been to get the old ones down and the new ones up.”
Few restrooms remain with two binary symbols outside their doors, only enforcing the gender-binary that the WWC community is actively fighting against. Security amongst students and faculty alike remains a focus for the WWC community. A sense of safety while in the restroom is a small step but is vastly influential.