“Once I was in the stall, and I heard this guy next to me go into the stall, grunt, then [he] pissed all over the wall… After he left, I got curious and I peered into the stall.” Liz Gonzales Burns was horrified from what she witnessed. “THERE WAS PEE ALL OVER THE WALLS OF THE STALL.” You might think this was a one-time thing, but others have also had shocking experiences. An anonymous responder shared, “I saw a big brown turd on and next to the wall, and I closed the door because I got scared.”
Even if most of our experiences might be less horrifying, we’ve all had to deal with the filth of the gender neutral bathrooms at Benson. Out of 79 responses on a survey conducted for this article, 46.8% of students have sat on urine on a toilet seat, and 86.1% have cleaned up someone else’s urine off a toilet seat. When asked how long they spend looking for a clean stall to use, 36.7% of students said they spend one to two minutes, 15.2% say they give up and find a different bathroom, or hold it, with only 48.1% finding a stall under 30 seconds.
Over half of students that use gender neutral bathrooms have had an undesirable experience with them. If gendered bathrooms were more readily available, the issues in the gender neutral stalls wouldn’t be as severe. In an interview with Bryan Smith, a science teacher passionate about school issues, he explained that gendered bathrooms are frequently locked because “Kids are tearing things off the wall. Kids are, you know, throwing things in the toilets, kids are in there vaping.”
Increased vandalism in gendered bathrooms is a large reason they stay locked. Smith shared a conversation he had with a janitor, who exclaimed “I can’t believe what they just did in that bathroom. There was paper towel everywhere. There was wet toilet paper everywhere. They were knocking things off the walls.”
Another form of vandalism found in these bathrooms is the destruction of period products. “Apparently, if you put feminine hygiene products in a boys gendered bathroom, the boys, like, are just so curious that they have to sit there and destroy them,” Smith said.
The school puts resources, time, and money into creating inclusive spaces, but when we allow destruction to the point beyond use, it feels like the opposite. These issues affect everyone, especially those that have to sit to use the restroom. Even then, some are affected more than others. As a nonbinary person, the continuous destruction of gender neutral bathrooms feels like this community doesn’t respect us. Many people that are trans and nonbinary don’t feel comfortable using gendered bathrooms, but when gendered bathrooms are closed to everyone, spaces created for us are destroyed. While these issues are normalized, they are not okay.
What can you do to help?
- The easiest way to make a difference is to leave no trace. This means clean up after yourself, and leave the space cleaner than you found it. In a home environment, how would your family members react if you left the bathroom trashed? If you make a mess, clean it up, and if you put the seat up, put it down before you leave.
- If you witness someone leaving a stall with a mess behind, ask them to clean it. Sometimes people don’t notice the mess they’ve made, so asking nicely can help bring their attention to it. This one can be nerve wracking if you’re nonconfrontational, but it can make a difference, especially if it’s someone you know.
- If you hear or see someone vandalizing the bathroom stall, check the time or point at the camera and contact the dean. By reporting people who vandalize, we can create real repercussions for these issues.
By following these simple steps, we can set the standard for a cleaner, more inclusive bathroom environment.
