'Risk of sexual violence' and 'gender-neutral toilets'

What is it about?

In this paper, we examine responses to 'gender-neutral toilets' (that is, public toilets available for use by anyone regardless of gender) found in social media - in this case, in 1756 online comments on 10 YouTube videos on gender-neutral toilets. Specifically, we consider the role played in these comments by concerns about the risk of sexual violence towards women and girls. In this, we pay particular attention to how versions of the category of 'transgender women' are used in these responses. Our analysis shows that, in responses to gender-neutral toilets, women and children were constructed as vulnerable to sexual violence, at risk from men (including versions of ‘transgender women’) and in need of protection. This research shows how the idea of gender-neutral toilets as places of risk is worked up in a social media context. It also reveals how the introduction of gender-neutral toilets was conflated with debates about the entitlement of transgender women to access women-only spaces. Although (versions of) transgender women were regarded as targets of legitimate violence, they were never seen as being at risk themselves in gender-segregated public toilets.

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Photo by Gilles Desjardins on Unsplash

Photo by Gilles Desjardins on Unsplash

Why is it important?

With its focus on women and children as being vulnerable to sexual violence in gender-neutral toilets and in need of protection, this research shows how a debate over public space was transformed into a question of morality. The analysis contributes to existing literature by showing how the idea of gender-neutral toilets as places of risk was worked up in a social media context. It also traces the implications of these constructions of risk in minimising the need to address social structures that position transgender people as legitimate targets of violence.