Sunday, August 22, 2010

Potty talk

This has happened at least three times to me, to my knowledge.

For those of you who have never been in a males' bathroom, most follow a similar setup. Closest to the door are the sinks and mirrors. Next, often separated from the wash area by a partition, are the urinals; each urinal is often separated from others by its own partition as well. Furthest in are the stalls. Due to the first partition, the urinals are often not visible upon entering the bathroom. The only thing that obviously differentiates male and female bathrooms is the presence of urinals.

On three occasions, while washing my hands, I will hear the door open and glance in the mirror to see the person enter. The man will take one look at me and immediately exit. Presumably, he then sees that indeed the door says "Mens", and reenters. Sometimes he takes longer to figure it out than others. Never has anyone said anything to me, probably because they feel too sheepish from having left and then reentered so obviously.

What's great about this is that it's not just due to being especially femme that day. If a man walks in and sees a skirt, I can see how he might think he'd made a mistake. Twice, though, I have been wearing tight jeans and a fairly androgynous top. I think these men look at my ponytail and, being unable to determine my gender based on my dress, assume that they themselves made a mistake in the mostly instinctual act of selecting the correct bathroom.

It's probably my fault for not wearing my federally-assigned gender sign on my back.

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