Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus
It is obvious that transgender and gender non-conforming students experience MIT differently than cisgender students – what is less obvious is that one of the biggest differences in experiences stems from, ironically, something universally human: the need to use the restroom. In this thesis, we appr...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144751 |
| _version_ | 1811070611811729408 |
|---|---|
| author | Seaman, Elliott S. L. |
| author2 | Kennedy, Sheila |
| author_facet | Kennedy, Sheila Seaman, Elliott S. L. |
| author_sort | Seaman, Elliott S. L. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It is obvious that transgender and gender non-conforming students experience MIT differently than cisgender students – what is less obvious is that one of the biggest differences in experiences stems from, ironically, something universally human: the need to use the restroom. In this thesis, we approach the issue of restroom equity (and inequity) on the MIT campus in three areas, offering a window into how nonbinary students experience MIT’s restroom infrastructure, documenting the history and recent progress around all-gender restrooms at MIT, and showing that MIT students have a vested interest in and thoughts about both all-gender restrooms and institutional restroom design in general. Parts I and II offer an account of my personal journey interacting with all-gender restrooms and all-gender restroom policy and activism on the MIT campus, and culminate with a series of proposed physical interventions and a single renovation to both increase the visibility of all-gender restrooms on campus and to act as a possible example for future single-gender to all-gender multi-stall restroom conversions. Part III widens in scope, and acts primarily as proof that the general student body truly does care about the existence of all-gender restrooms on campus, whether they are transgender/gender non-conforming or not. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:38:43Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/144751 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:38:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1447512022-08-30T04:03:29Z Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus Seaman, Elliott S. L. Kennedy, Sheila Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture It is obvious that transgender and gender non-conforming students experience MIT differently than cisgender students – what is less obvious is that one of the biggest differences in experiences stems from, ironically, something universally human: the need to use the restroom. In this thesis, we approach the issue of restroom equity (and inequity) on the MIT campus in three areas, offering a window into how nonbinary students experience MIT’s restroom infrastructure, documenting the history and recent progress around all-gender restrooms at MIT, and showing that MIT students have a vested interest in and thoughts about both all-gender restrooms and institutional restroom design in general. Parts I and II offer an account of my personal journey interacting with all-gender restrooms and all-gender restroom policy and activism on the MIT campus, and culminate with a series of proposed physical interventions and a single renovation to both increase the visibility of all-gender restrooms on campus and to act as a possible example for future single-gender to all-gender multi-stall restroom conversions. Part III widens in scope, and acts primarily as proof that the general student body truly does care about the existence of all-gender restrooms on campus, whether they are transgender/gender non-conforming or not. S.B. 2022-08-29T16:09:12Z 2022-08-29T16:09:12Z 2022-05 2022-07-26T13:32:54.722Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144751 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Seaman, Elliott S. L. Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title | Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title_full | Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title_fullStr | Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title_short | Lavender@MIT: The Case for an All-Gender Restroom Paradigm on the MIT Campus |
| title_sort | lavender mit the case for an all gender restroom paradigm on the mit campus |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144751 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seamanelliottsl lavendermitthecaseforanallgenderrestroomparadigmonthemitcampus |