ABSTRACT
The socio-materiality of public bathrooms, perhaps the most private of public spaces, is (in)formed by an intersection of social norms concerning gender, sexuality, race, class, bodily abilities, with anxieties and idea(l)s regarding health, hygiene, purity, and propriety. In Britain, these histories feed contemporary social anxieties and moral panic concerning trans people—especially trans women—using public toilets. This chapter analyses the transphobic politics of fear that circulates through British press reporting mediates trans and non-binary people’s negotiations of public toilets, highlighting the complicity of design(ers) in re-enforcing binary gender and a corresponding imperative of providing public toilets that afford safety and comfort to users of all genders.
