ABSTRACT
Public toilet provision in the UK fails to meet the needs of cis women while trans communities are absent from current building regulations. This research explores how individuals negotiate differing positions on toilet provision and accessibility. The data were formed of online posts on Dezeen, a forum for building design professionals, and Mumsnet, a parenting forum, in response to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government “Technical review on increasing accessibility and provision of toilets for men and women”. Discursive psychology was used to explore how accessibility to toilets is constructed. There is also an opportunity to explore how a discursive approach can be applied interdisciplinary with town planning and the built environment. Gender identities are situated and constructed within public toilets. Talk about refuge in public bathrooms involves the negotiation of who belonged in differing gender categories and who warrants a need for refuge. Where men are explicitly acknowledged as an issue, cis and trans women are collectively identified as requiring a safe space. Cisgender women are constructed as a threat for trans people and misgendered cis women in public toilets. Discourse about toilet provision draws upon both heteronormative ideology to challenge access to trans people and others who challenge normative gender roles. Talk about toilets involves warranting “place-identity” as gender identity is situated and access limited to those who are constructed as belonging.
