University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law Faculty Scholarship Francis King Carey School of Law Faculty 1991 Toilets as a Feminist Issue: A True Story Taunya Lovell Banks University of Maryland School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/fac_pubs Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Human Rights Law Commons Digital Commons Citation Banks, Taunya Lovell, "Toilets as a Feminist Issue: A True Story" (1991). Faculty Scholarship. 334. https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/fac_pubs/334 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Francis King Carey School of Law Faculty at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Toilets as a Feminist Issue~ A1 True Story Yaunya Lovell Bankst THE EsSAY1 One can measure the degree of equality between the sexes in America by its public toilets. As a child growing up, I remember that most public toilets for women had pay stalls. It often cost a nickel or even a dime to relieve yourself in a public toilet. There may have been one or even two free stalls, but they often were filthy and usually lacked toilet tissue. Comparing notes with a male contemporary, I was surprised to learn that there were pay stalls in the men's bathroom, but the urinals were free. Thus, women were penalized because no one had created the "feminine" equivalent of a urinal.