Around the toilet: Co-creating intersectional understandings of gender, disability and access

虽然厕所通常被认为是一个平凡的空间，但对于那些缺乏足够或可用的厕所供应是日常生活中一个关键的实际问题的人来说，厕所是“必需品”（George, 2011）。对一些人来说，缺乏足够或方便的厕所是日常生活中一个至关重要的实际问题。例如，残疾人经常报告无障碍厕所“不够方便”（可能太少，或者它们可能太小，不能容纳较大的轮椅，或者没有提升机或更换空间）（changing Places, 2013），而其他研究表明，公共厕所数量的减少可以阻止老年人离开房子（Knight和Bichard， 2011，社区和地方政府部门，2008）。围绕厕所的思考，以及它们作为物质和社会文化环境的功能，提供了一个从多方面思考身份形式的机会。厕所通常呈现出鲜明的视觉和物质上的二元性别（“男厕所”、“女厕所”、“女厕所”），这对跨性别者、性别酷儿或非二元性别的人来说可能是有问题的，因为他们不认同自己出生时被分配的性别。相反，通常是“无障碍”（残疾人）厕所提供了一个中性的空间。对于一些残疾人来说，这可以作为一个例子，反映在建筑环境中，他们是无性别和无性恋的压迫性假设（Kafer, 2013）。认识到厕所的社会问题是关于实际使用和个人影响的事实，该项目采用艺术和实践为基础的方法，以“厕所谈话”作为研究与性别和残疾有关的“使用”和“身份”问题的方法。虽然研究和活动将集中在性别和残疾，我们也试图考虑身份的其他交叉点，包括种族，民族，年龄，宗教和信仰。在2015年4月至9月期间，将与三个社区伙伴合作，围绕反思性讲故事、制作/创作和表演的艺术实践，举办五个研究研讨会：大曼彻斯特残疾人联盟（GMCDP）、未知酷儿（一个表演艺术团体）和跨性别*健康行动。在这些研讨会之后，想法和思考将成为谢菲尔德大学建筑学硕士学生进行的建筑现场项目的一部分，从而产生许多装置/挑衅。这些装置将在曼彻斯特的公共空间中展出，目的是激发城市用户在社会空间中思考访问和身份问题。这些活动和装置将以创新的视觉和材料形式呈现，并将在项目结束时展示给城市规划者、建筑师和其他城市专业人士。该项目的目的是探索和打破“接触”和“身份”的既定观念，并找到表达“撒尿是政治”的方法（Molotoch, 2010, 2）。

While toilets are often thought to be a mundane space, for those for whom a lack of adequate or accessible toilet provision is a crucial practical issue on a daily basis, toilets are 'the big necessity' (George, 2011). For some, a lack of adequate or accessible toilet provision is a crucial practical issue on a daily basis. Disabled people, for example, frequently report that accessible toilets are 'not accessible enough' (there may be too few, or they may be too small for larger wheelchairs, or not have a hoist or changing space) (Changing Places, 2013), while other studies show that diminishing numbers of public toilets can prevent older people leaving the house (Knight and Bichard, 2011, Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008). Thinking around toilets, and their function as material as well as socio-cultural environments, presents an opportunity to think in multi-faceted ways about forms of identity. Toilets often present a stark visual and material enactment of a gender binary ('Men's Toilets', 'Women's Toilets', 'the Ladies') in ways that can be problematic for trans, genderqueer, or non-binary people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Conversely, it is often the 'accessible' (disabled) toilet that provides a gender-neutral space. For some disabled people, this can serve as an example, reflected in the built environment, of the oppressive assumption that they are genderless and asexual (Kafer, 2013).In recognition of the fact that the social issue of toilets is about practical access and personal affect, this project uses arts- and practice-based approaches to experiment with 'toilet talk' as a method of investigating issues of 'access' and 'identity' in relation to gender and disability. While the research and activities will focus around gender and disability, we also seek to consider additional intersections of identity including race, ethnicity, age, religion and faith. Five research workshops based around the arts practices of reflective storytelling, making/creating and performance, will take place between April and September 2015, in collaboration with three community partners: Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP), Queer of the Unknown (a performing arts collective) and Action for Trans* Health. Following these workshops, ideas and reflections will form part of an Architecture Live Project undertaken by MA Architecture students at the University of Sheffield, resulting in a number of installations/provocations. These installations will be displayed in public spaces in Manchester with the intention of stimulating city users to reflect on issues of access and identity in social spaces. The activities and installations will be captured in innovative visual and material forms that will be displayed at an end of project event targeting urban planners, architects and other city professionals. The aim of the project is to explore and disrupt received notions of 'access' and 'identity' and to find ways of articulating the idea that 'peeing is political' (Molotoch, 2010, 2).