Toilet : public restrooms and the politics of sharing /
Whether we acknowledge it or not, restroom arrangements--the norms, rules, ritual, and habits we follow--are a unique an definitive expression of our culture and its politics. Public toilets order and display our priorities as biological necessity meets up with sexuality, gender and diverse issues o...
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| Other Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
New York University Press,
[2010]
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| Series: | NYU series in social and cultural analysis.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Whether we acknowledge it or not, restroom arrangements--the norms, rules, ritual, and habits we follow--are a unique an definitive expression of our culture and its politics. Public toilets order and display our priorities as biological necessity meets up with sexuality, gender and diverse issues of disability, access, and inequality. Toilet illuminates the public restroom right down to how the mechanisms of design detail--the configurations of stalls, sinks, and doors--reflect and sustain social practice. Beyond our own personal experiences of using the bathroom, the book reveals the larger issues at stake: public health, city development, and ecological pollution. Because so much of what happens in the toilet stays in the toilet, secrecy, shame, and irresponsibility can flourish. Toilet puts it all in the open, confronting larger truths and aiming for a higher intelligence in the stalls. -- Back cover. In "Toilet," noted sociologist Harvey Molotch and Lauren Noren bring together twelve essays by urbanists, historians and cultural analysts (among others) to shed light on the public restroom and how it reflects and sustains our cultural attitudes towards gender, class, and disability. |
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| Physical Description: | vii, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780814795880 0814795889 9780814795897 0814795897 |