Author(s): Olga Gershenson (Editor), Barbara Penner
Publisher: Temple University Press
Publication Date: July 15, 2009
Edition: Illustrated
Language: English
Print length: 262 pages
ISBN-10: 159213940X
ISBN-13: 9781592139408
Book Description
Public toilets provide a unique opportunity for interrogating how conventional assumptions about the body, sexuality, privacy, and technology are formed in public spaces and inscribed through design across cultures. This collection of original essays from international scholars is the first to explore the cultural meanings, histories, and ideologies of public toilets as gendered spaces.Ladies and Gents consists of two sets of essays. The first, “Potty Toilets, Gender and Identity,” establishes the importance of accessible, secure public toilets to the creation of inclusive cities, work, and learning environments. The second set of essays, “Toilet Design and Cultural Representations,” discusses public toilets as spaces of representation and representational spaces, with reference to architectural design, humor, film, theater, art, and popular culture. Compelling visual materials and original artwork are included throughout, depicting subjects as varied as female urinals, art installations sited in public restrooms, and the toilet in contemporary art.Taken together, these seventeen essays demonstrate that public toilets are often sites where gendered bodies compete for resources and recognition—and the stakes are high.Contributors Nathan Abrams, Jami L. Anderson, Johan Andersson, Kathryn H. Anthony, Kathy Battista, Andrew Brown-May, Ben Campkin, Meghan Dufresne, Peg Fraser, Deborah Gans, Clara Greed, Robin Lydenberg, Claudia Mitchell, Alison Moore, Frances Pheasant-Kelly, Bushra Rehman, Alex Schweder, Naomi Stead, and the editors.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Thoughtful analysis of the place of toilets in modern culture and psyche has often been as hard to find as a decent public convenience in any major Western city. Ladies and Gents is a timely and educational addition to the unheralded and hitherto sorely neglected field of toilet studies.” —Rose George, author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
About the Author
Olga Gershenson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of Gesher: Russian Theatre in Israel—A Study of Cultural Colonization.
Barbara Penner is a Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, author of Newlyweds on Tour: Honeymooning in Nineteenth-Century America and co-editor of Gender Space Architecture.
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