Toilet

The politics of the loo, sexual as well as cultural, are taken up in a new book, Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Harvey Molotch and Laura Norn. It aims to tackle the language around toilets and open up debates that have gone on, so to speak, behind closed doors and that never get resolved * Irish Times * The 12 essays in Toilet make clear that public toilets are anything but neutral, and argue that, in fact, restrooms-not just their design but where and to whom they are available-are loaded with cultural insights into views on race, sex, ability, and class...Toilet imparts a lesson: Pay attention. Those issues that most quietly fall into the background, unquestioned and seemingly benign, may be the most loaded and deserving of scrutiny. * Bitch Magazine * Peeing is political. The authors of Toilet show us how. In provocative essays from a range of perspectives, we learn what toilets (and their lack) teach usabout hierarchy, inequality, the body, aesthetics and politics. Using toilets as social and cultural prisms, they analyze global collective (in)action, outlining the deeply personal consequences for us all. This is wickedly smart, pointed and passionate public interest scholarship at its best.. -- Lisa Duggan,author of Twilight of Equality: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy When Molotch and Norn let slip a few pissings or pees, the book becomes livelier, as is befitting of the subject. And the inclusion of essays from scholars of many different disciplinesgender studies, disability rights, architecturemakes this a toilet book not to be missed. * The New Yorker * Who could have imagined? A book that weaves cutting edge gender theory into urban planning policy by way of the lowly toilet? A wondrous compendium. -- Jane Mansbridge,Adams Professor in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Ranging from studies of Roman latrines to quasi-ethnographic studies of contemporary restroom design projects, the authors rigorously and sometimes cleverly expose moral panics, gender ideologies, and contradictions of bathroom design, accessibility, and use. -- J.L. Croissant * Choice * We may not feel comfortable discussing them, but questions of where and how we do our business, particularly in public, have a tremendous impact on our everyday lives. Thats why Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, a new collection of academic essays, is so necessary. * Salon.com * In Toilet, academics from the field of sociology, law, urban planning, gender studies, archeology, and architecture ponder the meaning of a room some people can't even call by name. -- Kate Tuttle * The Boston Globe * This profound and surprising book takes up a subject usually kept private: the public restroom. These scholarly but mostly accessible new examinations of the topic provide fascinating insights on cultural notions of cleanliness and filth, public and private. -- Rachel Bridgewater * Library Journal * Toilet is full of such insightsthe prose is clear and readable. -- Kate Tuttle * Boston.com * Toilet opens the door to a profound and fascinating understanding of the way we use and are abused by public conveniences. -- Howard S. Becker,author of Outsiders: Studies In The Sociology Of Deviance An incredibly smart book about the importance of the toilet, especially for urban dwellers. I will never look at a toilet the same again. -- Mitchell Duneier,author of Sidewalk [T]his book offers precise insightswant to keep a public bathroom clean? Stick some flowers there. And it often cleverly illuminates whats in plain sightsay, the reasons why New York has so few female cabbiesbut is usually ignored or assiduously avoided * The Atlantic *

Harvey Molotch is Professor of Sociology at New York University. His books include the classic, Urban Fortunes (with John Logan) and more recently, Against Security: How We Go Wrong at Airports, Subways, and Other Sites of Ambiguous Danger. Laura Norn is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at New York University.

Acknowledgments1 IntroductionHarvey MolotchRest Stop Part I2 Dirty SpaceRuth Barcan Rest StopBryan Reynolds3 Which Way to Look? Exploring Latrine Use in the Roman World Zena Kamash Rest Stop4 Potty TrainingIrus Braverman Rest StoPart I5 Only Dogs Are Free to PeeLaura Noren Rest Stop6 Creating a Nonsexist Restroom Clara Greed Rest Stop7 Sex SeparationTerry S. Kogan Rest Stop8 Pissing without PitDavid Serlin Rest StopPart III: Building in the Future9 The Restroom RevolutionOlga Gershenson Rest StopJonathan Head10 Why Not Abolish Laws of Urinary Segregation? Mary Anne Case Rest Stop11 Entangled with a UserBarbara Penner Rest Stop: Toilet Bloom @ Bryant Park 12 On Not Making HistoryHarvey MolotchNotes About the ContributorsIndex