PAN 101

PAN TOILETS

What are pan toilets?

A toilet facility that welcomes everyone regardless of gender or sex. A pan toilet is open to people who identify as woman or man, as well as anyone who is in between, has transitioned from one gender to another, has 'fluid' gender, is genderqueer, or rejects the gender system.



Why have pan toilets?

They provide more choice for people by providing a toilet space that doesn't enforce the gender binary (man/woman). This is of potential benefit to trans, intersex and genderqueer people. Pan spaces also create an awareness that this binary is a social construction and not a natural or inherent fact of our existence. We use the creation of a new space - and the unfamiliar term 'pan' - to inform people about the inequities that result from categorising people into rigid boxes.

What can I do to help?

Find out what your queer, Women's, Equity and Welfare Departments are doing to get pan toilets on campus.

Take part in National Genderf*#k Day or create your own festival

Claim an existing toilet as 'pan' for the day and give out information.

With your union, lobby the university to implement a plan to create a pan toilet option in every building on campus.

Bring up the pan toilets in a conversation with your friends, workmates or family. Ask them to question some of the assumptions they have about gender.


THE BROADER ISSUES

Is there anyone against 'pan'?

Creating a pan space undermines the man/woman gender binary. This system is inherently sexist because it dictates certain behaviours as normal to each gender. There are a variety of different attitudes as to who benefits from sexism. At the moment our gender system encourages women to do the majority of unpaid domestic work, and it encourages men to work long hours because of their duty to support a family.

Some people say that this arrangement is of particular benefit to the owners and managers that are making a lot of money in our society. Sexism means they don't have to pay for the full cost of childcare. When men are too afraid to lose their job because they are soley responsible for feeding their family, it means that the bosses don't have to deal with workers demanding better conditions in the workplace from the profits being made. This group of people who are referred to as 'the ruling class' are considered by some to be the creators and reproducers of racism, sexism, queerphobia and other forms of prejudice. They use these ideas - often aligning them with religious 'facts' and threats of damnation - to distract people's attention from the real source of their problems.


Is gender different from sex?

There are a variety of different responses to this question. It seems extreme to say that sex isn't an important category. I mean, isn't it obvious that you need a penis and a vagina to create a baby, and surely the reproduction of our species is an important thing. However, we can challenge certain assumptions about sex by bringing to light the existence of intersex people, infertility, people with 'unformed' genitalia, IVF and turkey basters, genetic engineering etc.

Some people like to say that sex and gender is in between the ears and not in between the legs. We all have different personalities, and we all interact differently with our socialisation into gender. Some people believe that gender and sex is a total social construction, other people believe that genetics play an important part in determining who we are. At the end of the day, it might be helpful to agree on one thing. Regardless of the formation of gender and sexuality, we should all be given the right to be who we want to be - if it isn't hurting anyone else that is.


What happens to sexuality if we get rid of gender?

For some people, the only way to liberate people from sexism and queerphobia is to get rid of the gender system. If we don't have a rigid concept that you are a man or a woman, then there can be no fixed sexuality - either homosexual or heterosexual - to go with it. It will open up a greater degree of choice for everyone. There will still be 'men' who will want to have relationships with 'women', but it will be like having a preference for blondes or people with broad shoulders.

The idea is that people will get to do what they want to do. There will be no painful 'coming out' processes because there will be no 'in'. Relationships will be negotiated, rather than assuming that a partner has a duty to perform a certain role. Questions that might be asked are: Do we want to be monogamous? Is it alright if I have purely sexual relationships with others if you are my primary partner? Will I do most of the housework, whilst you earn a wage? Will we take it in turns with who goes out to work? Will we have a roster to manage our time evenly? It's about giving ourselves more choice, whilst also being aware of our social obligations like raising children in supportive environments, looking after the sick etc.


A NEW WAY OF BATTLING SEXISM

Blurring the boundaries of gender is considered by some to be a new and radical way of combating sexism. For both conservative people with a stake in the system and some schools of feminism - it is perceived as a threat. 'Woman', 'lesbian', 'gayboy' etc.; are identities that are undervalued in society. It is usually a long and painful struggle to accept one's place in the subordinate category that society places us into. For some people, their method of changing the system is to get the people that they feel fit into their category to feel a sense of power within it, and then to argue that their category is just as good as the other ones. This is called identity politics.

Post-structuralists believe that the category itself plays a part in causing the oppression. They believe that continuing to participate in the category is to contribute to the reproduction of that oppression. It is acknowledged that you can't escape identity (because other people will place you in the categories even if you don't), however some believe that repeatedly questioning them has great value in undermining stereotypes. People can do this by exaggeratedly 'performing' an identity - communicating through clothes, hair, make-up, writing, art, music etc. By continually challenging people's assumptions of identities by 'performing' them rather than 'being' them, it allows less certainty about who can be part of 'the club' or not i.e. it prevents queerbobia in women's groups, transphobia in queer groups, it leaves room for et hnic and cultural diversity etc.


Sex is politics? Please Explain?

There is often a question of 'so what?' when it comes to critiquing identities and the structures of society. Even if we are constantly undermining the production of oppressive categories, it still doesn't change major things like making sure everyone on the planet has enough to eat. Some post-structuralists look for other theories to complete their analysis of why things are. Some have even gone away from their previous rejection of progress to again look at narratives that may help to solve life's big problems. The major ideologies that are in circulation today include Marxism, liberalism, anarcho-syndicalism and the 'third way'. It's up to you to find out what you think of all of these.


Isn't this all a bit unrealistic?

As unrealistic as a GST was in 1995. Perhaps as unrealistic as the prospect in 1960, of a black woman controlling US foreign policy. People have achieved their ends (both good and bad) in short periods of time under seemingly insurmountable odds. But you can only create change if you get involved. Progressive, left-wing students are sick of unintelligent, money-conscious and conservative people making all the decisions.

We want the students, the downtrodden and ordinary working people to be able to have more of a say. Thinking that you can't make a difference - or thinking that there's too many intellectual contradictions to do anything - plays into the hands of the people who are happy to keep things just the way they are. Fighting for a pan toilet on your campus isn't going to get rid of sexism over night. But it's providing an important service in the here and now, it's a fun campaign to get involved in and it's a really good start to getting other people think critically about the world they live in.


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