Thursday, January 10, 2008

this is where i work

so a great portion of what happens to me is a direct result of me working at a middle school....it is quite the population....this post however is about the adults that join me in the educating of middle schoolers.....so here we go:
bathrooms...this school has 2 sets of public bathrooms for the students, one upstairs and one downstairs....they are for the students and the occasional staff that does not have the time to get to teh teachers lounge where there are a womans and mens private restroom. whats so amusing to me is the decor of said restrooms. on my first day i walked into a pink and white room that has a polka dot trim going up a about half way. it is decorated in all "you go girl" and "hey sister" type stuff....and pinker than the day is long. now then mens room conversely because of course i use it when the womens is occupied is decorated in fishing....yes fishing...there is a net and rustic whatnot hanging up on the wall....now i have two main points about this....
A. i am curious as to who decorated them. perhaps the office lady who is a devout christian, and rather feminine...unknown...i just think it is interesting that we can claim to be open and toterant, but we as adults still adhere to some archaic forms of what gender means....thats what confuses me...i mean its not the worst thing in the world, but its the fact that it is not even a thought to most people that that acts as a reinforcement of gender stereotypes....i mean do all woman like to shop and be pink...i don't think so....are all men into fishing...really.

B. When i mentioned to another female coworker that then mens room is done up in fishing they were shocked....shocked because they had never been in it before....i mean really...we are adults, these are private one room stalls in the lounge does it matter which one we use....i don't really think so....plus there are about half the number of men as women working here....if both restooms where simply unisex would that makes everyones like easier....just a thought....

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