Building heteronormativity: the social and material reconstruction of men's public toilets as spaces of heterosexuality

Jeyasingham, D

Abstract

This paper concerns changes in the spatial structure of British public toilets for men over the last ten years from secluded, indistinctly public/private spaces towards open, largely public structures. It examines a number of past and present toilet spaces in the British city of Manchester using spatial syntax analysis to consider how spaces have been adapted and policed differently in order to reduce opportunities for sex between men. It considers how
these changes relate to shifts in the legislative context and in planning and policing initiatives away from explicit homophobia towards policies of inclusion of certain sexual
minorities. The paper concludes that the way in which inclusion and a post-homophobic context have been expressed through legislative changes and planning and policing
initiatives in relation to public toilets has led to a more explicit heteronormalisation of public spaces. The discussion relates to current debates in cultural geography about the consequences of greater participation of sexual minorities in public and issues of surveillance, control and privacy in public spaces.

Citation

Jeyasingham, D. Building heteronormativity: the social and material reconstruction of men's public toilets as spaces of heterosexuality. Social and Cultural Geography, 11(4), 307-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649361003787706

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Apr 27, 2011
• Journal: Social & Cultural Geography
• Print ISSN: 1464-9365
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 307-325
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649361003787706
• Keywords: public toilets, public sex, public space, heteronormativity, spatial syntax
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1464936100378770
• Related Public URLs: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a922458344~frm=titlelink