Have you heard of "Gender Neutral Toilet"? Examples include Toilet for All, which was announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Gender Neutral Toilet for All, which is being pursued at Sungkonghoe University, and Unisex Toilet, which Hyundai Card Vice-chairman, Jeong Taeyeong, revealed through SNS. In 2015, former U.S. President Obama established a gender-neutral toilet at the White House. Moreover, it will design a gender-neutral toilet at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

▲ All Gender Restroom sign and the information

▲ It says ˝Whatever you are, you can use this toilet if you wash your hands.˝

Gender-neutral toilet means a public toilet that can be used by everyone regardless of gender. It is described as all gender-neutral toilets and not as "sex" but as "gender" is the standard. As we know from the term sexual neutrality, it began as consideration for sexual minorities, including transgender, crossdresser, and those who cannot be distinguished as women or men. In many countries, transgender people are suffering from urinary tract infections because they cannot go to both toilets. Of course, the gender-neutral toilet is also useful to disabled people who need to have a caregiver or children who cannot take care of their own physiological phenomenon.

▲ Gender Neutral Toilet in Queer Parade

There are many voices of concern in South Korea. They say that it is too early in South Korea, including the murder of Gangnam Station in the public restroom of men and women. There are also concerns that sex crimes, both large and small, will increase these days when digital sex crimes are already prevalent. For now, several local civic groups are running gender-neutral toilets, but the number is still small.

It would not be possible to hastily generalize the gender-neutral toilet. It is clear, however, that the countries that implement it now risk "strange changes" to be considerate of the weak, including transgender, serious patients, disabled, and infants.

January 4th, 2020

by Lee Yeonseo