As a note, I originally wrote this thread on twitter, and am editing it somewhat. additionaly, this is written from a white transfem physically abled canadian millenial perspective, so i may miss out on a lot.

originally, circa ~1860's, public washrooms were designated for men only, as a means of reaffirming that women were not expected to be outside the home for any extended period of time. These few public washrooms that existed were, like most public amenities, strictly racially segregated as well. I'm not really going to go into racial segregation because it's not anywhere near my expertise, talk to someone who is much better experienced on the topic please, but suffice it to say, amenities including washrooms for People of Colour were deliberately limited in placement to reinforce social hierarchy and reduce the mobility of non-white people.

Once women entered the workforce in North America, public washrooms for women slowly followed, Massachusetts in 1887 being the first state to pass a law requiring employers provide washrooms for women employees. Yet, the available washrooms were still very restricted to areas where women were expected to be. These were still racially segregated until the 60's in many places.

from roughly 1890~1920, the requirements for explicitly sex-segregated washrooms were introduced, prohibiting the imbalance between male and female designation washrooms. However, this eventually caused other problems, as many building codes came to prohibit non-sexed single user washrooms, (unisex).

In regards to disability, it wasn't until 1990 that Canada and the USA began standardizing requirements for disability accessible washrooms, and even then, the standards are gravely limited in scope, (for example, the ADA allowing architects to avoid accessible stall requirements by reducing total fixtures to 5 or less.)

As for parental status, as someone with two children, pre-transition, i had the personal experience of finding many mens washrooms absent changing tables entirely, with the changing tables limited specifically to seperate accessible washrooms, or the womens.

The gender thing should be relatively obvious with the increase in bathroom bills across North America, and the increase in violence against trans people both following and flouting said laws as the goal is as Janice Raymond stated, to "Morally Mandate [us] out of existence."

I think it is quite important to mention how the limited access to public washrooms, along with the criminalization of public urination, is utilized, primarily in downtown areas and suburbs, to restrict mobility of unhoused individuals by tethering them to the few washrooms permitted to them.

The Urinary Leash – Feminist History

How you are treated in society is dependent on your sex. Men never had to deal with bullshit like this.

“In the Victorian period, the lack of public facilities for women was intentional as a way of controlling their movements and keeping them out of public spaces, argues Dr Clara Greed, emerita professor of inclusive urban planning at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

There was a…