What do bathroom signs tell us about society and gender?

[Butterfly]

What do bathroom signs tell us about society and gender?
Feministing
02 October 2009


http://www.feministing.com/archives/018023.html


This visual survey of how businesses signal their designated "male" and "female" restrooms is pretty revealing in terms of dominant narratives about gender.

As much as I find these bathroom-door distinctions to be wholly unnecessary, downright offensive, and a serious safety threat for trans men and women, the examples below (and many more on other blogs) function as a fascinating sort of Rorschach test for how a culture depicts the gender binary.

So, what are these signs telling us?