Go Where?: Gender and Ability, Intersectionality and Constructivism

In the massive response to my post, "Go Where?: Sex, Gender, and Toilets," a couple of issues were raised that I want to follow up on. There were a number of people who noted that I left out an analysis of wheelchair access signs. I offer that analysis in this post. But to do so properly, I first have to go back to the concept of the "universal male", and my assertion that some washroom signs depict men as "people" and women as "people in skirts." It seemed like readers took issue with that part of the post more than any other, so I offer further explanation and support for the argument.

The Universal Male Revisited

That the masculine can stand for the universal while the feminine cannot is uncontroversial. The masculine is the default, the female is the variation. This is evidenced in language: "he" is used as a generic pronoun; and phrases such as "mankind" and "all men are created equal" are used to refer to humankind, while the word "womankind" is not. 

When it comes to signifying men and women, men are the default, they can be "unmarked". Women, since they vary from the default, must be "marked" in some way. (These two posts do a good job of explaining the concept as it applies to race, in the context of animation). Again this is evidenced by language:

“Man” has for a millennium meant both “human being” and “adult male human being.” The word “woman” comes from a compound meaning “wife-man,” and denotes the relationship of the signified to that “unmarked” category, “man.” (Matt Thorn, "The Face of the Other")

However, this post is about signage, not language. The same concepts apply to how men and women are signified visually. The simplest possible way to depict a human being is with a stick figure. The simplest possible way to depict a man would be with the same stick figure. "Man" is an unmarked category. The simplest possible way to depict a woman requires that stick figure varies in some way from the default, as "woman" is a marked category. The webcomics xkcd and Cyanide & Happiness provide examples of this:

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Note that there are two kinds of figures: Plain and unelaborated men, and women with hair. Unmarked and marked. (Please note that I am not condemning these comics as "politically incorrect". I am saying that their art reflects a social convention which privileges men as the default human beings).

It is well-established that the male, as the default human being, can be taken as the universal representative of the human race; while the female, as the variant, cannot. A number of readers disputed that these social facts are reflected in washroom signs. 

Frequently, they commented that it is meant to be assumed that the male figure is not simply a "person" but a "person who wears pants", as contrasted with the female as a "person who wears skirts". As an unmarked stick figure, one can imagine clothes on the male figure as one wishes. The fact remains that the figure is unmarked, it is the universal stick figure. It only represents one half of the human race in washroom signs because the other half has been carved away with a sign of their own. Some commenters insisted that the signs in fact depicted women as "people" and men as "people without skirts." This is a false conclusion. Absent the presence of the female figure, Mr. Sticky stands for all humanity, not the other way around. To illustrate this point, let's look at some of the many things that Mr. Sticky gets up to...

To start his day, Mr. Sticky likes to take walks...

... and and sometimes bike rides.

While walking he may slip and fall...

... off of a precipice... 

... and into the water.

Instead of falling down himself, occasionally things will fall on Mr. Sticky.

But if such disaster strikes, he is ready to evacuate people...

... or help them with their car trouble.

Though helpful, Mr. Sticky can be clumsy.

Not to mention reckless, standing in the middle of the street...

... and climbing up walls.

Really, he has need for adventure. Mr. Sticky goes mountain climbing...

... and boating.

But Mr. Sticky's favourite activity is visiting the zoo.

Mr. Sticky always puts litter in its place.

Occasionally, figures on signs are more detailed. Lo and behold, the implied pants appear - along with men's shoes, hats, and hairstyles. Since these signs are meant to speak to everyone, not just men, this supports the assertion that men are the default human being.

When people-with-skirts do appear on signs that are directed to people in general, they are accompanied by a default person.

Figures marked as female appear alone only when they are intended to specifically denote women.

The universal stick figure, and the figure on the sign for the men's washroom, are one and the same.

The male is just a person, the female is a person-who-wears-skirts.


Ability and Intersectionality

The universal human being is not just male. He is heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied, middle-class, and - in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand - white. We tend to conceptualize every deviation from the default atomistically, even though this does not reflect individual identities or experiences. So, for example, the experiences of a disabled woman of colour do not amount to the experiences of a white able-bodied woman + an able-bodied man of colour + a white disabled man. Her experiences are those of a disabledwomanofcolour. The different aspects of her identity cannot be separated out from each other. This truth - intersectionality - is not broadly understood among the privileged; among those who experience inequality along a single axis. We see people insisting that different aspects of identity can be separated, such as white class-privileged feminists demanding that women of colour ignore the racism they experience for the sake of gender solidarity.

This flawed way of understanding identity - each deviation from the default seen as a discrete layer - is reflected in the washroom signs indicating wheelchair access. Often, there is a male figure, a female figure, and a third non-gendered figure in a wheelchair. Disability is depicted as a discrete aspect of identity, to be layered on top of gender.

Wheelchair access: no. Toboggan access: yes! 

Wheee!

In the signs above, one might interpret the figures in wheelchairs not to be genderless so much as the universal male in a wheelchair, and only as genderless as the universal male is genderless. 

However, other signs make it clear that the figure in the wheelchair is neuter, be it with colour (red and blue taking on the gendered connotations of pink and blue in this context, and yellow being more neutral)...

... or by stripping away all possible gender markers, leaving the disabled figure strangely featureless compared to the other figures.

Instead of being a third, genderless figure, sometimes the disabled figure is pictured next to both the female and male figures, as though a "+" sign were between them.  Ability is an addendum to one's gender identity. 

I found one example where the disabled figures were as clearly gendered as their able-bodied counterparts. 

Other than that, it seems clear that as a society we define disabled individuals by their disability, to the extent of erase other aspects of their identity - in this case, gender.

The Construction of Disability

In the majority of signs pictured above, the figures are motionless, rigid and static. When this aesthetic is applied to a person sitting in a wheelchair, it communicates inactivity and a degree of helplessness. The effect is accentuated when the signs go for a minimalist design and omit the arms of the disabled figure.

Note that in most of these, the male and female figures retain their limbs. In the last image, both the disabled and the female figure are missing arms. This furthers the sense that disabled individuals are helpless.

As I was searching for images to use for this post, I came across the website of a designer who had re-worked the universal handicapped symbol to counteract and challenge the common perception of disabled people as helpless.

The sign is easily understood, and not too disconcertingly different from the image at the very beginning of the post. However, instead of simply sitting in a wheelchair, as though waiting for someone to push them where they want to go, this figure is dynamic and active.

Graphic symbols are designed to communicate a message quickly and clearly. To do so, it may be necessary to draw on shared cultural understandings and assumptions. As they are represented to us, the currency of those understandings and assumptions are reinforced. Signs construct our reality as much as they represent it. This is why it is important not to passively accept the ways we are represented, even in a medium as seemingly innocuous as washroom signs. Instead, we should challenge these representations, and, like the designer of the sign above, find ways to engage with and re-create our social world. 

Photo Sources:
because you value your soul
Dark Roasted Blend 1, 2, 3, 4
1 Design Per Day
Toilet Signs
Oddly Specific
Trek Earth
Small Bits and Pieces