A Brief History of US School Bathrooms and How They Have Shaped Gender

• In Event: Reckoning with the Impact of Policy to Understand the Present

Abstract

This paper examines the history of US school bathrooms to reveal how they have long reinforced binary gender norms. Drawing on primary sources such as architectural studies, educational reports, historical periodicals, and court documents, as well as key secondary scholarship, it traces the evolution of school bathrooms from 19th-century privies to modern facilities. The analysis situates bathroom segregation within broader systems of exclusion—gender, race, disability, and sexuality—showing how spatial practices became entrenched tools of regulation. By connecting these histories to present-day debates over transgender students’ access to bathrooms, the study highlights how past inequities continue to shape educational spaces and offers insights for building more inclusive and equitable schools today.

Author

• Jackie M. Blount, The Ohio State University