Fear and Investing in Public Things

• In Event: The Intersectional Politics of the Private

Abstract

Among the central reasons the United States does not have a system of public restrooms is tied to bodily shame and a well cultivated fear of dissimilar, unsafe bodies. In this paper, I look in part at what we have to learn from debates about public bathrooms to argue that we need a deeper look at the affect, of fear and disgust, when tied to being together across bodily differences (of class, ability, race, sex, gender, and sexuality) when confronting systems of both segregation and unmet need. Public bathrooms, in this way, are not unlike schools, transit, or swimming pools – in that we fail to fund strong, beautiful, well-kept public things when they are used in common – understood as contaminated rather than valuable and worthy of investment.

Author

• Jennifer Gaboury, CUNY-Hunter College