Introduction
This is a feminist essay that will explore the themes of power and care through analysis of human behaviour that takes place within female public restrooms. I will explore the idea of how these environments act as an authentic representation of matriarchal values, considering conversations and behaviour of women and LGBTQ+ people who use these spaces without interference from masculine figures. This essay takes the viewpoint that nonbinary and trans people who wish to use the female washroom should be accepted into and do use these facilities. Therefore, from this point onwards when referring to male or female toilets I am speaking in a masculine or feminine perspective for these environments rather than limiting them specifically to gender. I aim to explore the emotional and physical significance of these spaces, particularly through the form of toilet graffiti.This essay also questions how marks and inscriptions made by feminine people within female restrooms act as an informal and authentic form of feminist publishing. I question the value of these messages when graffiti is understood as a publishing system once opened up to a wider audience outside of the privacy and constraints of a gendered environment. To critique my own analysis, my argument focuses primarily on Western female washrooms in economically developed countries and I recognise that there are significant cultural differences between Western, Eastern and less economically developed countries. Privacy and separation from the masculine when using the toilet should be a fundamental human right but it is acknowledged in this essay that it is not, it is a privilege. Studies find that 1 in 3 women are without access to safe toilets (Water Aid 2012). Chapter 1: The emotional power of feminine toilet spaces It is a known fact that over history, women have faced silencing, erasure and even theft of their ideas and contributions from men and male institutions (Spender, 1991). Science historian Margaret W Rossiter coined the term Matilda Effect to refer to the erasure of women’s achievements and contributions to science, often attributed to men, based on the essay Woman as Inventor by suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage (Gray, 2019). The default male and the gender data gap are further examples of how patriarchy has centred males as the default, and the consequences this has on women in everyday life (Criado Perez, 2019). In 1976, historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich stated that ‘Well behaved women seldom make history’ which still carries a strong resonance even fifty years later. It led me to question - what if there were a space where there are no men to silence us? What if there were a space unimpacted by the patriarchy, just for a moment, however temporary? Female toilets sprung to mind. The liminal gendered space of female toilets acts as a safe space free from the presence of the masculine, where conversation, thoughts, ideas and acts of care can exist more freely without patriarchal silencing, pressure or erasure. Although it is not known when women first began separating from men, female only spaces were first introduced as a political tool in second wave feminism (Power, 2008). Some modern examples include women’s shelters, female only carriages and public transport services, women only gyms, changing rooms and female only clubs. All of these offer separation from men. Segregation between men and women has been described as an instance of coercive power, however voluntary separation of women has been described as a liberation tactic that resists oppression (Mohin, 1983; Hawthorne and Valeska, 1991, cited in Power, 2008). Gendered toilets have existed for far longer than female only safe spaces introduced in second wave feminism (Power, 2008), which is why I wish to emphasise the significance of female toilets as an unintentional but powerful political tool, and highlight the emotional value of these liminal spaces. Typically, women undertake three times as much unpaid care work as men, and are therefore more likely to be accompanied by children, disabled people and older people when using the restroom. Women also tend to take 2.3 times longer than men when using the toilet (Criado Perez, 2019, p48–49), which creates a significant difference in the time spent within these environments compared to male toilets. Urinals also offer less privacy than cubicles and take less time to use, meaning conversation is less likely to occur due to speed, privacy and social etiquette. This differs from the female space, where increased queue times and longer time spent inside, alongside caregiving roles, naturally creates a calmer and more relational environment. Time spent within is often longer, strangers interact more frequently, and small acts of care become more visible, such as passing toilet roll under or over a stall, sharing sanitary products, hand sanitiser and other feminine care items. Dara Blumenthal’s 2014 book ‘Little Vast Rooms of Undoing: Exploring Identity and Embodiment through Public Toilet Spaces’ proposes that experiences within public toilets expose the fissures of identity construction and open possibilities for a more relational and cohesive experience of the embodied self. The phrase “rooms of undoing” (Blumenthal, 2014) suggests individuals can temporarily step outside socially regulated identities and bodily performances. In doing so, they are momentarily stripped of job roles, responsibilities and social pressures, which emphasises the emotional significance of public toilets as spaces of release. This is particularly significant for women, who typically undertake more household duties and care work than men (Criado Perez, 2019), and unpaid roles that often extend beyond the workplace into the home. Public toilets therefore become one of the few spaces where this responsibility is briefly suspended, even though the work itself continues outside of it. Chapter 2: The physical power of latrinalia in feminine toilet spaces Having explored the emotional significance of female toilets, I now introduce the idea of the physical power of these spaces. As relieving ourselves is often a quick procedure and some people may never visit that specific toilet again, these environments leave little physical evidence of the people who use them or the interactions that take place within them. However, there is one more permanent record of visitors, and that is toilet graffiti. In 1966, Alan Dundes coined the term ‘latrinalia’ to describe inscriptions and markings in public restrooms, suggesting that the term graffiti was too broad for the specific nature of markings made within toilet environments. Latrinalia is significant because it connects to wider histories of women being silenced, erased or unheard, while existing within a private environment free from surveillance, authority or masculine regulation. Kyra News 2024 suggests that ‘In single-sex environments, women often experience reduced anxiety and feel more empowered to express themselves openly’, which can be seen translated through the form of toilet graffiti. I propose latrinalia as an informal form of publishing, and one of the few that exists outside institutional control, making it significant within feminist publishing. Unlike traditional publishing systems, it is free from editing, censorship, authorship and audience expectation, giving writers full control over what they ‘publish’ for others to read. It allows for conversation between strangers, without value being placed on its recipient but to the audience themselves, as the recipient of the reply may never enter that specific stall or bathroom again. Studies show clear differences between male versus female restrooms, with male toilets containing more sexual, aggressive or slanderous graffiti, while female toilets contain more encouraging, optimistic and supportive messages (Amevuvor and Haver, 2018; Ktana, 2018). This may reflect the relational and caregiving nature often associated with female spaces. Humans have been writing on caves since the very beginning of time, which is why it feels significant as a full circle moment in feminism that toilet graffiti is still so prominent and honest. The oldest recorded handprint, the Sulawesi handprint dated to around 39,900 years ago, is thought to have been made by a woman on a cave wall (Nelson and Meikle, 2024). This creates a sense of continuity between ancient expression and contemporary acts of inscription. Chapter 3: Republishing feminine expression and the loss of authenticity Since we have explored both the emotional and physical significance of feminine toilet spaces, it is now important to question what happens when these private forms of expression are removed from the restroom and exposed publicly? If female latrinalia functions as an authentic form of feminist publishing because of its privacy, anonymity and lack of authority, then making it public inevitably changes it. The nature of republishing latrinalia contradicts itself as a publishing system. Public exposure amplifies feminine voices that would otherwise remain hidden within a gendered environment, but it also risks changing the meaning of the messages through public scrutiny and spectatorship. Once these inscriptions are opened up to a wider audience, particularly masculine audiences, they become more performative and less authentic than the spontaneous and uncontrolled nature of real latrinalia. This tension can be demonstrated with Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998), where something deeply personal and emotionally raw was relocated into the public and criticised heavily because of it (Haider 2026). It also received criticism about its authenticity once it has been removed from her bedroom and reassembled in varying ways around different galleries (Cherry, 2020). Similarly, feminine toilet graffiti exists most powerfully within the privacy of the female restroom because it is created without expectation of public viewing, institutional approval or censorship. Once removed from that space, part of its authenticity is inevitably lost. It acts as a subtle metaphor and nod to the patriarchy, where women’s voices are heard today but still face patriarchal silencing and scrutiny. This relationship between anonymity and behaviour can also be explored through Marina Abramović’s Rhythm 0 (1974). This work demonstrated how environments lacking authority, accountability and surveillance can encourage uninhibited human behaviour, while also revealing how quickly behaviour can escalate (Hessel, 2023). Much like Abramović’s audience, anonymity within female toilet spaces allows for more honest expression of emotion, humour, anger and political opinion. However, once these messages are republished publicly, they become exposed to interpretation, judgement and curation in ways they were never originally intended for. This reflects traditional publishing systems, where voices are edited, selected and controlled, unlike latrinalia which exists outside institutional structures. Conclusion: To conclude with, this essay has explored the emotional and physical significance of the female restroom as more than just a functional space, instead proposing it as an emotionally and politically significant environment free from patriarchal interference. These liminal spaces create conditions through conversation, care and anonymity where women and LGBTQ+ people can exist more freely and communicate more honestly than they often can elsewhere. Latrinalia acts as a physical documentation of female existence and interaction within these environments. This form of publishing exists outside traditional institutional systems, free from censorship, authorship and audience expectation, making it a powerful form of feminist expression. However, this essay has also debated the significance of latrinalia once republished publicly, questioning whether this form of publishing loses authenticity once removed from its natural gendered environment. Public exposure amplifies feminine voices, but also exposes them to patriarchal judgement and spectatorship. Female latrinalia therefore exists as a contradiction: a powerful feminist publishing system and archive of feminine experience, emotion and resistance, yet arguably most significant within the female restroom itself. At the same time, these messages risk losing power when seen only by feminine audiences, as arguably the masculine audience is the one that most needs to encounter them. It therefore exists as a subtle metaphor for the patriarchy itself, where women’s voices have always existed, but have not always been fully heard. The matriarchy starts at the female restroom door.