The private bathroom, a strongbox for gender performativity and transgression

Abstract

Public bathrooms are key sites for understanding gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations that are out of the norm. Research has shown that they are places of discrimination but they also provide opportunities for transgression. Domestic bathrooms, however, have not received much attention. Through the experiences of 27 LGBT+ youth from Bages, an interior region of Catalonia, this research shows how the bathroom at home is a significant place where gender and sexual norms are reproduced and transgressed. Using a qualitative methodology, I examine how LGBT+ youth experience the domestic bathroom, both in the family home and their own home, according to their age, gender, and sexual orientation. The domestic bathroom is shown to be relevant in terms of gender performativity and sexuality and a place of privacy where gender expression is tested and sexual pleasure is enjoyed. The study sheds light on the understanding of how social norms around gender and sexuality work, destabilizing the conception of cisheterosexuality as something innate.