Their Words, Not Mine: Students At Cal Poly University Holding A 'S*it-In'

Campus Reform- Students at California Polytechnic University recently held a “shit-in” to teach their peers about gender neutral bathrooms

Last Tuesday, members of Cal Poly’s Queer Student Union began circulating a petition requesting that the university add “Gender Diversity” signs to existing “all-gender bathrooms” on campus. Tuesday also kicked off the group’s three-day “shit-in” during which students were encouraged to only use gender neutral bathrooms on campus.

“Put yourself in the shoes of a trans*/gender non-conforming student and take the pledge to use only all gender bathrooms,” states the group’s Facebook.

According to the petition, the public university in San Luis Obispo, Calif. currently has seventeen all-gender bathrooms, but only five are “reasonably accessible, leaving non-cisgender students with a paltry amount of options when it comes to using the bathroom.”

“When we’re talking about inclusive practices, policies and facilities for transgender and non-gender-conforming students, one of the first things that comes up is access to restrooms,” QSU’s club adviser Adam Serafin told Cal Poly’s Mustang News. “And what’s behind that is access to a safe place to use a restroom. Somewhere that is emotionally safe, but also physically safe for students.”

In addition to encouraging students to sign their petition, QSU members constructed a mock toilet in the school’s University Union Thursday that was accompanied by a large sign stating “we’ve got shit to deal with.” Passersby who were asked to sign the toilet in support of all-gender bathrooms wrote a range of messages including, but not limited to: “Get your shit together, Cal Poly” and “Poop equality.”

Event organizers advised non-transgender students to “check [their] potty privilege” and carried around signs that declared “going to the bathroom shouldn’t be a source of anxiety.”

“Gendered bathrooms pose a threat to the emotional and physical well-being of this demographic, and often force awkward and uncomfortable encounters for non-cisgender identifying students,” the group’s petition explained.



​I have got to imagine this is the kind of thing that Rosa Parks had in mind when she refused to move to the back of the bus. The very same intentions of courageous African Americans when they hosted sit-ins at all white restaurants and faced discriminatory violence from the majority. I would think that Susan B. Anthony dedicated her life not only to a women's right to vote, but for a transsexuals right to feel cozy while shitting in public. 

So let me get this straight? Tens of thousands of students are supposed to regulate where they go to bathroom to like five places on campus so that people of gender neutrality have a comfortable restroom experience? I can tell you one thing that I don't find comfortable. Walking around with my asshole clenched because there is not a genderless bathroom in sight. Hope you're happy trannies. Some poor soul is shitting his pants in 'Political Science' because the closest co-ed bathroom is in the west wing. Are flower beds and the side of buildings considered genderless? You think I'm waiting in a 5 minute line to piss you are beside your mind.

I have a quaint idea. Instead of having thousands of students use only a handful of bathrooms, how about we just make every bathroom genderless? I'll tell you the first place I am going. Straight to the ladies room. I am claiming my spot on that throne amongst the smell of potpourri and the sounds of women's beauty tips. Seriously, if the 'non-gender conforming' want bathrooms they can have ours. Men's public bathrooms are like a literal war zone. Women always wonder why their lines are so long while men's are so short, and the answer is easy. Men want in and out of that hell hole as fast as possible. Women take group trips to the bathroom because they can spend a couple genuinely enjoyable minutes in there gossiping. Meanwhile in the men's bathroom I would prefer no use of any of my senses. Going to a men's bathroom is like cliff diving. Close your eyes and pray for the best. If a bunch of 'Pats' don't feel comfortable taking a dump in a public bathroom then they already have far more in common with men than they realize.

P.S. The whole world is literally going to shit, pun intended.