Trans people's use of single-sex toilet facilities has become the subject of public attention, academic debate and research in recent years. One common solution is to offer transgender students access to an alternative toilet or changing space, such as an accessible toilet. However, in this paper, I critically engage with the suggestion that…

In recent educational discourse, public schools can be seen as sites of feminine power, as the majority of teachers are female and some gains have been made in girls' school achievement. However, some theorists argue that schools are too feminine, and thus boys' achievement is at risk. This article refutes this claim, and shows that schools are…

School toilets, globally and historically, have been problematic as places of shame and bullying, often providing pupils with inadequate facilities. This participatory student research project sought to develop political agency with youth researchers, equipping them with research skills to develop a project about school toilets, and to help…

In this paper we argue that school toilets function as one civilising site [Elias, 1978. "The Civilising Process". Oxford: Blackwell] in which children learn that disabled and queer bodies are out of place. This paper is the first to offer queer and crip perspectives on school toilets. The small body of existing school toilet literature…

Organization of spaces in schools often revolves around gender and sexuality. For example, it has been reported that restrooms and locker rooms are the most heteronormative and heterosexist spaces within schools. Particularly within these spaces, hegemonic heterosexual masculinity/femininity is institutionalized, not only in the practices and…

Schools are often sites of surveillance for students as behaviors are governed and regulated by gendered norms and sexed expectations. For transgender and gender non-conforming students, school environments can produce anxiety as students are categorized into gender binaries. This article draws from Canadian policy in public schools and higher…

This paper examines how transgender and gender non-conforming youth are represented and shaped as specific subjects vis-à-vis the cisgendered problematics of the washroom space in schools. In the first part of the paper, I undertake a critical analysis of one policy-informing text on the implementation of the gender neutral washroom in schools to…

This paper derives from a larger study, looking at how students in one secondary school in Ontario problematised and understood gender expression. This study applies a Foucaultian analytic framework of disciplinary space to the problem of the bathroom in public schools. It focuses specifically on the surveillance and regulation of gendered bodies…

This paper focuses on the continuing significance of gender identity as a category of analysis within the field of gender theory and research in education. I begin by considering contemporary discussions of the limitations of research relating to gender theory and research in education. Following on from this, I explore some contemporary…