Social Norm In The Restroom

There is a social norm for all people that we are suppose to use the restroom according to our gender. For example, if you are a guy you have to go to a men’s restroom and if you are a woman you have to go to a women’s restroom. I broke the norm by going inside and using the men’s restroom in my dorm hall on the 5th floor, and based on people’s reactions I encountered, I know that if I was a male going into a girls restroom people would go into havoc. It is not considered normal or appropriate for a lady to use a men’s restroom since we are taught at small age that we must just go to a restroom according to our gender, thus when I received negative reactions from people, it made me feel lousy. Violating the norm is dangerous and can be considered illegal in some places. I went inside the men’s restroom and noticed there were not many guys present. One of them looked at me and did not say a word. The guy next to him told me “what are you doing in here?” “you might get in trouble with Danielle” (peer counselor) in a very awkward way. Another boy walked in the restroom and all he said was “what the f***?”. When I walked out one of the boys left as well and a girl behind us said “oh damn”. I am guessing she believed me and the boy did something because we left the restroom together. Later on, a friend of mine told me he was in one of the restroom stalls and that when he heard a female voice, obviously mine, he taught it was funny. Evidently, when people see a girl in a restroom she …show more content…
When a woman walks into a men’s restroom, men react by getting weirded out and some find it funny because they do not see females as threats. However, when it comes to men going into a women’s restroom, society takes in account that a male is a dangerous predator. If a man walks into a women’s restroom the woman might feel threatened and think that she is going to be