change, reject germs and certify a defense again illness.6 Thus, a need for cleanliness, previously exercised for religions or medical reasons, is extended to communicate and dictate social order. Mary Douglas, a cultural anthropologist, explains the root of uncleanliness through her definition of dirt as “matter out of place”7 A pair of shoes that are considered clean on a pavement are immediately dirty if moved on a bed. Food on a plate is safe for consumption, but if it happens to touch a pile of waste even for a moment, it is deemed inedible. As such, dirt can be considered as an “offense against order”8 and a menace to established social standards. In order to preserve order, boundaries are established resulting in the “positive re-orderings of our surrounding.”9 Public restrooms form a barrier against a powerful type of dirt, bodily waste. As “technologies of concealment”they have the ability to
“make waste disappear and provide a literal and moral escape from the unacceptable.”10 When the animal in us surfaces, the
restroom responds to this basic necessity and accommodates such demands while providing intimacy.
Public restrooms, taking on the qualities of a backstage, allow for the preparation a “presentation of self”11 that is considered civilized and orderly by the social world. 106