“The toilets,” I’m told as I enter the gates of the university, “are to be shared by all: female, male and transgender.” No more separate men’s room, ladies’ room, or transgender room. I’ve never heard of other places where transgendered persons have a separate toilet, but whatever the custom is anywhere else, here in Oldenburg University everybody can use any toilet they want. And to make sure nobody is missing this important piece of social progress, signs for the pluralistic toilets are posted all over, each displaying three images: male, female and transgender.
I love this so much that I immediately rush to the toilet, just to be part of this historic moment in the annals of mankind. And what an experience it is! Young people constantly come in and go out, some to relieve themselves in the company of the other sex or gender, others just to watch mixed people relieving themselves together. I’m a bit confused about who is a man or a woman, and who is neither or both, but the sheer fact that all emit a similar odor at the same very moment excites my spiritual self like nothing else ever has.
But when I overstay my welcome at the toilet, people start to get suspicious, and so I walk to the lecture hall to take part in an international conference held by the university’s queer studies department. Almost all participants are female but I spot a few men in the first row and I sit next to them. I have always identified with minorities and I find it intellectually uplifting to identify with these white males, the absolute minority here. I try to connect with two well-dressed men, each wearing a very fashionable suit, but soon discover that both of them have breasts.
