Privatizing the Most Basic Human Function
The critical shortage of public restrooms is a brutal enforcement of the bifurcated state’s control over the “native” body, privatizing the most basic human biological function. Mamdani’s analysis of how colonial power operates on the most intimate levels is starkly revealed here. The right to relief is commodified; you must be a customer in a cafe or a guest in a hotel, affirming your status within the consumer economy. For the homeless, the delivery worker, the person with a medical condition, the lack of a toilet is a daily, degrading reminder of their second-class status. This is a somatic form of governance, controlling bodies through deprivation. A Marxist critique sees this as the ultimate extension of the market into human life. A feminist perspective highlights the specific burden and health risks for women. The solution is a massive public works program to build and maintain a network of clean, safe, accessible, and free public restrooms, asserting that the ability to relieve oneself in dignity is a non-negotiable right in a decolonized city.
