Water in a canal, Baja California Sur, Fall 1999.

The White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia has four bathrooms: "Democrat," "Republican," "Pointer," and "Setter." The food is fabulous, but it's also fun to go and watch how people navigate these familiar binaries in an unfamiliar setting. Some people hardly give them a second glance and just go into the nearest door. Other people are really stumped, and treat them as concrete, binding categories: "Well, I definitely can't go in the Republican one," mused one customer who waited for the "Democrat" bathroom to be free.

But how can you really take those door labels seriously? I mean, so many people aren't really Democrats orRepublicans. What about Independents, Greens and Right-to-Lifers? And why would you ever limit yourself and waitfor a bathroom with the label of your supposed political party on the door?

But that's exactly the point! How can you take anybathroom door labels seriously? So many people aren't really men orwomen. What about transmen, drag queens, transexuals, hermaphrodites and intersexuals? And why would you ever limit yourself and waitfor a bathroom with the label of your supposed gender on the door?

So I decided to launch my own bathroom door sign campaign this fall. We had a binary party where we ate pink and blue sugar cookies, brainstormed binary pairs, and made a pair of signs for each binary. We then went around and covered the "men" and "women" signs on all the bathrooms around campus with our binary signs. Instead of the traditional skirt and pant silhouettes, the bathrooms in the Biology building read "heterotroph" and "autotroph" and those in the science library said "smart" and "pretty".

The point? Our gender binary may have its advantages, but it's important to think about how in some ways, men/women and male/female can be just as complicated and/or ridiculous as black/white, city/country, paper/plastic and here/there. Here is the list we came up with. Enjoy it, send me any new ones, and have your own binary party!