#SquatForChange: The Fight for Equality Continues
In a weird turn of events, fathers have officially spoken up about the lack of changing tables in men’s public bathrooms. This new campaign demands changing tables be made accessible to everyone, after Donte Palmer, a father of three, posted a picture of himself squatting against a toilet wall to change his one-year old’s diaper. Because if there’s one thing better than dealing with your kid’s shit (literally), it’s squatting the entire time.
Since Palmer began raising awareness about the issue, many fathers have shared their own struggles by posting photos of changing their child in bathrooms. When posting, they use the hashtag #squatforchange to support Palmer’s campaign.
You would think that in today’s day and age, we would have realized that women aren’t the only ones taking care of kids anymore. And they aren’t the only ones that need changing stations either! But although times have changed, nothing has been done to reflect those changes, reinforcing the fact that gender discrimination is still a very real problem.
Although we admit it may seem odd at first, this isn’t the first time people have complained about changing tables. Calls for change have happened in the past, such as in 2015, when actor Ashton Kutcher began his own petition demanding the installation of universally accessible changing tables across the United States. At the time, he stated, “I would like my daughter to experience a world where gender doesn’t dictate one’s responsibility or limit one’s opportunity,” which makes a lot of sense (and somehow makes Ashton Kutcher seem even more attractive… just us??). The main point is that fathers want to take active roles in their children’s lives, but this bathroom fuckery prevents them from fully doing so.
In October of 2017, Obama signed a law known as The Babies Act, which mandated diaper changing tables in men’s public, federal facilities. Although this was a small step towards rectifying gender discrimination, we think it’s time to expand a little bit more. All sexes have the right to equality, and this violates their right of having equal access to something. No one should ever have to stress about finding a safe, clean area to change their child.
Another awesome development is our very own Governor Cuomo announcing the passage of the Governor's 2018 Women's Agenda in April of 2018, which made changing tables accessible to all public bathrooms. However, there are currently only changing tables in women’s bathrooms, men’s bathrooms, and federal facilities in New York State. You might be thinking what about neutral gender bathrooms? Cisgender? Transgender? Non-Binary? Polygender… shall we keep going? The answer is no! But these individuals are parents too, some even single parents. They deserve to use their bathroom of choice without worrying about where they can take care of their children. So why is it that they face more obstacles raising their children than others do? Dads everywhere are tired of this shit, and we are too!