I own my home which is co-located in a set of townhouses. We have a Body Corporate committee that handles general activities like shared gardening and maintenance services. Three weeks ago I sent a formal request to the Body Corporate committee notifying them of my intent to renovate my own home, and replace a bath with a shower. The response that came back floored me: I was strongly advised not to remove the bath because how would any small children I have be bathed in future? I was told that it is easier to bathe kids in a bath. OK, maybe, but I choose not to have kids. My sister does not have kids. My brother has teenage kids. I have no other friends or family with young kids. My siblings and I are all in our40s but somehow my home must be renovated to suit other people’s assumptions about the “proper” state of my uterus and the purpose of my life as a female. I don’t want to slip and fall yet again while I get out of my bath but the Body Corporate wants me to retain a bath for kids I don’t have and will not have. It drives me almost insane that my home is still controlled by other people’s assumptions about what is the right way for a woman to behave, even in her own bathroom!
