A cute animated figure replaces flawed gendered icons and funds the distribution of inclusive signs to anyone who wants them. Due to COVID, the production of the animated figure is cancelled. We plan to still produce the signs, and refunds are available. Email degenderator-at-robb.cc for more info.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
The CMA CGM Jules Verne has set sail from Xiamen China with 1000 bathroom signs on board.
Our 6 little boxes of signs are taking up about 29 cubic feet of one 2,400 cubic foot shipping container, and there are 16,020 containers on board. 0.00007% of the boat is our bathroom signs, it ain't much, but it is what we got!
It is making a stops in Korea, then heading to Oakland on March 6th to 8th. SSA berth 55, I may have a little outdoor covid-safe celebration in Oakland as we gaze in awe at a boat that is just too large.
Strangely, the container is getting off the boat in Los Angeles on March 16th. Even stranger, it is then taking a long train ride to Chicago where it will be delivered to my freight forwarder then UPS'd to me, then I can USPS you all your signs. It is looking like April for that. I can't wait!
1000 bathroom signs are going to be manufactured over the next two weeks! They are then going to get printed and packaged, and then shipped on a slow boat (+ train) from China to Chicago. Then ship ground to me in the bay. Then I ship them out USPS. I'm hoping March is when you will finally have your signs! 256 signs are going out to you, the Kickstarter backers who opted to get signs! 228 are going out to volunteers and orgs who have already signed up, and the remaining 516 are going to get stored until I find more volunteers! If you know anyone who may be able to put these up in public spaces, be sure to send them my way. (degenderator🌀robb.cc)
Here is me very excited at the quality of the production samples.
After so many edits, I am finally happy with the 8 page zine, which comes with every sign. If you aren't getting signs or can't wait til February to learn about harm reduction and bathroom design, you can click here to read the zine early! Also, if you want some paper zines, email me your address and I'll mail you some (in March) as a token of my gratitude for your support. (degenderator🌀robb.cc)
Love,
After so many delays and changes to the project, I am very excited that the mold is finished. I should have a sample in my hands in the next 2 weeks! Then, we are about a month or two from having 1000 signs to ship out to backers who opted for them, as well as to volunteers and orgs who will put them up all over the place.
If you or someone you know wants to get signs, the pre-order store is open with options for full-price, shipping only, and zero cost!
Due to order minimums, I will have many extra kits after fulfilling, and it would be great to find homes for them.
Also I wrote an article about harm reduction strategies for public bathrooms. It is a summary of everything I have learned doing this project, and how signs are a small part of the changes we need.
Love,
Hey Degenderator Enthusiasts,
Many of us are grappling with how COVID has altered the course of our lives and left us with uncertainty. Unfortunately, COVID has proved too great a burden for the Degenderator project to continue as planned. COVID has shuttered many public bathrooms, and strained small businesses have little incentive to buy bathroom signage right now. I know many of you were purchasing these for your own private bathrooms (which you are certainly using more often now!) But to make matters worse, our manufacturing partner in China adjusted both pricing and minimum order quantity to account for COVID losses. While I totally understand their need to do so, it makes the potential losses of the project too great to continue as planned.
They have raised their minimum order quantity, which would leave us with about 2500 surplus Degenderators with no one to send/sell them to. Financially and environmentally this would be a profound waste. We have some decisions to make about how to move forward and I ask you to take the survey below to register your choice. And don’t worry -100% of the money you contributed remains untouched in a bank account, ready for either refunds or for manufacturing.
Apologies for not writing this update sooner, as I was waiting to see if manufacturing conditions would change.
Politically, I see the Degenderator as a playful kinetic sculpture/doll to get attention to an important issue -- making public bathrooms just and accessible to all. The kinetic sculpture is a mascot for the movement and a carrier for the real change -- thousands of all-gender bathroom signs sold to backers and gifted to volunteers.
I propose that we cancel the kinetic figure and manufacture and fulfill only the signs. This would allow us to have the same social impact, and start production immediately. Every backer could get a quantity of signs greater than or equal to the number they ordered. The folks who are primarily interested in the kinetic figure could get either refunds (see #2) or donate their pledge to providing signs to the volunteer orgs who requested them for free (see #3). The kinetic figure designs would be made open-source public domain for anyone to build. If you are okay with getting signs-only, please fill out the survey below!
Even this compromised plan would still result in this project losing a bit of money, but I am happy to take a small loss to get the most meaningful part of this initiative out the door. In the event that most folks opt for refunds, the whole project will be cancelled and everyone will get a refund.
I totally understand if you came for the kinetic figure, paid for the kinetic figure, and want the kinetic figure. Unfortunately, I have found no way to manufacture them at this time. If you want a full refund, just let me know in the survey and you will get one. I may offer the kinetic figures again in the future at a higher price-point. If you would be interested in this, please let me know in the survey to assist in planning.
I have heard from a few people that they signed on to this project to help the movement for more just bathrooms, are not operators of public bathrooms themselves, and would like to donate their pledge to the effort in lieu of a reward. If this is you, thank you! Please fill out the survey below!
On a personal note, I have helped found an audio collective that helps with sound amplification at Bay Area Black Lives Matter protests, and doing everything in my power to ensure this unique, tragic, and unprecedented political moment is a point from which a better world can be built.