The role of corporate public restrooms as therapeutic landscapes

Abstract

This study explores how corporate public restrooms, often regarded as mundane, serve as critical therapeutic landscapes within the high-pressure environment of China's real estate sector. Through ethnographic research at S Corporation, it reveals how these restrooms become gendered, political, and relational spaces where emotional release, solidarity, and subtle resistance unfold. For men, restrooms offer a space to momentarily shed and quietly reaffirm corporate masculinity, while for women, they become sanctuaries of shared vulnerability and mutual support. Politically, these spaces provide informal arenas for navigating workplace power dynamics and hierarchies away from official scrutiny. Beyond their functional design, these restrooms enable moments of collective strength and resistance, reflecting broader societal issues around gender expectations, emotional labor, and the strains of corporate life. In highlighting how such ordinary spaces shape emotional experiences and social relations, the study highlights the potential for solidarity and resistance within even the most controlled environments, revealing the deeper social challenges embedded in everyday emotional landscapes.