Bread & Roses is cheating

For the virtual expo Bread & Roses is cheating we invited friendly heritage institutions to share special pieces from their own collections that, in their opinion, resonate with the meaning of the legendary slogan behind the magazine's name:We want bread and we want roses too'.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, that powerful slogan has symbolized social justice worldwide. Bread refers to the right to fair wages and economic security. Roses represent everything that makes life more than mere survival: culture, nature, education, beauty, freedom, and equality. Together, they express a desire for a dignified and just existence. An aspiration that is just as relevant today as it was then.

Bread & Roses is cheating brings together a multifaceted selection of objects, images, documents, and stories thanks to the enthusiastic cooperation of numerous heritage institutions.

We all pee – men and women alike – several times a day. In the Huis van Alijn collection, you will find many traces of this: from chamber pots, bedpans, and toilet paper to a Fisher-Price toilet trainer. We also sometimes need to go to the toilet when we are away from home, but that experience differs for men and women.

The urination funnel is a prime example of this. It is an ingenious device that can help women in need of urination. At the same time, it is also a 'disobedient object' that stands for the right to equality between men and women. Men can often use public urinals for free, whereas there are far fewer (free) options for women.

The urination funnel is a spout that allows women to urinate standing up. The pictured model with instructions is one from the brand Freelax. It was distributed to women by Plasactie vzw during the Ghent Festivities in 2010. With this, Plasactie vzw protested against the lack of public toilets for women. Plasactie vzw considers “urination (…) a basic right for women and men” and the association wants to “encourage municipal authorities (…) to take very concrete measures and to allocate in their budgets to treat women and men equally when developing a sanitation policy”.

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The House of Alijn is the Ghent museum of everyday life.

To the website of the House of Alijn