Gender-Neutral Restrooms

[Archivist]

I found this article on the topic to be of interest: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/whos-afraid-of-same-sex-bathrooms

 

[Tellastory]

Why cant there be urinals?

Can females use them? No. So how is that a gender neutral restroom?

Toilet stalls or go back to the way it was. I prefer the way it was since females will have a conniption over the men leaving the toilet seat up.

This is where trying to be politically correct will cause trouble. It is impossible to please all the people all the time. [Staff edit]

 

[Archivist]

Can females use them? No. So how is that a gender neutral restroom?

First, I don't understand your comment. The restroom I used had urinals and stalls. That's gender neutral.

Second, there are devices out there called peewee that allow women to pee standing up. I have a friend who uses them when she goes hiking.

Toilet stalls or go back to the way it was. I prefer the way it was since females will have a conniption over the men leaving the toilet seat up.

Unless there is a line the women won't know who was last to use the toilet

[Staff edit]

 

[Tellastory]

First, I don't understand your comment. The restroom I used had urinals and stalls. That's gender neutral.

Females cannot use urinals. Guys can use toilets for any occasion. So toilets are for everyone. You can't call something gender neutral if the facility within that restroom does not offer all of it as gender neutral.

I did say all or go back to the way it was.

Second, there are devices out there called peewee that allow women to pee standing up. I have a friend who uses them when she goes hiking.

I am sure she goes behind a bush or out of sight of people before using it. [Staff edit]

Unless there is a line the women won't know who was last to use the toilet

Men would be the only ones leaving the toilet seat up. [Staff edit]

 

[Archivist]

Females cannot use urinals. Guys can use toilets for any occasion. So toilets are for everyone. You can't call something gender neutral if the facility within that restroom does not offer all of it as gender neutral.

I did say all or go back to the way it was.

And I showed that there are devices that allow women to use urinals.

I am sure she goes behind a bush or out of sight of people before using it.

Not when she is with our group of about 8 men and women. We have all seen each other naked, it isn't a big deal.

[Staff edit]

 

[david.d]

I lived in Europe for 3 years and almost all of the restrooms are just restrooms, no gender. There are some that are for men or women, but I didn't see many and it seemed to be more of a suggestion. Most of the toilets (if they have a toilet, it's normally a whole in the ground... no seat) are closed in like closets, not like our stalls, and some had their version of urinals, but in a back area away from the stalls. First of all, it felt weird the first couple of times I used them, mostly because of a shock factor like did I just go in the wrong bathroom? Americans are just super sensitive. I really miss Europe, because they don't over sensationalize everything. I don't know if it is worse than when I left [staff edit], but living in America now feels like walking on egg shells. Our priorities are terrible and something as universal as going to the bathroom is our concern. Europe is not perfect, especially their politics and the way they treat their citizens, but their citizens are wonderful people. Regardless of what a political candidate says, our leaders can NOT make America great again, only Americans can and I don't see it ever happening. It's just a bathroom, but it's not just about bathrooms.

 

[pdudgeon]

First, I don't understand your comment. The restroom I used had urinals and stalls. That's gender neutral.

no, that's a men's restroom; urinals for #1, stalls for #2.

 

[Darkhorse]

Females cannot use urinals.

Actually, they can, especially if they wear skirts or dresses and hold their fingers in the right places. Trust me; many of the younger generation know how.

I'll leave the remaining details for you to research...

 

[Anguspure]

During a visit to a Penn State University campus over the weekend i used a gender-neutral restroom. A female student came it to use the restroom while I was in there. It was not a big deal; she did her thing, I did my thing. Nobody saw anything that they shouldn't have seen. We had a nice chat at the sinks and agreed that a gender-neutral restroom worked just fine.

http://thetab.com/us/pennstate/2016/01/22/penn-state-get-gender-neutral-bathrooms-campus-2816

In Germany, at least, this has been normal for...ever, I guess. I remember being slightly perturbed by it as young fella, walking into a rest room with the girls but as you say, not a big deal.
I think there are probably a few things that we make more of a fuss about in a less mature and respectful Western world that are at least tolerated in the old world and havn't dragged the whole of society into a (more) uncivilised mess.

 

[farout]

Stanford has gender-neutral restrooms throughout our campus, both in the areas that are exclusively for the community - such as in dorms - and for publicly accessible areas. People actually seem to prefer them. Men because they provide a higher level of privacy than in single-gender restrooms, since there are no unenclosed urinals, and women because the lines tend to be shorter. It does require a bit of mental acclimation, though.

Since the 1990s some colleges have had coed bathrooms on dorm hall floors, so it's not an entirely new concept, but is one that is labeled differently. My stepmom graduated from college back then and said she lived in coed on-campus apartments and dorms that had coed bathrooms. Perhaps because it didn't come with any form of label, such as "gender-neutral" or or with the public divisiveness of now, it generated far less of controversy. The layout most often used is a central area with sinks, and then on either side of it stalls with commodes and cubicles with showers. To me, what's most important is a stall or cubicle door that affords privacy and properly locks. The gender of the person barging in on me because of a defective lock is entirely irrelevant.

To add - I've seen many histrionic threads on here to the effect of "Obama wants our teenage daughters to share bathrooms with men! Oh noes!" I'm a teenage woman who shared a bathroom with many men every day last year (this year I'm interning and living off campus), without even the slightest bit of detriment. I never saw the genitalia of either gender because everyone used individual stalls, and not once did I ever feel vulnerable or compromised.

Target and its transgender restroom is not working as well. 10 women have been violated and filed charges. There have been arrests and 4 were known sexual criminals, this big deal to sit net to a man or woman using the toilet is really dumb when for many, many, years its worked just fine the other way.

 

[Verv]

My country still has a lot of 'gender neutral' bathrooms due to the fact that many of the restaurants and local establishments were too small or too impoverished for such a long time to have separate facilities. In day to day life, it is pretty meaningless for day to day interaction...

However, just six months ago there was a very high profile crime of a man who specifically hated and abhorred women waiting in one of those small, unisex bathrooms and when a woman came in he murdered her. It raised no alarm bells because (a) he could be there, and (b) she would just walk right in if the door wasn't locked, making it a perfect trap for his crime.

An evil man who is caught by police or has been reported in some women's bathroom can easily be arrested and held accountable before the act of doing such a crime... But, when all the bathrooms are 'neutral' the notion of a rapist or a murderer waiting inside of a bathroom at 1-2 AM to harm people is entirely legal and there is no real way to even document or keep track of these potential threats.

You say I might be making a mountain out of a mole hill, or be worrying too much... But how should the hundreds of people who might be victimized by this manner feel if it happens to them or their family & friends?

There's no real reason to render all bathrooms 'neutral' other than an underhanded political statement.

 

[Archivist]

no, that's a men's restroom; urinals for #1, stalls for #2.

Except, once again, women can use urinals.

 

[SeventyOne]

During a visit to a Penn State University campus over the weekend i used a gender-neutral restroom. A female student came it to use the restroom while I was in there. It was not a big deal; she did her thing, I did my thing. Nobody saw anything that they shouldn't have seen. We had a nice chat at the sinks and agreed that a gender-neutral restroom worked just fine.

http://thetab.com/us/pennstate/2016/01/22/penn-state-get-gender-neutral-bathrooms-campus-2816

Then obviously neither of you were sexual predators. Now, if you (or whoever) had been on the prowl, looking to get some thrill and cause trouble, it would likely had been a completely different experience for both people.

 

[Anguspure]

Then obviously neither of you were sexual predators. Now, if you (or whoever) had been on the prowl, looking to get some thrill and cause trouble, it would likely had been a completely different experience for both people.

Perhaps a lower societal tolerance for general sexual predation might be a better solution than relying rules to govern the behaviour of the general respectful, mature and non-predatory population.

 

[SeventyOne]

Perhaps a lower societal tolerance for general sexual predation might be a better solution than relying rules to govern the behaviour of the general respectful, mature and non-predatory population.

"lower societal tolerance"?

You mean writing laws? We have those already. Or do you mean something wishy-washy like calling them meanie-heads and what not?

 

[Anguspure]

"lower societal tolerance"?

You mean writing laws? We have those already. Or do you mean something wishy-washy like calling them meanie-heads and what not?

I'm talking about the current societal tolerence for general sexual predation that passes off as "chatting up" or "hitting on" somebody for the sole purposes of "getting off" with them, and I'm also talking about the generally over sexualised nature of our media and culture, the general acceptance of media and entertainment that introduce and encourage some people to the ideas and thoughts that given time are likely to coalesce into sexually predatory behaviour.

 

[Anguspure]

I'm talking about the current societal tolerence for general sexual predation that passes off as "chatting up" or "hitting on" somebody for the sole purposes of "getting off" with them, and I'm also talking about the generally over sexualised nature of our media and culture, the general acceptance of media and entertainment that introduce and encourage some people to the ideas and thoughts that given time are likely to coalesce into sexually predatory behaviour.

Come to think of it, the people I know who are succsesful sexual predators do not use places like rest rooms to engage in their art, many much nicer places to catch a fish than that.

 

[SeventyOne]

the current societal tolerence for general sexual predation that passes off as "chatting up" or "hitting on" somebody for the sole purposes of "getting off" with them

That's not current. That's been going on since there have been people with libidos, and will continue until the Lord returns and the corruptible body will be made incorruptible. It's just the reality we live in right now.

 

[Anguspure]

That's not current. That's been going on since there have been people with libidos, and will continue until the Lord returns and the corruptible body will be made incorruptible. It's just the reality we live in right now.

True, its not new. But our culture is definitely more encouraging of it than most.

 

[Archivist]

Then obviously neither of you were sexual predators. Now, if you (or whoever) had been on the prowl, looking to get some thrill and cause trouble, it would likely had been a completely different experience for both people.

And as I said earlier, you can find sexual predators in any restroom, be it same sex or gender neutral.