Some men aren't happy with gender neutral spaces. AIBU in thinking they should just suck it up

[Springnowplease]

From The Times - can't copy the full article because of the paywall.

"A term after an Oxford college introduced gender-neutral lavatories, male students have carried out a “dirty protest” over losing their urinals.

Last week they urinated on the floor of the “gender-neutral” cubicles in the bar at Somerville College, Oxford, and wrote on the wall: “We want our f urinals back”, according to an email sent by the president of the junior common room, Niall Macklin. In a message entitled “I can’t believe I am writing this”, Macklin said: “[Last night] someone took it upon themselves to urinate on the floor of one of the cubicles and inscribe ‘We want our f urinals back’. If you have a problem with the changes please use the democratic process and not dirty protests."

It seems more logical to me that men's toilets should be made gender neutral than women's.

I think men should have just as much right to single sex spaces as women and I'm glad they are protesting
My friends son was unhappy when a girl who identified as a boy was in the same changing rooms at school
Boys are body conscious too and males are entitled to enjoy their own spaces
I'm glad they are protesting
Surely adding a gender neutral space is the answer for the naval gazers

That's very surprising isn't it, as usually the women's toilets are designated as gender neutral. Women are supposed to just accept it, so it's quite interesting that men are equally as unhappy to lose their toilets.

Not surprised that some men are unhappy. They might have to queue as long as women often have to. I would be furious.

I dont agree with gender neutral toilets personally. I have had to use them in the past and felt very uncomfortable. But rather than them urinating on the floor they should have taken a different approach.

perhaps they should sign this: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214118 so that discussions can take place with out the need for dirty protests.

I certainly do not want to wade through piss to be able to use the loo.

Presumably they made ALL the toilets gender neutral, so there are no male and female toilets?

It is interesting. I think there should be male toilets with urinals, as they are actually logical and quick, so it's a bit mad to take them away entirely, and female toilets, but the majority should be gender-free cubicles.

Space makes this all but impossible in some places, especially old buildings as I assume the Oxford colleges are.

Dirty protest though. Bleurgh.

I wouldn't want to go into a gender neutral toilet. I've done so in the past and it has made me very uncomfortable. I also completely see the practicality of urinals. Fine if places want to add a third, gender neutral loo, but not to force people Into it. Where are my rights as a female who wants to use a female-only loo? I guess they don't matter! I also have a very hard time understanding the need for them because if i became a man I would want to use the men's loos. Because I would then be a man. But then I also wouldn't tell people I as transgender because I would be a man, so I think I have difficulty understanding the whole situation 🤔😐

Michelle Wolf does a good routine on gender neutral loos, jist is, if you're in a 'women's' loo and you can see genitals, something has gone badly wrong
But a dirty protest is just disgusting.

Bet they didn’t give a thought to the cleaner who will have to mop up their piss.
Bunch of wankwads.

The barbican was a good example of how this goes

They changed their toilets to "cubicles and urinals" and "cubicles" or something, meanning that men had double the options they had before, and women had even longer queues. They had to change it back I think after complaints.

I went to the theatre the other day and was once again struck by the fact the men swanned in and out of the gents, leaving time for chatting, drinks etc while the women stood in massive queues. And it struck me again how most of my life I never questioned this at all, just accepted it was the way of things. That's female socialisation for you.

I am glad that the men are unhappy. I also agree they have a right to be unhappy. Men have a right to single sex spaces as well. For slightly different reasons, for men it’s more about privacy and dignity than safety as it is for women but they should be able to have that privacy and dignity just like women should.

Nobody listens or gives a toss if women are inconvenienced or harmed by TRAs encroaching in their space, but remarkably people seem to listen to men.

So good - let’s make sure men get inconvenienced by all the TRA bullshit too. It’s short term, none of them should be actually hurt by it so my conscience is clear if they are pissed off and inconvenienced.

Maybe then they will listen to what we are saying, which is ‘yes it’s not great is it? Plus we have risks to our safety as well. Shall we work together to sort this out?’

This is what the man Friday campaign is about.

So, let’s all get inconveniencing men.

SardineReturns how is that “female socialisation”? They have urinals so they literally unzip piss and shake. It’s quicker than going into a cubicle and having to pull things down and then up again etc. If I could piss standing up and that was taken away, I’d be annoyed.

Unfortunately, I think the powers that be will only start to take notice when men do start to complain. Women who complain have been decried as bigoted harpies, and threatened- perhaps when men complain it will be accepted that single sex facilities are needed, because of biological functions. And of course it's wrong that women are not believed, but perhaps men do need to be inconvenienced to figure out what's going on.

Dirty protest is grim though-yet another example of men making it someone else's problem to deal with.

Thank goodness the men have finally arrived at this debate with all the anger and aggression felt by women. (I mean that earnestly, not sarcastically). The truth is it should toilets for XY, toilets for XX and gender neutral toilets. If you fancy using the gender neutral one then have at it - but don't just lump everyone into one toilet under the guise of 21st century liberalisation.

I am really struggling between thinking the dirty protest is just urgh, and thinking "fucking good for them"

While grim I truly hope it has an effect. I want to thank them and clip them around the ear in equal measure.

NotCisImaWoman I feel the same lol. But if this is what it takes to get heard and it could do us women good too, then I’m all for it really.

Summerville was a women only college not too long ago. There will be all sorts of history here.
When men initially joined, then urinals will have been fitted.
There will have been a time when men were significantly in the minority, and felt overlooked and unconsidered.

But if this is what it takes to get heard and it could do us women good too, then I’m all for it really

Yup, doesn’t matter if some poor cleaner , most likely a woman, has to wade into a bathroom full of piss and clean it up.

The trans lobby must be one of the most effective in history. We have 0.1% of the population making decisions for all, and we just have to go along with it for fear of called transphobic.

My male partner has told me he doesn't like using the toilets at work when the female cleaner is in. He isn't concerned for his safety, he just doesn't feel comfortable, and I think that is fair enough. I think men are just as entitled to their own spaces as women are.

That said, I don't agree with a "dirty protest" and feel sorry for whoever had to clean it up.

FissionChips I’m going to sound heartless here but hat is what a cleaners job is. You get twats everywhere and these thugs will happen and they need cleaned up. For what they are standing for I’m willing to accept it as ok. I’d rather clean up piss and not lose rights than have a clean bathroom and be walked all over. I’ve actually seen a lot more men cleaning bathrooms than women, not sure why and it means fuck all but there you go.

Things* not thugs fs.

I’m going to sound heartless here but hat is what a cleaners job is

It really isn’t the job of a cleaner in such a place to mop up deliberate acts of vandalism involving piss and shit, places like that have such issues pay a premium and the cleaners have proper PPE and equipment for the job.

I’d rather clean up piss and not lose rights than have a clean bathroom and be walked all over

Off you go an volunteer to clean up these dirty protests then.
It’s not ok to walk over someone else to get your way, its exploitive.