To ask why women would be uncomfortable with unisex bathrooms

I don't think I've used one, but I wouldn't be comfortable using one that was say a set of cubicles with sinks outside albeit I'd use it if I had to of course. When I was heavily pregnant I was unwell at work one day and threw up all over myself. I went into the ladies to clean myself off and had to remove my dress in order to rinse the vomit off. I had a female colleague in there with me making sure I was alright. With her there, I was merely embarrassed at being almost naked, heavily pregnant, and covered in sick. Had one of my male colleagues walked in (who were all lovely and people that I generally liked and trusted) oh good god no. I would not have attempted to clean myself up had it been a unisex toilet I just couldn't do it I would have gone home still covered in sick and I don't think any of my male colleagues would have liked stumbling in on me like that either had it been that way.

I've read the rest of the thread & noticed there are discussions about floor to ceiling cubicles. At the time I witnessed a man presenting his genitals albeit unwittingly before a hurried start of a theatre performance thinking he'd be alone in the area,I couldn't have cared less about the design of the cubicles.We were both in the area one going in,one going out with a man preparing himself as if he was in a male only toilet. I was shocked but even more discusted at the thought I could have had a child with me.

Edited to add I think unisex toilets are an abomination of human rights.

I wouldn’t want to be on a period sorting myself out knowing there’s most definitely a man having his 70 hour shite/ phone and fogging my 1 minute wee and tampax change wrestling 2 kids. There should always be a massive block of concrete between men and women When they don’t know each other and bathrooms you don’t see men with 2/3 kids in a man’s cue for a loo ever there always with the long suffering mums

Unfortunately there are so many weirdos and perverts on the loose, they are totally unsafe. It really worries me as I have a 7 Yr old who wants to be independent. No chance of that happening in one of those toilets, I'll be on the lookout.

My friends and I were on a long weekend and went to the Slug and Lettice and came across an obvious man dressed as a woman trying to enter the female loo. We stopped him as it's just ludicrous. There were young girls using the toilet.

So where do you rinse out your menstrual cup?

If you're fortunate enough not to have experienced it, then there's no way of explaining to you. (I've seen the same argument on Twitter countless times. Several women, raise the problem of needing to clean up. There's always one person who reckons that it's not a problem because neither she nor her daughter ever experienced it.)

I went through hell when I was perimenopausal - I had endo. Yes, you clean up as best as you can with loo paper and wipes if you have them on you. (You try to be fully prepared, but perimenopause is dreadful for some, even with medical intervention.) I'm through it now, but I recall having to wear Tampax plus night time pads and still only lasting 50 minutes.

You avoid touching the handle...but sometimes blood does get on your hands. Ditto if you're unfortunate enough to have a miscarriage at work, as happened with me.

You try to get to the sink without anyone seeing you and you clean up properly. You make sure that you leave everything spick and span.

You don't need the added stress of having men around.

Well, there were reasons that historically, women here in the UK fought for single sex rather than mixed sex toilets (and other spaces - after all, most of the "debate" on this goes way beyond toilets) in the first place.

Were they wrong to do that? Are the reasons no longer valid? How does that square with organisations like, for instance, Unesco, currently actively fighting for separate toilet and washing facilities for women and girls in developing countries as a women's human rights issue? Are they wrong and misguided in that?

And wouldn't it have been better to discuss whether they were still required or wanted with those actually impacted by changing them to mixed sex before imposing mixed sex toilets on every woman, regardless of whether they consented or not?

Yes, why use 'stumble', JHound?

Oh look, you inserted 'stumbling'.

Never tried fiddling around for a tampon string after you've flooded? Never got bloody fingers after changing a soaked tampon or a moon cup? If you've never had blood-stained hands, you really haven't had a heavy period.

I have fibroids so heavy periods come with the territory and nope, never had to stumble to the sink with “blood stained hands” to wash off “blood and gore”.

I still don’t understand why any of that leads to you having blood stained hands, risking leaving blood on the toilet door handle and tap?

I have fibroids and so my periods were like a waterfall plus I use menstrual cups and yet have never once had to walk to the sink to clean off “blood stained hands”. And if I ever had to do that I would find it equally uncomfortable being beside a woman or a man.

Clearly you've never had a very heavy period, flooding or a miscarriage in a loo. Lots of blood to deal with. No matter how carefully you wipe your hands with loo paper, the blood stains your skin — you need soap and water to wash it off. And if you have to exit the cubicle to wash your hands you may well end up with pink water in the basin as you soap up. And of course blood smells strongly of iron. It's not disgusting, it comes with being female. What's a woman supposed to do when she has menopausal flooding or a miscarriage at work? Do you think those things are disgusting? Why? They are perfectly normal.

Funnily I find a lot of women “squat” over toilets when using public ones so finding piss on the seat is not uncommon for me in many a single sex ladies toilet.

They may feel safe but statistically they are not. See my post at 23.33

How about because we said No.

We've given reasons until we’re blue in the face. As we say in MN, No is a complete sentence.

The time I sneezed holding an overfull mooncup was ... memorable.

It took me quite a long time to clean up the blood I had showered all over the cubicle floor.

I'm glad it was a single-sex floor so I wasn't cleaning up unknown men's pee-splats as well as my own blood.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting I'd eat my lunch off a floor in the women's or anything, but it was marginally less grim than it would have been if it was unisex.

I don’t mind them, other than the blokes in there.

It’s not hard to deduce. Some women have really heavy periods. Some women have miscarriages in loos. Upthread someone said the majority of miscarriages are in public loos.

Do we really want our teenage daughters in a public toilet, alone with another man/men?
I say teenage cos anyone younger is likely to have a parent with them.

Not all men are a danger. But some are -and for me it's not a risk worth taking. Everyone has a phone with them these days too.

Plus some men are grim. Even my husband comments on how vile mens toilets are. He walked into a public toilet a few months ago and someone had just crapped on the floor. Hadn't even attempted to get their butt over the seat.

Why would my hands be stained with blood?

Why would I exit the cubicle with opening and touching the door and turning on the tap with blood stained hands?

That seems really odd to me and if I was to do that it would not matter one jot to me if it was my male or female boss next to me. I would find both equally as embarrassing.
And really disgusting if a woman was stood next to me rinsing “blood and gore” off her hands in the sink.

we have them in work in our new office. They aren’t popular and i’d imagine triggering for some

or the toilets are sex segregated and the sinks are shared.

And isn't it lovely when you're having a really heavy period and your hands are stained with blood after sorting out your sanpro, to have to stand and wash off the gore at the basin next to your male boss? I bet the boss would be mortified too.

Sometimes women just need their own space to do the kind of things only women need to do. And why other women don't understand that is beyond me.

I've travelled in Finland, Sweden and Norway in the last 10 years and have rarely encountered mixed-sex toilets. I've been to saunas that have separate male and female changing rooms. So not sure your idea that things have always been mixed in Scandinavia is accurate.

I have been to many a venue with unisex bathrooms and they don’t bother me.

But then I have regularly gone into men’s bathrooms when the ladies line is too long.

It does depend what is meant by unisex though. Most unisex bathrooms I have seen either have completely stand alone toilet and sink combos or the toilets are sex segregated and the sinks are shared.

I used unisex changing in swimming pool. There are cubicles that lock and people tend to wander around in costumes or towels but occasionally I see a man walking around naked - Cos he didn't realise. Funny, I never see a woman walking around naked.

I used unisex cubicles in my office. They are awful but not because men use them. They are terribly designed and probably a little dirtier than normal.

I do think unisex would be better if male and female hadn't been separated and then thrown together years later I think in Scandinavian countries there is no segregation and so behaviour doesn't change. We separate boys and girls very young in UK. I wonder if we didn't would behaviour be different .

As it is now in this culture I would prefer single sex. If change is to happen it should be gradually