We're getting 'Gender Neutral' toilets at work

Although, I do quite like the camaraderie you get in the ladies loo, I would find unisex loos acceptable if they were self-contained, floor to ceiling walls and door and opening to a public. corridor.

Just renaming an existing traditional ladies set up as unisex, no thanks.

Several places that have done that, have now gone back to segregated loos with an additional unisex facility. Toronto University (who were very much at forefront of the unisex debate), for example.

I have zero issue with unisex toilets, especially in the workplace where you know everyone. I don't get your problem, honestly.

No advantage that I can see other than maybe they don't need to plan for changes in numbers (m:f ratio or anything like that).
I miss the general chit chat that happens at the wash basins in a female toilet. At my clients (there are the traditional male/female toilets) we kind of treat it like another water cooler iykwim.

SweetGrapes, okay, that'd be tolerable, but is there any advantage over regular toilets?

I would prefer individual shower cubicles to communal showers, but with toilets, I really do not mind washing my hands in the presence of other women, and doesn't it cost a lot more to install washbasins and hand driers in each individual cubicle?

I hated it. I hated that I couldn't stash sanitary towels in the bathroom and then take them in to a cubicle without a male colleague possibly seeing. I hated not being able to rearrange my hair a bit without the possibility of a male colleague having the opportunity to brand me vain.

My office have unisex toilets - there is one door and then a bunch of doors for each cubicle. Each cubicle has a proper door (solid fllor to ceiling), wash basin, bins, hand drier, mirror, some have a shower in the corner).
They are built unisex so are fine - it's not just been a case of chamging labels. There's been thought and money spent on it.
They seem clean too - haven't noticed any piddles and I look carefully. There are also sanitisers for the seat - and notices to use them please!

Our local swimming pool has had unisex communal changing and showers for years

... if I am going to be naked in front of men anyway, why not just strip in public and bathe in the nude?

With individual changing cubicles and showers, okay, those can be unisex, but I was under the impression that space was getting more expensive, not less. And you need extra walls, etc, for individual showers and changing cubicles if they are to provide any actual privacy.

If people are just getting less comfortable with getting naked in front of strangers of the same sex, fair enough.

But what you write makes it appear as though women are actually expected to use the communal unisex changing rooms, not cubicles. Oo

I wonder if men and women will gradually gravitate to different floors to use the toilets, making them in effect gender segregated again?

Possible, but it will take a long time until women will again feel comfortable enforcing this.
And the men who would feel uncomfortable watching a woman change clothes, put on makeup, or hear her pee, are not the reason we need sex segregated spaces in the first places.

I am totally okay with gender neutral toilets. I WANT toilets to be gender neutral.

I want them to be segregated according to sex, ignoring gender identity.

But clearly, that is not what is meant here.

Idiocy. Will probably not cost much money as no one will bother putting up sanitary bins in the newly unisex toilets that used to be men's, but there will be an effort in changing the signs, and the only people who will profit from it are men who want to spy on women ... and, PERHAPS, but not likely, some people will be easier able to access a toilet closer to their workplace. (But women will still have to walk all the way to one of the previously women's toilets for a bin. I have no trust in the genderactivists consideration for actual women's comfort. None at all.)

Purely in the grounds that men's toilets always stink and men rarely wash their hands I would be protesting about this.

It wouldnt bother me as long as the toilets were floor to ceiling and had sanitary bins and wash basins.

My DC secondary have unisex toilets and it works well. It's also much easier for parents/families and children.

I wonder if men and women will gradually gravitate to different floors to use the toilets, making them in effect gender segregated again?

I'm in my early twenties and am generally super relaxed about sharing spaces with men. When I travel, I stay in hostels and sleep in mixed-gender dorms. I'm not afraid anyone is going to assault me in my sleep. I don't mind sharing showers and toilets with men in hostels, where the walls are floor-to-ceiling and there's a relatively small number of people. I am a bit jealous of the way men can go around the mixed-gender dorms in their underwear and women have to sneak off to the bathrooms to get changed but we have a long way to go before we desexualise women's bodies and right now we have to live in the reality of the society we have, so.

However, in a place with a lot of people - a festival, a club, university or a college/ busy work environment - I HATE unisex toilets. So much. In clubs and festivals it means pee on the seats, and worse... I used the men's toilets recently in a restaurant because there was someone unwell in the only women's one and it was the same, stank, had to clean the seat thoroughly before I sat down on it, floor was covered in piss. Men pee standing up and it just makes a lot more mess, and they don't seem to bother cleaning it up when it's a public loo.

Also, I like being able to touch up my makeup in the mirrors without men staring at me (have experienced this in unisex toilets.) I like being able to announce to the room at large 'has anyone got a tampon?' (it's all very well and good to say men shouldnt bat an eyelid at this normal bodily function, and they SHOULDN'T, but should and would are different things and you're kidding yourself if you think there aren't plenty of men in the world who would chime in with a sexist comment at that point. I wish every man was as cool as my boyfriend, but that's not the case, and women deserve spaces where they can deal with the aspects of femaleness that some men consider disgusting without having to hope that all the men sharing that space happen to be lovely feminists. If this was taking place in a hypothetical reality where all men were lovely feminists, it would be a different debate, but it's not.)

Also, in terms of teenagers, I would be fucking raging to hear bathrooms in schools were being made unisex. Horrific for girls.

Anyway, just wanted to lend my voice to support you, OP. I don't think it's unreasonable to prefer female-only spaces for personal physical stuff. I don't think it's anti-man to point out that some men are sexist.

For me, whether or not there floor-to-ceiling walls would make a big difference. But yeah I strongly prefer women's toilets in general having used my fair share of unisex ones.

I used to work at a company that had just one toilet. I hated it. I have to confess the toilet seat was nearly always piddled on. Myself and 4 men so I know it was a man. Also they hardly ever flushed. And three out of four of them was always putting themselves away when they came out . Not a pleasant experience, I didn't stay long as I kept getting cystitis, I think because I only went once a day at lunchtime in the nearby coffee shop.

Where I live ( Australia) separate toilets and changing rooms for men and women are the norm. I would not use gender neutral facilities under any circumstances and I would voice my opposition very openly. I'd get a lot of support from all the other women; my view on this would be typical.

Our local swimming pool has had unisex communal changing and showers for years

Ours too. There are individual shower cubicles if you want to strip off rather than use the showers on the poolside. There is a range of changing cubicle sizes - individual, double and family. I'm not aware of issues with anyone with phones trying to record under cubicles or anything, but that might just reflect my lack of awareness.

Insert "on the pool premises" into my first sentence.

My home city has a newish unisex "changing village" which is vast & poorly staffed. The cubicles do not have floor to ceiling partitions. There is a constant stream of convictions for voyeurism and indecency offences at the pool reported in the local paper, camera phone filming under or over the partitions featuring regularly. While the stakes are higher in a workplace setting, you'll forgive my scepticism about it all being peachy and no-one will exploit it blah blah blah.

Our local swimming pool has had unisex communal changing and showers for years

Our work has always had unisex toilets. In every single building. As did my last job.

It's not so much a problem for me because it's always been. But if they wanted to change it I may feel a little uncomfortable, but I'd get used to it.

TBH I'm more worried that once we have unisex loos the same arguments will be applied to changing rooms, sports showers, hospital wards etc etc etc

There's a swimming pool near me with a mixed changing room. It's great, communal area where people are dressed / in a swimsuit. Then there's private cubicles for people to get changed. It's great no ones complained.

Do you really go about your every day lives thinking that secret cameras might be installed in the office loos?

I've wondered about it before, but that's with single sex toilets and not trusting one of the maintenance men (because they are all men.) That particular risk is no less or more in unisex toilets (not to mention all in my head.)

What if he's there to plant a camera, record you pissing or generally just to get a hard on by being in the ladies?

In a work place? Which is what this thread started about. Do you really go about your every day lives thinking that secret cameras might be installed in the office loos?

Although reading back maybe I wasn't very clear!
It should've said "Introducing gender neutral facilities changes the social acceptability of men and women mixing in situations that were previously women only and so maybe titillating to certain types of men"

This statement horrifies me. So the cure for sex offenders is keeping men and women apart?
That isn't what I said! I do however think sex offenders will exploit any possibility to do what they want and I don't think we should be making it easier for them to do that.
TBH I'm more worried that once we have unisex loos the same arguments will be applied to changing rooms, sports showers, hospital wards etc etc etc

I think as 98% of sex offenders are male it's reasonable to request separate facilities when women and girls are vulnerable.