Public toilets in France and other countries

In a French aquarium yesterday I had the dubious pleasure of using the unisex loos many times (cystitis).
Several cubicles, noticeably smellier and more urine splattered than women's loos usually are - thanks dudes - and a cramped shared washing area, with door open into aquarium.
No sanitary bins in cubicles. I assume women and girls are supposed to exit the toilet swinging their bloody tampons around asking the blokes "anyone know where I can dispose of this?' in full view of the rest of the aquarium visitors.

I live in Italy and the loos are generally quite disgusting! My children always comment on how clean they are in the UK. There is often only one toilet in a restaurant. At work (in a university) we have mixed male/female toilets (not enclosed cubicles) - even worse we share with our students!! There are still quite a few open air urinals where I live. The other day, our bus was stopped at a red light near a urinal and the driver got out, had a pee (we all watched him ) and then got back on. What worries me the most are school toilets - we went to an open day at a school recently and the toilets were in an awful state - graffiti, holes in the door, no loo seats, no privacy. I know a lot of teenage girls that just try and avoid ever using them.

my family live in rural France and they do not give two shits about gender segregation regarding toilets over there.
They do seem to in Paris and might in other big cities but none of the villages round where my parents live have segregated public toilets. Its literally a hole in the ground with two footplates next to it and for anyone to use.
In the cafe they go to in their nearest town there is a cubicle and a urinal and the urinal is outside the cubicle next to the sink so you have to walk past it to get in the cubicle. And the men will just carry on peeing as you walk past completely unbothered. No one bats an eyelid.

Loos in East Africa are of hugely varying quality, but always segregated m/f when there is more than one. The women's loos are often harder to find. It's easier in places where people still live traditionally, as men and women have separate areas of the village which they maintain themselves.

Loos in Turkey and bits of the Middle East are also always segregated, even if cubicles don't always have functional doors.

If you are travelling in a Muslim country, a mosque will generally have private women's toilets and washing facilities. There is usually a mix of female worshippers and local women passing by who are there to use the loo. Women's areas in mosques can be very safe and welcoming places.

Staying at a Eurocamp site, the loos were mixed. A few lockable cubicles with loos and two urinals. Someone had thoughtfully added a single little children's toilet in the cubicle (with a door, granted) furthest away from the entrance door. Right next to two open air urinals. Honestly, what were they thinking?! Girls and women having to use these loos,I felt nervous and a bit "trapped" about using them, god only knows how more vulnerable younger folk felt. Also encountered those old style foot plate loos in old towns public loos. I have no idea how you are supposed to use those! I still keep expecting to see an old lady collecting centimes in the French public loos like years ago, but sadly not encountered anyone like that for years. I guess it's not like that now. I'd find it reassuring to be honest. Elsewhere other Eurocamp sites seem to have mixed showers, but separate m/f loos. Except if you are a disabled man. Then you are ok to go and use the women's loo . -ffs- The whole shared m/f loo / shower thing has quite put me off rebooking a camping hol, if I'm honest.

Never seen a unisex toilet in Brazil. I can imagine most Brazilians would implode at the mere suggestion. They don't do loo seats either. They often have sinks in the restaurant area, separate from the toilets.

I think that the graffiti had a really intimidating effect, so in combination with the insecure cubicles it felt like a dangerous place to be.
I was also horrified by the fact that little girls were seeing this graffiti. We all know that this sort of thing goes on in the gents, but what must young girls think being faced with that?

@MsMcWoodle that doesn’t sound pleasant at all

I’ve stayed on a lot of French campsites, and whilst the loo blocks have mostly (but not all) been unisex they’ve had solid doors and locks for all the cubicles.

I’m not surprised to find the loo-seat issue is driven by a union. Not surprised at all

I went to a meeting in Poland a couple of years ago at a big conference centre and the toilets were unisex, except I didn't realise it.
Nice toilets, sat in a cubicle when I heard men's voices I panicked that I had gone in the wrong toilets.
Snuck out, and looked at the sign which had male and female symbols on.

Cafe's often only have one toilet here too - that's fine as there's no one else in there with you.
Another thing I noticed was when I was trying things on in a shop, there were only skimpy curtains and a man kept wandering in and out 'helping' his wife. I hated it.
I don't know why French women are putting up with it and I certainly don't want to see it happening over here.

I live in France, French public toilets are generally seatless, which is really annoying. Campsites are a bit of a law unto themselves. My workplace is small but we don't have separate men/women toilets. Cafés and restaurants are often small and only have one toilet.
As this is the feminist board, I will add that it's seen as a pragmatic thing, and I've never heard anybody talk about unisex toilets as anything other than a space or money thing. I don't think that there has been any change recently either.

Here's another:

Here's another:

I've been meaning to post these for a while. We went to a camp site in Northern France this year. Showers were mixed. The cubicles were not enclosed. Big gap at the bottom and screen only came up just over head height for a tall man. It was horrible. I felt unsafe every day and I am a big old woman. Most people went to the showers with their men folk, however this wasn't an option for me or a couple of single mums I saw there. I saw several little girls - no older than ten - in the showers on their own. Easy to take photos in there, so I did:

I go to France every year. I have noticed that several toilets in public buildings have become mixed in the last couple of years - ie individual cubicles but shared hand washing. They look and smell worse as a result

Spent some time working in China in my youth and never managed the squatty footplate no-door loos. My Chinese colleagues would all come and watch me struggle and would shriek with amusement as I invariably peed all over myself. (We made our own entertainment in those days)

The French seem to have an irrational hatred of loo seats.

No idea if its true but I remarked about the lack of loo seats in the uni I did my erasmus year in and was told by a french person that its generally the union that represents the cleaners that insists on no toilet seats because its makes the toilets easier to clean

French campsites do have unisex toilets. We have only camped once but I remember the urinals were right by the door and you had to pass them to get to the cubicles and showers.

We've been to France this year and I noticed no toilet seats at the motorway service station and a huge lack of public toilets in Paris. There were also some horrible unisex portaloo things by the Eiffel Tower. We used some unisex toilets in a shopping centre and had to pay one euro each although I think I've also paid in both London and the Hague. We even had to pay to use the loo in McDonalds (and that was unisex too.)

The Dutch sometimes have unisex loos, and even if you have male/ female toilets/ changing rooms will wander into those of the opposite sex anyway. I always use the mens in a bar if the ladies is busy. And dads will come into the ladies changing rooms at the pool to chivvy their daughters out. If you want privacy you just use a cubicle - but hardly anyone bothers.

I've never managed to pee on one of those with the foot plates. How the fuck do you do it without taking one leg completely out of your jeans, which also means you have to remove one shoe?

Plus arthritis of the hip means I can only bend slightly anyway.

US loos tend to have huge gaps around the doors, so if you look carefully or just glance in the mirror you can see right into the cubicle. (It must be one of those wierd optical things, because you can only see if you really try or don't think about it at all- if you are just looking normally, you dont' see through the gap)

My memory of French service station loos is that there would be one "proper" loo, a few squatting loos (hellish with dungarees....), segregated M&F though sometimes with communal washbasins - but a ferocious older lady sitting at the door to collect your centimes and woe betide anyone who misbehaved in there...

There are unisex toilets in Dutch campsites too.
Males (cubicles and urinals) on one side and females (cubicles) on the other.

Very civilised.

There were public toilets in China (developed, modern city bit) that were the footprint squat type - but with no doors on the cubicles. They had put partition walls between them, but no doors.

They were split m/f though, fwiw.

French super U loo I should add.