Lack of public toilets. (not Trans/GC related)

We were on holiday in London not that long ago, and were shocked by the lack of toilets. Guess this is another effect of austerity politics.

I think it has been spoken of in the past, but perhaps social media allows us to see an overall picture more clearly?

The question is why is it only being spoken about in the public domain now?

My local town closed one set of men's/women's toilets in the early 80's.
And a seperate ladies toilets in the 90s.

The council did try to install a state of the art unisex loo tardis thing, in the middle of the precinct that nobody wanted to use!

In Belgium I saw men just urinating against the sides or even on the floor around them.

I was in Brussels one evening and the gents loos were open but the ladies and disabled were locked. Neither I nor the other women intending to pee could believe it.

Belgium is second only to Germany for shittiness to women.

outdoor peeing, is not that difficult for a girl or a woman if they are wearing a loose skirt.

Unless she's wearing tights to try to keep warm. Or wears trousers so she can have long johns under them for warmth, you can't do that with a skirt. Or doesn't wear skirts because she does the kind of job that requires trousers. Or isn't wearing a skirt because she's on her way to Go Ape or something similarly active. Or wears shorts under her skirt to prevent upskirting and thigh chafe. Or is in cycling shorts/running tights. Or is hiking and likes not have her legs bitten to death by ticks and mosquitos and so is wearing trousers. Or likes doing handstands and cartwheels and is wearing trousers so she can do those things without flashing her knickers. Or is in those rash leggings/sunblocking leggings that are great for summer kayaking and sea swimming. Or likes not having to worry about the wind (or floor-level ventilation that you find in offices and, according to our IT staff, some server rooms) blowing her skirt up.

Or simply does not like skirts or find them to be comfortable.

My point is that there are many reasons why a woman or girl might wish to wear trousers, tights, leggings, or shorts. She shouldn't be denied a safe and dignified loo because she didn't or couldn't wear a skirt that day.

LassofFyvie do you have children? My DD was distressed by the idea of urinating in public - when she was smaller she was happy do so.

"There's no need to have her bum on display and it is no more or less obvious than a small boy peeing."

And yet explaining this to a distressed and sick child is hard. Neither of my daughters have been ok with peeing outdoors since about age 3.

Hence the emergency.

Please stop judging them.

I can think of another couple in Edinburgh actually, but they're not in the centre (top of middle meadow walk, Nicolson Square, Bruntsfield links). I don't think I'd use them though — some are down stairs, and they all look a bit dark and lonely. I'd go in the university instead I think if I were around that area. (Alumna, so I'm sure some of my tuition fee paid for those toilets. )

It isn't good though. Department stores, supermarkets and libraries are often the only places I'd go now. Or I'd buy something at a café — not that easy to do as a family though.

Pissoirs are not the way to go. In Belgium I saw men just urinating against the sides or even on the floor around them.

I don't think we should be encouraging any one just to whip their penis out and pee just because it's easy. But on the other hand a small girl in an emergency will find it far easier to emulate the ease a small boy can deal with this if she is wearing a skirt, rather than trousers. There's no need to have her bum on display and it is no more or less obvious than a small boy peeing.

Bloody hell, the tenacity with which some people cling to their quirks in the face of a distressed mother is remarkable.

For the hard of thinking, I was making a rueful joke about long skirts, not an actual sanitary suggestion. I've no idea why some people seem to think it could be an earnest suggestion.

Ancient, your clarification was fine, don't feel you have to jump through any more hoops. Your example experience was perfectly illustrative.

Tiresome "it was all her own fault because of what she was wearing klaxon.

Lassosfyfe I'm not quite believing you wrote that. Give yourself a shake.

The council loos still open in my city are absolute stinking cesspits of graffiti, urine, shit, rubbish, and vandalism.

I can see why they are closing.
Any larger events have portaloos.

""You didn't explain it well at all. That doesn't suggest she was wearing it as a dress. Putting it on over her head, like a dress would have drawn less attention to her leaving the restaurant. " Yes I believe I've accepted I didn't explain it anyway, and given further explanation.

"You might want to consider putting her in skirts or dresses which won't show up accidents"

Utterly irrelevant. Why would I leave a urine infected piss-soaked skirt on my five year old to satisfy your bizarre ideas?

It seems a bit retrograde to suggest that women and girls should revert to 19th century clothing rather than expect adequate facilities to meet our basic sanitary needs.

I actually give up on this place when a mother who explains how hard it was to offer their sick female child privacy and hygiene on a long journey due to a lack of public facilities is told that it's probably all her fault anyway.

Long live feminism. Well done lassoffyvie.

She was wearing my hoodie as a dress, which I appreciate I didn't explain very well with this line: "dressed in nothing from the waist down but with my hoodie tied around her legs

You didn't explain it well at all. That doesn't suggest she was wearing it as a dress. Putting it on over her head, like a dress would have drawn less attention to her leaving the restaurant.

You might want to consider putting her in skirts or dresses which won't show up accidents as much and are far easier for outdoor pee'ing.

AncientStudent

Absolutely necessary that people with medical conditions of any age should not be stopped from using toilets in service stations or where ever.

Probably not top most on your mind, but a public comment about that restuarant on facebook or some where.

"speaking from experience, outdoor peeing, is not that difficult for a girl or a woman if they are wearing a loose skirt."

Yet for self conscious, in pain five year old girls this is not optimal. It was difficult. I'm sorry that your narrow range of experience prevents you from understanding that but my daughter didn't want to squat with her bare arse on display at the far end of a carpark where a boy could discreetly have pulled out his penis.

I'm sorry it's upsetting you so much. But it is how it is.

She was humiliated because she'd wet herself. I removed her clothes so I could wash down her skin which was covered in her infected urine.

She was wearing my hoodie as a dress, which I appreciate I didn't explain very well with this line: "dressed in nothing from the waist down but with my hoodie tied around her legs "

It was tied around her waist and covering her legs like a skirt.

But you, you work away there 'not wanting to be snippy' but only contributing to a thread to tell me what a crap parent I must be. Well done. Bravo.

Wacademia, yes, this: "I feel obliged to note that the ability to urinate discreetly outdoors is one of those times where biological sex is the differentiating factor" I agree.

Strange, because although I have been aware of closing of public loo, I have had only positive experiences recently. But I wonder if that is because they were in tourist areas. There used to be an amazing Ladies in Covent Garden decorated with flowers and knick knacks.

On a day trip to Cambridge found a well signposted Ladies which also politely told me that I should be aware there was a male attendent. And a couple of seaside towns with toilets. But yes it often seems to be in train or bus stations that toilets are closed. London underground is a nightmare.

In London there was a scheme that encouraged shops and restuarants to have a sign up saying members of the public were welcome to use the facilities.

And also have found Weatherspoons have very spacious toilets (not forgetting that back in 70s some women's groups used the toilets in Waterloo to meet up as it was apparently very big).

So I suppose as with other things local people in the UK face cuts but if you are tourist you get better facilities.

Found this on the BBC web site showing number of closures of public loos. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45009337

And I think this must be the campaign about pubs etc., opening up their facilities to non customer. www.btaloos.co.uk/?p=1937

Have just remembered that in some areas of cities where there are boozy nights out, they have installed those horrible pissoires (no idea how you spell it) or even that gross tube thing - for the convenience of men.

I'm old enough to remember, pre motorways that it was common to pull over to the side of the road and hop behind a hedge. Young, old, male, female.

Maybe as someone up thread said, if men can just piss up against a wall women should, with or without a long skirt) just squat down in a corner!

Isn't there a law that allows pregnant women to relieve themselves in public?!

Big, long, hefty skirts making a comeback for women with the next 30 years then, so we can pee discreetly in the verges without being clocked like our foremothers did in days of yore

As I discovered, being the only woman wearing a skirt, in a tour group in a pit stop in the middle of nowhere in Laos.

In fact she’d wet her trousers (leaked but not full on accident) on the way in and as I walked her out of the toilet humiliated and dressed in nothing from the waist down but with my hoodie tied around her legs a barman accosted us and tapped a sign stating that a donation was required to use the toilets

Sorry, this is going to sound snippy but what was the point of removing her clothes? No one would have noticed her wet trousers but they would certainly notice her dressed in nothing from the waste down.

You could have walked her out of the restaurant and removed the wet clothes in the privacy of your car. Or if you really felt you had to remove them would the hoodie not have been better worn as a dress? An adult sized hoodie will be well below bum length on a 5 year old.

Re small boys pee'ing in hedges, speaking from experience, outdoor peeing, is not that difficult for a girl or a woman if they are wearing a loose skirt.

The loss of public toilets is well-documented.

Obviously if she’d have been a five year old boy she could have peed standing up in a hedge but biological girls aren’t built that way

Despite the OP not wanting this to be a GC thread, I feel obliged to note that the ability to urinate discreetly outdoors is one of those times where biological sex is the differentiating factor.

I'd suggest a she-wee but mine leaks: pubic hair acts as a wick and I get damp trousers.

They are locking them at our local park/playground now. The council have spent a fortune on a big new play area with different sections for different ages and they lock the toilets.
If you needed more than a wee, do they need to do it in the bushes.
I have just toilet trained my son, but if he needs a poo, I'm not quite sure what to do with him.
The play area is widely unused now since this, what a waste or money