Old Vic Loos

I would love to know who they consulted

Given the result, I suspect able bodied men.

1984 they are complete woke idiots who couldnt care about child human females.Or human females of any sort. I also consider them total liars as they raised money for womens toilets and then spent it all on men . I used to go quite frequently. I have a ticket for Local Hero bought before the toilets changed. But am boycotting it from now on . I should write and tell them that.

I did contact the theatre and they sent me a useless reply finishing with the suggestion that I was welcome to accompany my daughter to the toilet. How nice.
I’ve now been to the venue and the set-up is nothing short of farcical. Everything is labelled cubicles/urinals but in reality there were only women queuing (for quite some time I might add) for the block without urinals and all the men used the block which contained urinals plus two cubicles.
Literally everyone was self segregating by sex, like we have always done, so why the hell they don’t label the toilets female and male, reflecting their actual and practical use, is beyond me. I would love to know who they consulted regarding this redesign because it sure as hell wasn’t the theatre goers. Idiots.

Oh shit. I’d forgotten that if I ever want to take lo to the theatre I have to check the toilet provisions.

it's privileged to get to self select your labels. Most people have labels forced upon them and often spend a lot of time trying to escape those labels

Exactly.

Self-selection of labels is a rich opportunity for those who grasp how to extract advantage from claims of marginalisation detached from material analysis.

Aye, good point - it's privileged to get to self select your labels. Most people have labels forced upon them and often spend a lot of time trying to escape those labels ...

FFS what does this even mean?

It means there are about 4 accessible loos, but anyone can use them and one of them is in the room containing urinals that can clearly only be used by men.

There are about another 20 toilets for abled bodied people who don't mind unisex toilets and they have also provided an extra 15 urinals for men plus two cubicles and an accessible loo.

Very inclusive as long as you are an able bodied male.

You could copy the email format of the email they sent with the name of someone from the Executive which is listed on their website.

I would also tweet them if you are on Twitter with copied text from the email.

Can you reply and ask them which one is the most suitable for your daughter?

The way this is written it is putting the decision on you, what if none of them are suitable, unless they can clarify which ones are for women and girls and which ones are for men and boys?

Resurrecting this thread as I am soon to visit the Old Vic with my young daughter and I am worried they haven’t addressed the safeguarding issues with their mixed sex toilets. They sent a welcome email with this text:
“in the Penny bar and café on the basement level there are two loo blocks. A loo block of eleven cubicles only which includes one baby change and one accessible ‘roomier’ loo; and a separate loo block of seven urinals with two cubicles, one of which is an accessible ‘roomier’ loo. There is also a separate wheelchair accessible loo and a separate gender neutral loo with an enclosed sink.

On the Baylis Circle level on the 3rd floor there are two loo blocks. A loo block of twelve cubicles only which includes one baby change and one accessible ‘roomier’ loo; and a separate loo block of eight urinals, with one cubicle that is also a baby change.

There is another wheelchair accessible loo within the auditorium itself available for those seeing a show.

Please choose the loo that feels most appropriate for you.”

FFS what does this even mean? How is my daughter supposed to feel safe there, or even decide which loo to use.
They have pissed me off (no pun intended) before I’ve even stepped inside with this woke to the point of nonsense description of their facilities.

Maybe they should rename it the Old Dic.

I think this line sums up the entire subject brilliantly:

Self-selection of labels is a rich opportunity for those who grasp how to extract advantage from claims of marginalisation detached from material analysis.

It sounds as if what's needed is a group of women with those latex she-wee things invading the male space and having a pee in the urinals.

Great piece @lionheart - thanks for posting.

Fabulous piece from Sarah Ditum:

thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2019/the-theatre-of-inconvenience/

That is a really patronising reply to Caroline! My goodness.

Challenge on, Knewmee!

Ok, I’ll give it a go...

The thing is - they know perfectly well that in reality no women are going to use the urinals, don’t they? Imagine if a woman really went in, hoisted up a skirt and squatted in full public view. Leaving a splat of menstrual blood behind her in the urinal. The men would be complaining so fast they’d break the sound barrier. We’d be told not to use the self identifying urinals or whatever they’re called. In case we frightened men and boys.

Actually, I bet that if a woman did that in the OV urinals there’s a possibility that she’d be reported to the police for exposing herself.

Hmmm

No one ever reveals the groups they have spoken to do they...

Shall we place bets...

Caroline is so good.

Just the sheer arrogance of them. And yes, CCP is right about contravening British Standards, very good point. Building standards are clear for any publicly funded building and they include separate male and female toilet provision.

Caroline Criado Perez.

Well our staff Christmas outing - old vic was proposed until the loo situation was raised. No one want to go for a pee with their boss at the urinal.

Tim was an absolute prick! He didn't care about it, and so nobody else should either, then he boasted about how much he did for the Old Vic, as if that had any relevance.