Parents rejecting gender neutral (unisex) toilets

Si they arent fully enclosed cubicles with sinks inside?

Isnt that illegal?

If wash basins are shared then that's the problem.

@datun The petition was linked in the article in the press. Of the people who have signed it, as it is a public petition how many have direct links to the school and how many have signed it based on the very one sided reporting of it which doesn't discuss there being single sex facilities available, similar to the people on here up in arms about it all without seeing the facilities or knowing the full story.

Oops apologies

The locked toilets are from a different poster. Different school.

@datun how many of them are students and parents of kids at the school and how many are those like you who are appalled by the limited information presented to you and signing because of that?

Sorry, I'm not sure I get that. Unless there are no parents or pupils signing the petition?

What would be the point of any parents, or pupil, signing a petition to have something changed that they know isn't as they say it is???

@scapaflow in the 5 years my daughters been there and 4 my son they've never been locked. Believe me if they had been my kids would have been complaining to me and I'd have been speaking to the school myself about it.

Ah yes, these are the ones that are being locked, reportedly? Helpful.

GOOD. I think its disgusting that girls are having to deal with periods etc in bathrooms where boys are- its asking for tampon machines to be vandalised and girls to feel intimidated and embarrassed when they are simply trying to look after their persona hygiene.

Unisex toilets can fck right off.

@datun how many of them are students and parents of kids at the school and how many are those like you who are appalled by the limited information presented to you and signing because of that? On the facebook post of this article from the leicester mercury it turns out that the mum who started the petition did it after her daughter got a late detention from using the separate toilets and that caused the spiral. There's definitely a hell of a lot more to this than what's been put in the media.

@ScapaFlo there's still separate boys and girls toilets as in "old style" if you will in their own room with cubicles and sinks also.

Stann86

So why do you think around 500 parents, and presumably their children, are objecting?

@allmywhat how many of those who've signed jumped on the band wagon based on the limited and incorrect information they've been presented with. If all were reassigned to gender neutral toilets I would understand the issue but that is not the case. It just takes scratching the surface for a lot of the arguments to get blown apart!

But if girls have to come out of a tall-walled cubicle to wash menstrual blood off their hands in communal sinks where there are boys, that is just as difficult for them. It does not meet their needs for privacy and dignity.

Sometimes girls need to wash blood off their clothes too, especially when fairly new to coping with periods. I should absolutely hate to do this even in front of my husband, never mind a pile of teenage boys.

Not meeting the girls' needs. How the buggery bollocks is that inclusive?

Its probably around one third mixed - 16 cubicles and two third gender specific. Boys gathering outside can only happen in the actual main school corridor. There wouldn't be space outside the toilets. The mixed toilets are actually based on the site where the majority of classrooms are and never more than a 2 minute walk (at a very slow pace!). To decribe how the toilet "corridors" are might make it clearer. So off the main school corridor there is more like a row of 4 cubicles with trough sinks opposite them. Before one open plan row was male and one female (in 2 places in the school) and these are next to each other separated by a cleaners cupboard or disabled toilet. Now there mixed. The only place for students to congregate is on the main corridor theres not space on the toilet rows and there's staff on duty. 2 of my daughters close friends are identifying as the opposite gender and this is helping reduce their anxiety, as they are not disabled and don't want to be seen using them toilets. So it is about inclusivity and equality lettng them be "normal" school students without a label attached to them when they're already going through enough difficulties.

You're right. It doesn't add up. And they are lying. My best friend is a TA there who does lunch duties every day. My daughter and son attend there and I take my little one there for gymnastics after school. But obviously despite all our experiences we're clearly mistaken.

So either hundreds of people are lying, and the parents and children are protesting for no reason... or one pseudonymous person on a message board is lying. Goodness, what a tough call. 🤔

You can rest assured, Stan, I don't believe for a second you're mistaken.

Stann86

So what is the ratio of mixed sex to single sex?

Hundreds of people have signed the petition, they are saying that the boys are gathering around the gender neutral toilets, making it uncomfortable for the girls. And the pupils maintain that it's most of the toilets that are now gender neutral, not a few.

Personally, I wouldn't understand the objection, necessarily, to one or two gender neutral toilets. Because it gives the girls choice. But it needs to be a proper choice. Not a choice that involves traipsing halfway across the campus.

You had me until " equality and inclusivity" which sadly these days translates to throwing women and girls under a bus.

Why would children lie about something they know nothing about and get no benefit from doing so.

You're right. It doesn't add up. And they are lying. My best friend is a TA there who does lunch duties every day. My daughter and son attend there and I take my little one there for gymnastics after school. But obviously despite all our experiences we're clearly mistaken. Staff use mixed toilets also, and same as students there are also gender toilets available near their staffroom. I'd have thought in this day and age its a step further towards equality and inclusivity, especially when there are still large mixed facilities available!

So what are you saying?

That multiple people are lying all saying the same thing and all suffering the same problems and all simultaneously developed an inability to use a door handle ?

Doesnt add up.

I know this school very well and the way it has been reported is not fully correct and already puts a stop to most of the arguments put forward. Some of the school toilets have been changed to mixed gender. There are still gender specific toilets available, which are never locked. The ones that have become mixed are individual toilet cubicles, with doors floor to well over 6 foot; these are 5 cubicles, opposite (as in outside the doors 2ft in front) is a trough style sink. This is an open "corridor" which has a camera at the end (there is complete privacy in the cubicle). There is always staff on duty at breaks and lunch as well as before/after school and the toilets are cleaned at least 4 times a day (before school, after break and lunch and afterschool). This has been driven by pupil voice and provides facilities for everyone dependent on their own personal choice and safeguarding is in place. It is a school in a deprived area, which if research was done, you would see amongst many of the support measures as part of period poverty provides sanitary products for all females as needed. The students have not been told all will be converted to gender neutral. Think theres two things here to say: storm in a tea cup and a whole lot of poo stirring.

Our poor girls 😕

There are single sex toilets in other blocks at the school, most however are locked

I'm really struggling with this. What is the reason they are locking the toilets?

I honestly can't believe it's to 'prove' that the mixed sex are popular. That would be an absolutely disgusting breach of almost every protocol I can think of.

I was eleven when I had my first period. Knew what to expect (thanks mum!) but it was a while before I got swift, skilled and confident dealing with them. Boys then were both fascinated and repelled by menstruation. I would have hated to think I couldn't go somewhere they were NOT allowed to go. But the taboo against going into the girls' loo was strong and it was always female only. One or two utter bitches aside, it was a safe space.

Troels

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/07/uk-teens-refuse-silent-about-periods

A (surprisingly) useful article from the Guardian. States Plan International UK stats on girls missing out on education due to periods and quotes from girls on their discomfort at menstruating at school.

You could ask the school to explain how they have ensured single sex toilets won’t exacerbate the problem.

Many incredible girls out there. Well done to your dd!

Also so what if the school spent a lot of money - that’s their problem- not the girls.