Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Non-binary student left 'hurt' after disabled toilet row at Digbeth bar

119 replies

SerendipityJane · 13/01/2023 19:40

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/non-binary-student-left-hurt-25914614

OP posts:
Florissant · 14/01/2023 16:40

Carlycat · 14/01/2023 02:27

Charlie is an attention seeking naval gazing inadequate twat who won't last 5 minutes in the real world
Fuck off Charlie

Wine
KatMcBundleFace · 14/01/2023 16:16

Charlie. Get. A . Grip

If you use the ladies and anyone (unlikely) challenges you, just say your sex is female.

Sorted. Leave the disabled loos for those who need them.

SinnerBoy · 14/01/2023 15:51

toocold54

However, some disabilities are hidden and I hope that it wasn’t case that the staff thought she didn’t look disable enough.

I'm willing to bet the farm that she told them she's not disabled, but because of special sparkly woo, they must let her use the disabled loos. Sorry, there's nothing wrong with her and she can use the ordinary toilets.

kerry-thompson.com/2020/07/12/using-a-disabled-toilet-when-you-dont-need-to/

"The simple truth is – it doesn’t matter if you ‘think’ it’s okay or acceptable to use a disabled facility whether it’s a disabled toilet or changing places when you don’t need to, it’s hugely damaging to the disability community as it’s not just wheelchair users that use them which is a huge misconception."

"There may be no law against using an accessible toilet, plus nothing stating that only people with disabilities get first dibs sitting in the accessible thrown. However, the simple fact is applying a little common sense and that disabled toilets have been renamed as accessible toilets just re-enforce the argument that those with disabilities – visible or invisible – really should be the only people using them!"

"So next time you head towards an accessible bathroom, stop and think how you would feel if someone compromised your independence simply for their own convenience. Or worse, their own laziness."

HootyMcboob76 · 14/01/2023 15:42

Obviously a "special" person, far too special to use the normal toilets like everyone else.
Nobody fucking cares if if you identify as a damn bicycle. Just go and do the loo, I guarantee you if you are female and you go into the female toilets, not one person in there will give a flying feck about you.
Your importance is all in your own mind Charlie.

There are a lot of very special people about now it seems.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/01/2023 15:07

Non-binary is just a rejection of a social construct. Lots of women reject stereotyping or feel uncomfortable with being visibly feminine. I don't see any reason at all why someone who is non-binary can't use the toilets that align to their biological sex.

How is it any different from me rejecting my nationality as British, on the grounds that I don't dress like a beefeater, don't love queuing, don't drink tea, hate talking about the weather, use a mobile to make calls instead of searching for a red phone box, not a royalist, am not monoglot English, don't own a bulldog, don't go down the street doing the Lambeth Walk, urging everybody I meet to have a banana?

The fact that I was born in Britain to British parents and have lived here almost all of my life clearly counts for nothing when aligned with a whole raft of stereotypes.

I must be stateless - I shall have to remember to ask (kicking up a fuss and going to the media, if necessary) which toilets have been provided specially for special people like me the next time I need a wee in a public place.

Motorina · 14/01/2023 11:20

I would think it unlikely that the staff would grill anyone on their degree of disabledness and thus entitlement to the key. Not impossible, sadly, but unlikely.

I suspect it's rather more likely Charlie made the reason clear when asking. Because, as @DdraigGoch 's friend identified, it's all about the drama.

MichaelFabricantWig · 14/01/2023 09:51

WhereYouLeftIt · 14/01/2023 02:51

"In Victorian Britain, most public toilets were designed for men. Of course, this affected women’s ability to leave the home, as women who wished to travel had to plan their route to include areas where they could relieve themselves. Thus, women never travelled much further than where family and friends resided. This is often called the ‘urinary leash’, as women could only go so far as their bladders would allow them."

From The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain

Brought back during Covid, when men could pop behind a bush to relieve themselves when all public loos were shut. Women and the disabled had no such luxury .

Aftersevens · 14/01/2023 09:40

Charlie doesn’t feel comfortable using the women’s loos because she doesn’t look like a woman??
Nonsense, I’m willing to bet that, in the absence of any surgery/medical interventions, Charlie does, indeed, look like a woman. Not ‘feeling’ like a woman is very different to not ‘being’ one.
I’m tall, broad shouldered and have short hair. The other day I walked the dog wearing no makeup, jeans, wellies and my teenage son’s waterproof coat. Weirdly enough, I still felt comfortable using the women’s loos.
The discomfort is all in Charlie’s mind. And while I do feel a bit sorry for her, she’s just going to have to get over her discomfort and leave the disabled toilets for the disabled people who actually need them.

stormywaves · 14/01/2023 08:43

disabled people have fought long & hard for their facilities and do not have a choice. Yes, they are unisex because their disability takes priority over sex/gender. These areas need to be respected by everyone and not just taken over by the gender swappers.

toilets are not a place to be squeamish about your gender. bearing in mind that M & F & disabled toilets are actually designed and engineered around the actions required to relieve oneself. These actions are determined by the genitalia you possess & disabilities you have.

MagpiePi · 14/01/2023 08:23

2023pending · 14/01/2023 02:56

of all the things going on in the world, how can the “look at me crowd” make such a song and dance about going for a piss. madness.

i thought it was us uppity women who were causing a fuss because TW just want to pee in women’s toilets. Not flash, wank, assault women and girls or demand to be in any other women’s spaces?
FFS, we can’t even have our own protest now without the gender woo crowd appropriating it 🙄

narkyspirit · 14/01/2023 07:13

I have IBS and if I need the loo urgently, if the gents is busy I have no issue using the ladies or the disabled loos. its better than the other option!!!

as for non binary, what you are born as dictates the loo you use.

I'm thinking of identifying as a dog when my IBS is playing up, not sure the police will agree tho😂

Remaker · 14/01/2023 06:48

Redebs · 14/01/2023 03:05

A mum with two small children might need a larger toilet because she can't leave them outside alone while she goes to the toilet. Don't be so judgemental

And there we have it - the mum who thinks she’s more important than the person with cancer. I will be absolutely as judgemental as I like with selfish people.

It was the children who needed to go, not the mother. It took ages because she let them go one after the other in the disabled toilet. She told me this to explain the delay because she could see how desperate poor mum was to get in there, while her kids meandered out and one went back in to have a little play pressing the button to close and open the door. Meanwhile the ladies toilet was completely empty. I know because I went in there to see if I could manage to get the wheelchair inside (I couldn’t). She could have easily used it.

StalkedByASpider · 14/01/2023 06:37

GettingItOutThere · 13/01/2023 20:12

i dont understand how you "come out" as non binary?

I am very old school, you have men (who have dicks), women (who do not!), and trans who are m-f or f-m and until they do not have the relvent genetalia they are what they are born as

offensive probably but its what everyone is thinking

I actually feel more irritation with non-binary people than trans folk at times.

At least with trans folk, there is a genuinely complicated situation - ie/women don't want trans women in their single sex space because they are biological men, but trans women are worried about their own safety and the threat from men if they use the male toilet. While I don't want TW in female toilets, I appreciate there needs to be a solution (ie/third space).

Non-binary is just a rejection of a social construct. Lots of women reject stereotyping or feel uncomfortable with being visibly feminine. I don't see any reason at all why someone who is non-binary can't use the toilets that align to their biological sex.

I've got quite a number of TW on my Twitter and they're actually bloody marvellous. They believe in single sex spaces and accept they don't belong, and they genuinely raise up women's voices. It's just the vocal TRAs which fuck things up by trying to demand women's rights are trampled on.

But NB individuals....they're frequently younger adults who are clearly still in that stage of trying to figure out their identity. Not always, but often. And they wear it like a badge, inserting the fact into conversations wherever possible. It's just wearisome and I don't think it comes from the same place as genuine gender dysmorphia. I think it's trendy and seen as cool to be "different". Except it's not different because every other bastard is claiming to be NB now. It's a rejection of societal standards and stereotyping - just like punk was, back in the day.

Absolutely no reason for NB not to use sexed toilets. There are plenty of women who look quite butch - and until men started bragging about accessing our spaces, it was never an issue.

Luckysdadsrules1 · 14/01/2023 06:31

I have MS and only once used a disabled toilet when I lost control of my bladder whilst out. Generally I can get up stairs etc and so leave the disabled toilets for those that cannot use regular toilets.

MichelleScarn · 14/01/2023 06:08

Carlycat · 14/01/2023 02:27

Charlie is an attention seeking naval gazing inadequate twat who won't last 5 minutes in the real world
Fuck off Charlie

Exactly! Charlie wants to highlight their shyness about using the loo by making it public and going to the media?

Redebs · 14/01/2023 03:05

Remaker · 13/01/2023 22:58

My mum is having cancer treatment and is (hopefully) temporarily in a wheelchair. During a recent visit to the hospital she had an urgent need for the toilet, only to find the disabled toilet was occupied by a mum with 2 kids who just found it ‘easier’ than going into the completely empty ladies toilets next door. It was a very near miss for an accident on what was already a stressful day. I told the mother she needed to be more considerate - especially in a hospital FFS!

Imagine if people like Mum have to compete for disabled loos with every trans and non binary person around. This is the biggest complaint I have - an entire generation being raised to believe their gender makes them more special, entitled and vulnerable than anyone else in society.

A mum with two small children might need a larger toilet because she can't leave them outside alone while she goes to the toilet. Don't be so judgemental

2023pending · 14/01/2023 02:56

of all the things going on in the world, how can the “look at me crowd” make such a song and dance about going for a piss. madness.

BringerOfDoom · 14/01/2023 02:52

WhereYouLeftIt · 14/01/2023 02:51

"In Victorian Britain, most public toilets were designed for men. Of course, this affected women’s ability to leave the home, as women who wished to travel had to plan their route to include areas where they could relieve themselves. Thus, women never travelled much further than where family and friends resided. This is often called the ‘urinary leash’, as women could only go so far as their bladders would allow them."

From The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain

Thank you for sharing. This information is very eye opening!

WhereYouLeftIt · 14/01/2023 02:51

BringerOfDoom · 14/01/2023 02:41

At the risk of sounding completely uneducated.... What is a urinary leash?

"In Victorian Britain, most public toilets were designed for men. Of course, this affected women’s ability to leave the home, as women who wished to travel had to plan their route to include areas where they could relieve themselves. Thus, women never travelled much further than where family and friends resided. This is often called the ‘urinary leash’, as women could only go so far as their bladders would allow them."

From The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain

BringerOfDoom · 14/01/2023 02:41

bellinisurge · 13/01/2023 19:54

I have MS. I don't use disabled toilets unless I absolutely have to - bladder and mobility issues from time to time. I want to protect the space for people who are more disabled than me because I can normally use the non- disabled loos without a problem.
Fuck off out of our spaces you wanker. Cosplaying a urinary leash. You are clearly a woman and do you should fucking well know your history about the actual urinary leash. Fuck off and when you've got there fuck off some more

At the risk of sounding completely uneducated.... What is a urinary leash?

NitroNine · 14/01/2023 02:36

Remaker · 13/01/2023 22:58

My mum is having cancer treatment and is (hopefully) temporarily in a wheelchair. During a recent visit to the hospital she had an urgent need for the toilet, only to find the disabled toilet was occupied by a mum with 2 kids who just found it ‘easier’ than going into the completely empty ladies toilets next door. It was a very near miss for an accident on what was already a stressful day. I told the mother she needed to be more considerate - especially in a hospital FFS!

Imagine if people like Mum have to compete for disabled loos with every trans and non binary person around. This is the biggest complaint I have - an entire generation being raised to believe their gender makes them more special, entitled and vulnerable than anyone else in society.

I once had a man grab his two kids and hoof it along to get past me to the disabled loo. He knew I was going to the disabled loo because I was in my wheelchair & the loos were the only things in the direction I was going in. But it was not only more convenient for him, he didn’t want to wait.

This whole business of using the disabled loo is infuriating. Yes, you might sometimes have to wait because someone else with a disability is using it. Shouldn’t be having to wait for any other fecker though - & if it’s a Changing Places one it’s an extra-special sort of shitty selfish behaviour. Honestly, the entitlement levels are just off the scale.

Carlycat · 14/01/2023 02:27

Charlie is an attention seeking naval gazing inadequate twat who won't last 5 minutes in the real world
Fuck off Charlie

SammyScrounge · 14/01/2023 01:22

RoseslnTheHospital · 13/01/2023 19:49

For "hurt" read "felt a bit sad", no actual physical harm was done to this female person.

The staff at this bar should be trained to be aware that not all disabilities are visible and to hand over the radar key to anyone that asks, rather than to interrogate them or ask them to prove their disability.

On the flip side, people without a disability/need should not be asking to use the accessible toilet.

No, they shouldn't. But I guess disabled people will have to get out of their way like everybody else has to.

Whatsnewpussyhat · 14/01/2023 01:12

Toilet facilities are segregated by sex, not gender, so why couldn't charlie simply use the same toilets as before their claim to be 'non binary'

They can all fuck off with their poor hurty feelz and grow the fuck up.
I honestly wonder how they manage to get anything done with all the constant naval gazing.

Deadringer · 14/01/2023 00:53
  1. Fuck off Charlie
  2. How do these these wankers actually manage to have friends.
  1. Fuck off Charlie