More gender-neutral toilets

The toilets at Waterloo station were recently refurbished. They've now got an odd arrangement where the men have a single sex staircase leading down to their toilets but their route out is by the entrance to the women's toilets which are wide open. So the women have one staircase with lots of men on it. Very odd design, who is making these decisions that make facilities feel so much less safe for women?? Plus there's a baby change sign above the mens staircase so lots of confused women have been going down to the mens. I complained about the design and was told that they are at least staffed.

I think a test should be set up - somewhere busy - with separate toilets for sexes and some for genders - and simply observe those entering and tally up the users for each.

Tbh I don't WANT to but if I'm "allowed" to, and the cubicle I'm heading for is secure (and preferably "female only"), then I'd be prepared to do it, partly to prove how ridiculous it is.

They're both just as shit if you're the mug who has to clean it off. I speak from experience.

Given the support on here for stickering of things that don't belong to the women of FWR, this is ironic.

Perhaps, but a sticker which is intended to change the use of a single sex facility to a mixed sex one is significantly different to an informational one.

I would be scared to use these toilets at a train station.

Unfortunately ALL the toilets at this venue were Gender Neutral so I had no choice.
I did wait until DS and his mates had left though before I went in - can you imagine having a pee (even in a cubicle) and your mates Mum is peeing next door?

My daughter insisted I go downstairs to the ladies toilet instead of using the 'all gender' toilets upstairs at the theatre. She was adamant that I didn't use them. I was surprised she felt so strongly about it. So I went downstairs and waited in a very long queue (I wonder why the queue was so long 🤔).

I did go into the 'gender neutral' toilets later with my young son. I waited by the cubicle door whilst he did the toilet and it just didn't feel rights . These were ladies toilets that had a new sign of the door. They did not have floor to ceiling cubicle doors and hand washing was communal. It felt really uncomfortable.

Given the support on here for stickering of things that don't belong to the women of FWR, this is ironic.

@fashionqueen1183 yes they hired the building I guess so repurposed the toilets with signs to suit their needs. Given all the fuss about trans people just needing to pee and the significant number of trans people at the wedding I was happy at the start that they had toilets that would work for them. I was surprised how uncomfortable it made the regular guests though, including me.

gender neutral toilets are very useful for families

Yes... they should be designed with big enough cubicles for a parent to take kids into. Maybe not so much in stations but many locations would benefit from family friendly loos... we were always puzzled by the lack of them when DH was taking DD to museums and zoos etc.

Why did they sticker a building that didn’t belong to them- did they remove them when they left?

That sounds good.

But they should ditch this silly trendy 'gender neutral' label. No loos should be 'gender' specific, so there's no need. Just female, male and then add some any sex ones (properly designed cubicles obv).

I'm not sure if I'm right but I feel like I see more loos labelled as female and male nowadays ... perhaps some quiet, untrumpeted sense in action? Of course males who claim to be 'female' still won't respect them but it's a move in the right direction.

I dont want men in our toilets BUT I was struck by a slightly different angle to the potential predators issue recently.
I was at a Uni sporting event with DS15 and 3 of his mates and as I headed for the "Toilets for all" DS said "you're not coming in here with us are you Mum?"
I said that I needed a wee before setting off home and he was horrified at the thought of sharing with me (the feeling was mutual)

This exactly. It's about validation so men would use the women's loos.

It’s ‘unisex’ not ‘all gender’

Surely it’s Mixed Sex (as in, people in there will be some from each of the two sexes)

Because I’m old and ignorant, isn’t ’gender neutral’ toilets the same as what we used to call ‘unisex’?

To be slightly tongue in cheek, what toilets do those who don’t identify with a gender use?

Agree - all gender was the term they chose.

It was a wedding between a biological male and a biological female. Both are bisexual, one is non-binary. The relationship is an open one. The celebrant was trans and the best person was non-binary.

It’s ‘unisex’ not ‘all gender’. They don’t check your clothes and hobby preferences at the door.

Out of interest - was it a male/female wedding?

If they’re unisex (open to both sexes like disabled toilets) and in addition to single sex facilities I think that’s perfect, but why mention gender at all?

I went to a very queer-friendly wedding recently at a town hall where the couple had put 'all-gender' stickers over all the bathroom options. They were very convincing, took me a while to realise they were stickers!

After a visit to one all-gender bathroom with urinals where I was trying to fix my makeup next to a male friend who had just walked in and clearly felt too uncomfortable to use the urinals directly next to the sink and mirror (and me) I found the disabled bathroom (now another 'all-gender' option) and used that from then on.

I don't have any major reasons not to share bathrooms with men, other than it was uncomfortable. Sex-specific spaces and then a third gender-neutral space is definitely the best option.

And the males using the female toilets will continue to do so and there will be no push back from Network Rail even though they are providing perfectly acceptable facilities for TW to use.

Mixed sex loos - in a huge train station? What could go wrong?

have they still got that god awful rainbow bedecked pillar?

Would someone ‘identifying’ as a woman use the gender neutral one?
Somehow, I don’t believe they would.

Not just about identification, gender neutral toilets are very useful for families when out or when a carer might be looking after someone of the opposite sex. We need more of them (in addition to single sex toilets).