Used an 'all genders' bathroom today

True. Though 'lavatory' means a place to wash, and 'toilet' means to get washed and dressed - both original meanings. WC for water closet is fine. I too find 'bathroom' irritating and don't use it. It makes me want to say 'you mean the pee-shop' or possibly 'd'you mean the shit house?' Will MN delete this?

I’ve never heard the word bathroom used for a toilet until the last couple of years when it’s become common currency. It’s an American term that’s been absorbed into our language, but I don’t like it at all and don’t use it. A toilet has always been a WC or Lavatory in Britain. Bathroom is a euphemism designed to gloss over the fact that main purpose of a toilet is to urinate or defacate rather than bathe. A bathroom is mainly situated in a house, it’s not a public convenience.

Not sure why that means people in other countries can't participate in their own vernacular.

Agree
Usually with children that sort of behaviour can be a sign of SA or other issues. So it normally has to be taken very seriously (aside from the health issue). Its also the sort of thing you see in prisons in the most disturbed prisoners, or those with no other power. So a grown adult (male or female) doing it in an work setting is really weird and out of the norm.
Whereas, men weeing all over seats/toilet floors is not out of the norm at all. I can't imagine a whole team of cleaners refusing to clean because of that - hardly any men's toilets would be cleaned if they did.

The OP was in Birmingham - in the West Midlands, not Alabama.

If it ‘was utterly bizarre’ then surely it was an extremely unusual occurrence? It must have been if the cleaning staff refused to deal with it as it was above their normal duties.
So a one off situation then, where there was probably someone with a mental health issue.

Hate to break it to you, but there are people of other nationalities posting here.

as women we build our behaviour around the likelihood of queues in public toilets, whereas men aren't in the habit of doing that because usually they don't need to.

my late dad, bless him, was a long distance lorry driver. Many of the early years were before the extensive motorway network and services. His mental map of Britain involved routes planned around the location of transport caffs and public conveniences. His motto was “never pass up the opportunity for a wee”. When I passed my test his advice wasn’t around driving, it was “don’t ever pass a services thinking you can hang on till the next one because there could be a traffic jam round the next corner”. Every trip as a family involved him giving us notice that we were approaching somewhere with free loos and did anyone want to go, and were we sure.

He knew and understood, even as he knew he was always able to take the male emergency option of finding a bush. I never saw him do that though, he was a gentleman.

Or a lavatory if you want to be U about such things

To be honest I couldn't care less what they're called as long as there are single sex provisions.

If there’s no bath in it it’s a toilet.

I'm Scottish and I've always used bathroom.

It’s difficult to have a discussion on here because anyone can be posting or just watching. I am uneasy discussing some evidence and stories because I don’t know for what purpose people may read these boards. I just want everyone to be as safe as possible. Which means some people’s wishes should come below everyone’s needs.

Watershed is one of the few in Bristol big enough to have a women's too at least (round a corner down a corridor, but still).

Exchange is the worst - 'all genders' signs slapped on the men's and women's upper winding set of twisty stairs far away from anyone else. I couldn't even work out which one used to be The men's, as I've always has seen places that have done the old sign change, every one just uses the toilets as they would have before.!

Stop saying bathroom. It’s a toilet. We’re not Americans.

But all that comes as an additional expense to business. New builds will have that built in for sure. In the meantime parents train your sons toilet etiquette

I used an all genders changing room today (sea lanes in Brighton). It was bloody awful.

Yes there were separate cubicles to change but a mixed sex open changing area, mixed sex toilets, mixed sex showers. It just feels really wrong walking around a changing area half naked in a towel with men doing the same.

Nobody wants this setup do they?

It's pretty clear that many, even most, people are not happy with unisex spaces so it's really irrelevant whether some people are OK with them. There has to be a solution that works for everyone.

I was having just this discussion with a reasonably elderly male friend - he’s 76. A gay man so has seen lots of different perspectives on life, as it were. Totally a male version of a terf ( whatever that is).

We were talking about his recent hospitalisation and he emphasised how important single sex wards were for men and their dignity. Also, that he didn’t want to make women feel uncomfortable ( he’s the loveliest man I know).

It would appear so. This is the single sex design. I can’t understand why the toilet always has to be on the centre line then they put the sanitary bin in so it can brush against your leg or clothes. Maybe the other side space is for a loo brush but it’s not shown.
However, all may not be lost! The men’s loos will hopefully start to have more sanitary bins in too. Theres campaigns for men to be able to get rid of their disposable products for prostrate problems. Which is great as it can cause a lot of distress, and I predict a positive side effect will be to correct the relative positioning of bin to toilet seat in future.

This. I did not know about the new design. What wallies design these things? Men?

Quite. There is a culture of behaviour/etiquette in men's loos that presumably most men are comfortable with. The lack of privacy at urinals is the 'price' they pay for rarely having to queue.

I don't think men will take well to a culture of regular queuing. A few months ago I was taking photographs at a heritage railway station when a train came in that had a carriage serving real ale. There are 4 toilets per carriage on heritage trains (unlike modern trains!). Several men got off at the station ... and straight into a long queue for the station toilet because the station toilets were being renovated and only two cubicles, for both sexes, were open. The men looked very uncomfortable in the queuequeue.

There was only one woman in the queue. It occurred to me that any women who'd been in the real ale carriage would probably have used a toilet on the train if they needed to wee at the point of leaving, because as women we build our behaviour around the likelihood of queues in public toilets, whereas men aren't in the habit of doing that because usually they don't need to.

Link copied from another thread, just in case there are people who still doubt some creepy men having erotic fixation on bathrooms (in this case including showers, so actual bathrooms).

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ex-student-avoids-jail-over-placement-of-mobile-phones-in-bathroom-of-shared-house-1649021.html

Haven't read the whole thread, possibly repeating what had been said - not to focus on men's perspective, but I do think that a lot of men, particularly older men, feel uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with women as they feel that women are entitled to their own space. Certainly, this has been my experience any time there has been mixed facilities.

I agree.