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Original poster

Old Vic gender neutral toilets naffness

33 replies

SarkyMummy · 17/11/2024 09:52

At the Old Vic last night. Hadn’t been for a while and think they’ve changed the loos to gender neutral toilets - possibly with a disabled toilet separately. (Separate note: accessibility for my elderly mother was poor).

The signs on the door have no images or names on them - just what you can expect to find behind the door. On left, toilets and baby changing. On the right, toilets and urinals. So let’s infer who is intended to do the baby changing..

So confusing do people find the signs that they have a member of staff there to signpost you to the correct loo for you - it appears by eye balling you and making a call on your behalf.

What a mess!

OP posts:
Original poster
SarkyMummy · 17/11/2024 10:31

@ArabellaScott Exactly. But a human one with bias and assumptions.

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ArabellaScott · 17/11/2024 10:28

A sorting hat for the loo? Amazing.

Spinet · 17/11/2024 10:19

The toilets at the old Vic have always been the most frustrating ones in London. When they still had sex-divided toilets the women's queue lasted the whole interval and men would be nipping in and out. Obviously they never responded to this by changing them but now they have changed then for gender id reasons they should get rid of the urinals and then they wouldn't need to over explain everything would they.

Forester1 · 17/11/2024 10:16

I’d heard that they were gender neutral (mixed sex) but having an usher to guide people was new to me. Im glad it’s not working great - hopefully they will switch back.

Original poster
SarkyMummy · 17/11/2024 10:14

@Stretchedresources maybe they can get rid of the usher and let the queue do the talking! 😀

Hope you enjoyed the show.

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Original poster
SarkyMummy · 17/11/2024 10:12

@PermanentTemporary Indeed. And other questions. Given that these are gender neutral toilets, I would presumably be welcome to use either, but why is it assumed that the usher can anticipate people’s gender identity based on what they appear like/wear etc? I may look like a haggard middle aged, middle class woman but that may not be how I identify (spoiler: it is).

And for trans people who may not clearly pass - how are they responded to by the usher? Given that these toilets were designed with trans inclusion in mind the thinking seems very, very confused…

OP posts:
Stretchedresources · 17/11/2024 10:02

I was there yesterday and wondered this too, along with an eye roll about how confusing it could be. I did notice the "womens" toilets still had a massive queue while the men were nipping in and out of the urinals.

PermanentTemporary · 17/11/2024 09:57

Yes, having toilets that need an interpreter seems crazy. It's one of those things that sounds OK in a meeting but leaves out that you're not just introducing something new, you're eliminating the old system - people know what to look for when they want to pee, and you've taken that away.

I've certainly been at a gathering when women have spoken up about the special awfulness of these toilets. That's quite an achievement.