Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

Original poster

Public urinals on the streets

20 replies

Fairenuff · 14/08/2018 09:44

There is a problem with men pissing in the street. So some twit has come up with the idea of basically giving them a bag of straw to piss on.

How about you focus on potty training the men instead.

Wouldn't want to be the person that has to empty the bucket

OP posts:

wrenika · 14/08/2018 12:51

Provided they work fine and they compost without creating a stink, then I think it's a good idea. Why hang on if there's a way to create a place to pee? And women with an appropriate stp device could use them too. You're not seeing any private parts. It's hardly something terrible.

SnuggyBuggy · 14/08/2018 12:53

In an ideal world there would be more public toilets, I guess this is the second best option. Sometimes you really need to go.

Littledidsheknow · 14/08/2018 12:59

Oneof the photos in that report showed a leak or stream coming from the bottom of one of them. Don't try and tell me that that's not going to stink!

And what about extra toilet facilities for women? Yet again women are just expected to put up and shut up as regards toilet needs.

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/08/2018 13:08

The French have had pissoirs for a long time, its not new.

tectonicplates · 14/08/2018 13:42

These things always seem to be aimed at men. Why can't there be more women's toilets?

PanPanPanPing · 14/08/2018 13:52

I remember seeing the old-fashioned pissoirs in Paris, Boney, but I'm going back donkey's years now. IIRC, they were rather more discreet than the new one in the BBC link

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/08/2018 18:18

PanPanPanPing

From memory it was a pole with a decorative metal screen around the outside.

I remember people taking pictures as they thought that they were some sort of architecture

PanPanPanPing · 15/08/2018 07:40

I'm sure I've got a photo of one from when I was about 14! IIRC, your description sounds similar but I think it had more than a pole in the middle - more like a quite wide tube. I think they had continual running water down the tube and a proper drainage system?!

AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 15/08/2018 09:49

They've been used in Bristol city centre on a Friday and Saturday night for years, and that seems fairly pragmatic to me. Quite why sober men on a Tuesday afternoon would need them is beyond me.

JLG19 · 15/08/2018 09:52

Ugh how would they wash their hands?!

The authorities should invest in more public loos, with proper drainage, for men and women.

NanooCov · 15/08/2018 10:01

There are portable urinals that get rolled out in central London every weekend and have done for years. If it helps stop men pissing behind every lamppost, bin or doorway they spot and reduces Noxious smells then I'm all for it.

Racecardriver · 15/08/2018 10:04

I've never understood what is so wrong with men that they can't just use the toilet like a normal person. Do they gave tiny bladders or something?

LooksBetterWithAFilter · 15/08/2018 10:09

I was also going to say I’ve seen big plastic ones used in city centres for a number of years now.
The new ones in Paris are being used to combat an existing problem in areas where men already pee in the street.

BoneShaker · 15/08/2018 10:11

I would've thought that women would be the demographic most in need of more toilet facilities (periods, pregnancy, and issues resulting from childbirth). If they can manage to hang on then I don't see why we should expect less of men.

PerfPower · 15/08/2018 10:14

I read an article once that claimed the British and Irish are the only countries in Europe that have a problem with this - the rest of Europe just accept that men piss wherever they like. I've a friend who's a primary school teacher and sometimes they have to gently explain to very young boys reasons not to urinate in the playground.

Could be worse though, while on holiday in Greece about 10 years ago I saw a guy just lift his robes and take a massive dump in the middle of the road we were walking on.

MadisonAvenue · 15/08/2018 10:15

I'm another wondering why the hell male toilet needs are being taken care of yet us women have to locate public toilets in the back of shops and eateries, take lifts to the top of department stores to find them and then have to queue.

JLG19 · 15/08/2018 10:22

public toilets in the back of shops and eateries, take lifts to the top of department stores to find them and then have to queue

They aren't even public toilets, and if you're not a customer of the establishment you really have no right to use them and can be asked to leave.

I saw a guy just lift his robes and take a massive dump in the middle of the road we were walking on

serbska · 15/08/2018 10:23

They have them around popular nightlife areas. I think it is good. Better than men pissing in doorways :-(

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 15/08/2018 10:29

Why can’t men control themselves like women have to? Do they think it’s their God-given right to piss anywhere they want, like a dog marking its territory?

Original poster

Fairenuff · 15/08/2018 12:02

The old ones were more like stalls, with high sides, so the most you would see is the back of the man. This is not much different to a litter bin.

It would be better to educate men not to piss everywhere though, rather than just say it's better than pissing on lamp posts like a dog.

No wonder the French kiss on the cheek rather than shaking hands.

OP posts:

Flip