Toilet equality? -A urinal for women -invented by British women

[lightlypoached]

I hate queuing for a wee at outdoor events so was chuffed tc see this innovation. I'm intrigued as to how one actually uses it but on the face of it this looks like a good idea.

What do we think?

www.peequal.com

Just give us more fucking toilets.

Good idea for a festival when you're drinking and have to pee more imo...but it's flawed for sure. As it's flatpack I'd be worried about how sturdy it is though, I have visions of a drunk lurching into it and knocking over some poor women inside!

And I don't like those low walls at all. Surely it could be extended up a bit to give some privacy?

@SionnachRua

Good idea for a festival when you're drinking and have to pee more imo...but it's flawed for sure. As it's flatpack I'd be worried about how sturdy it is though, I have visions of a drunk lurching into it and knocking over some poor women inside!

And I don't like those low walls at all. Surely it could be extended up a bit to give some privacy?

Or being a drunk woman inside slipping on the wee soup of others, while mid-flow and then the whole thing collapsing like a humiliating deck of watersports-based cards.

I've travelled quite a lot in North Africa, and squat loos are the norm there. They're flat to the ground and you literally just stand on them and squat down to floor level over the hole. Once you've mastered them they are really easy and much more hygienic than toilets. I'll always pick the squatter cubicle when there's a choice. I guess this urinal is used in a similar way. They would be for quick wees only, like the male ones. If you need a poo or a moon cup change then you'd have to queue to the cubicle like men do.

They might look a whole lot more appealing when you can choose between walking right on in for instant relief open to the sky, or queueing for thirty minutes for some stinking stifling cubicle!

No way. Periods, loo roll, balancing/getting up difficulties, lack of privacy, disabilities, age and infirmity, post birth changes, etc. I thought it must definitely have been designed by a man, but surprisingly the inventors are young women.

I think they're designed as an add on aren't they to normal loos so if you need a poo, more privacy, tampon/pad change, have mobility issues you'd use the normal ones. Anyone who just wants a speedy wee the option is there which would surely help reduce queues for the normal toilets.

Id use one if I was wearing a skirt or dress. Especially at a festival/concert.
Do you have to squat or can't you just straddle it? I go like that on holiday when I've got my damp swimming costume on. Just move it over to one side and away you go.

Blimey -an avalanche of responses.

Consensus seems to be no, we don't like it, and give us more proper loos.

As a person with a bowel disease I can't disagree with any of that.

Given our overwhelming reaction, I wonder how much market research they have done ?

I knew it reminded me of something.

An It's A Knockout game.

Garish plastic - tick.
Slippery surface - tick
Holding random stuff while performing task - tick
Risk of contact with grim fluids - tick
High awkwardness/embarrassment factor - tick

No thanks.

I don’t understand how this works logistically, but even so don’t women need loo roll to avoid damp pants and potential UTIs? And what about women needing to take kids to the loo? Also I don’t think I’d feel especially safe. There’s a germ of a good idea here but needs more thought. Women and their peeing needs just aren’t the same as men.

@FeatheredHope

Just give us more fucking toilets.

This. Low wall, no doors, no loo roll, squat type toilet? No thanks.

A proper toilet, with a locking door, a wall too high to see over- not much to ask is it?

Perverts with smartphones will love these and, of course, anyone who self-identifies as a woman will gain entry. If these things need a bouncer on the door then they are just not practical. I imagine a lot of places would use these as an excuse to reduce the number of female toilets.

Yet another way to humiliate women - this time designed by young women who obviously have good knees, balance, don't practice simple hygiene or have periods and have no hang-ups about men watching them going to the toilet and/or looking another woman in the eye when taking a shit - never trust a fart.

Even porta-potties here in the U.S have tiny sinks and a grab bar for the disabled. Thank goodness we have The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) here to protect us from hair brained people such as the silly British girls who came up with this disgusting idea.

They look awful! You would have to remove your trousers knickers to be able to get your leg over and reduce the risk of not having them down far enough and spraying them. Depending on what your wearing also maybe your shoes then paddle feet on possible soggy sides... no thanks.

Judging by the usual oh dear we need a san pro bin it be wedge at some stupid angle and get on the way.

And the money saved by wealthy male festival owners who no longer pay for as many genuine toilets will go towards...? Something of particular benefit to women? Somehow I doubt it.

@lightlypoached

Blimey -an avalanche of responses.

Consensus seems to be no, we don't like it, and give us more proper loos.

As a person with a bowel disease I can't disagree with any of that.

Given our overwhelming reaction, I wonder how much market research they have done ?

Should we send them a copy of the thread?!

Yes!

All power to the women who have tried to invent something to help equality of the sexes- but it's a big fat nope-fest from me


Should we send them a copy of the thread?!

Good idea

It's a microcosm of the problem that we face as women - when you're young, fit and carefree you just don't have any inkling of how important the issues of biology are going to become later as you age, have babies, experience harassment etc.

I don’t see the difference between this and a normal toilet? I squat over a normal toilet in the exact same way that I would squat over this toilet. So what makes it faster given that I’m doing the exact same thing?

What about when you awkwardly lock eyes with someone else either trying to wee or someone in the queue? So bizarre.

And what is up with the totally random photos towards the bottom of that website? Pictures from clueless and sex and the city, and someone inside a coffin asking where the loo is? What the actual? Really weird.

@LuckyWookie

I don’t see the difference between this and a normal toilet? I squat over a normal toilet in the exact same way that I would squat over this toilet. So what makes it faster given that I’m doing the exact same thing?

Yep. I still can’t see what makes it quicker. Due to my lack of penis I’m still going to have to pull down my trousers and pants, wee, and then pull them back up again. It’s no quicker than a regular toilet.

This is literally (and I do literally mean literally) the stuff of my nightmares - I have recurring dreams about using open toilets 😩

Perverts will sit there and watch - even if only the top half is visible. Perverts will pervert and the observed women will be vulnerable to approaches and stalking from perverts as a result - intrusive perverts necessarily don't tend to have good boundaries after all.

This is a direct successor to that bar with the unconsented, non-advised two way mirror in the ladies toilet, which was temporarily shut down, albeit of course not so much for concern about women, but about children.

www.theguardian.com/uk/scotland-blog/2013/jun/15/scotland-women-shimmyclub

This issue is really about removing the toilet facilties for women which have been an expected and a core part of our full female participation society since the 1800s. It will ultimately, one again, confine women back to the home.

It's a no from me.